Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the principle of this bill, initially I supported the concept of it but, after discussions with my constituents, there seems to be a concern. This bill will give the ability to the Premier to hire her Cabinet Ministers and to dismiss them accordingly, as he or she sees fit. The concern that has been expressed to me is that it's, number one, moving towards a party politics system; number two, the particular concern is that basically, once the Members agree on a Premier, then you're giving them full authority to select their Cabinet. Many people feel that in the event this bill goes through, the Premier should be elected by the people of the Northwest Territories and not just the Legislative Assembly.

I find that this bill is going to allow for manipulation in our democratic process that we've adopted as Canadians. I also find that with this particular bill, if it's allowed to go through, as our consensus system of government now operates will take a great step towards party politics and I don't know if all northerners agree with that.

So, with all due respect, I do not support the principle of this particular bill. Thank you.