Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Mr. Hamilton, the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present the 1996-97 budget for the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly is requesting an expenditure of $9.414 million, which includes a capital budget of $45,000; included in the budget are cost reductions in the ongoing areas of running the Legislative Assembly. Reductions have been made in the Hansard production and printing, catering and security services, janitorial services and audio recording. Mr. Chairman, the committee will also note that there has been a reduction of 4.8 person years, decreasing the permanent staff complement from 33.8 to 29.5.

Mr. Chairman, the budget before you has been streamlined and contains only those items that are of a non-controllable nature and those approved by the Management and Services Board. The budget, Mr. Chairman and colleagues, has no room for movement as every dollar has been assigned. The budget does reflect the seven per cent reduction to all Members' indemnities which was passed by the House earlier this year. It should be noted that there will be further reductions to the budget of this Legislative Assembly to reflect the removal of the three per cent supplementary pension plan. Once the pension acts have been amended as reflected in Bill 10, Budget Measures Implementation Act, 1996-97, and an actuarial evaluation has been completed, I will be in a position to reduce our budget further. At that time, I will bring forward a negative supplementary request implementing the savings that have been calculated.

Mr. Chairman, I am sure Members would be interested to note that the television coverage of TVNC of this Legislature is the most watched program of all programs across the TVNC network. I submit, Mr. Chairman, that, while we have streamlined our language services in the House, we are still broadcasting our sessions in nearly all of our official languages. In fact, we have been requested to expand our coverage to include Committee of the Whole and standing committee meetings. I am encouraged by this as it is always hard, with such a large geographic constituency, to have the electorate see and hear what we, as their Members, are doing.

Mr. Chairman, the Legislative Assembly is unique within the territorial government, but we must continue to recognize and respond to factors such as fiscal restraint, division and the changing nature of government which affects all departments.

However, it must be also remain separate and distinct from the overall government structure in order to fulfil its roles as the legislative body accountable to the electorate. Mr. Chairman, changing the way we do business to improve efficiencies in consensus decision-making will have a constant impact on our operational environment over the next three years. I am concerned that we must be ready for division as a legislative body. To that end, I will continue to ensure that this Legislative Assembly and the Clerk's office is positioned to offer support, training, advice and whatever assistance is requested or required to address a variety of issues. Such issues include electoral boundaries establishment; elections; and, the initial placement of trained personnel for management organizations, for the two Legislatures in 1999. That concludes my remarks. Qujannamiik.