Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, would like to support the Premier's statement. I think that we need change to the compensation package. For some of us, this was an election issue. In my situation, my constituents were quite concerned about the pensions. the accountability of expenses and the salaries.
I made a presentation before the commission and spoke about those areas; about the confusion in the system at the moment that exists for us to get salaries. There were 13 different levels. Certainly, this commission's report takes a lot of the confusion out of that. The commission made 43 recommendations. They dealt with various areas. For instance, one was salary levels. I would just like to mention that the salary level recommended is that of a senior teacher or a middle management person. I think that may put it into perspective for the public as to what the recommendation is. It dealt with pensions, accountability of expenses, allowances and took the confusion out of the system.
I feel that it was a comprehensive report and had some very valuable recommendations in it. It should result in a cost savings to this government and I think the cost savings will be substantial once we have decided on the recommendations. For example, in the pension area alone, if we were to equate and adopt the recommendation, that means that we drop 30 per cent of our income.
When we set up the commission, we all agreed -- and I think we all still agree -- that we want to contribute to the deficit reduction. We want to make changes and we want to show leadership and lead by example. I am confident that we will all do that. My expectation is that we will resolve the recommendations and do so before we leave this House next week. I am determined on that. I think we can have an open and good discussion, so that the public will see where we are heading with all these recommendations.
As I said earlier, this will result in substantial savings. We heard some comments by the Minister of Finance today about reductions we are making in the public service and they are necessary because of the problems we are having with the money and the revenues in this government.
I also want to express some other comments. I recognize that some Members have concerns about a number of the areas of this report. I think they are very legitimate. For instance, the travel allowances and living allowances. While I am in support of many of the areas, I do have some concerns for those who are not resident in Yellowknife because it affects those people who have to travel and have accommodation here. Over the next few days, we will be able to resolve these issues and discuss them in more detail. I would like to congratulate the commission for their report.
I look forward to resolving the recommendations. Thank you.