Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have been a strong supporter of this bill. I have been a strong supporter of the philosophy which is contained in this bill, protecting women and children from violence. In committee, I moved the amendments which added sexual exploitation of children to the list of offences, and other amendments which protected the integrity of the Legislative Assembly in carrying out their mandate to be able to punish their own Members. What we did, I thought, was an amazing evolution in the discussion of this bill. We finally built a consensus between the government, ordinary Members, the women's organizations who appeared in front of the committee and from the letters I and other Members have received from many of the organizations out there who supported this bill.

I think this bill, in reality, is more symbolic than anything else because probably 95 per cent of offences will be covered now. If someone goes to jail, they will lose their seat. We are setting an example and I think the fact that we have gained this consensus is very important. It really means that the mind-set of the political leaders of the Northwest Territories has evolved and moved forward. There is a growing consensus out there in the Northwest Territories that violence won't be tolerated.

However, with this amendment, it leaves questions which make me a bit uncomfortable. As legal counsel explained, the situation where a conditional discharge can take place is only done under fairly careful scrutiny by a judge. A judge has the responsibility to ensure that it won't have a negative impact on that society.

Originally in this debate, some Members of the Legislative Assembly and Members of the public were a bit worried about the net that we were casting and that there might be circumstances which we can't anticipate where an MLA may find themselves trapped by the letter of the law and may actually lose their job when the public can think that that wasn't required.

What I see happening here is that it is taking a bit of flexibility. II there are extenuating circumstances and a court grants an absolute discharge, then there might be cases where it shouldn't be automatic. We should be careful getting into this area because it is murky under law.

I agree that sexual exploitation of children, even with an absolute discharge, probably in 99 per cent of the cases, Members should still be thrown out. However, we still have that power fight now. Another thing --and I think Mr. Lewis brought this up --is now that we have talked about this, the public is going to demand that we do our jobs.

So I was satisfied with the work that Mr. Dent did, that the committee did and that the organizations around the territories have done. I think we have made a very good and strong first step in support of the zero tolerance for violence. I hesitate, at this point, to go ahead with this amendment. I understand what the Member is trying to achieve, but I won't be able to support this amendment, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.