Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time today, I will be tabling the government's legislative action paper on recall. The action paper was prepared in response to a recommendation last fall from the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and Privileges. Recall is a formal "citizen-driven" process to remove a Member from their seat before the normal term of the Legislature is over. As requested by the standing committee, the action paper addresses a number of issues related to the implications of and approaches to implementing recall in the Northwest Territories.

In preparing the action paper, the government has attempted to provide a balanced account of the arguments in favour of and opposing recall. The government acknowledges that the issue of accountability of Members to their constituents has been the subject of numerous debates and a number of concrete initiatives during the life of this Assembly. Recall represents a measure where constituents can initiate measures on their own to hold their elected Member accountable.

The government also acknowledges the work of Yellowknife Centre MLA, Brian Lewis, and other Members who have encouraged this Assembly and our constituents to give serious consideration to recall for increasing the accountability of their elected representatives.

In the final analysis, the government believes that recall has both advantages and disadvantages, given the circumstances and challenges that the Northwest Territories, our constituents and their elected representatives will face in the coming years. Accountability will no doubt be an issue in the upcoming territorial general election. This legislative action paper on recall will hopefully make a useful contribution to the debate on whether this accountability instrument should be incorporated into our consensus system of government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause