Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The standing committee is scheduled to review the chief electoral officer's report on the 1995 election. I will be encouraging the committee to recommend we implement the CEO's 1991 suggestion to establish our own chief electoral officer and negotiate with the federal government for the appropriate funds to go with this office. To me it is totally unacceptable to be treated in such a condescending, cavalier manner as an afterthought by the chief electoral officer. To be governed in this area in a colonial fashion from Ottawa is something for days gone by, Mr. Speaker; we are beyond that.

in the meantime, I will be asking the Premier later today to consider a third-party review of this whole operation to ensure that the system never fails this badly again. As I see it, there are significant implications. If the system can be hijacked this easily by one disgruntled candidate who gets defeated, then when we come to Nunavut and we come to division and elections in the two territories, where we are going to be in a state of confusion anyway, our entire electoral system can be hijacked by a few disgruntled candidates who lose. Mr. Speaker, that isn't a risk we should be prepared to take. Thank you.

--- Applause