I know other Members may wish to respond but I would like to, if I can, take an opportunity to respond to the Members that have made their comments already. To try to give some clarity on what the government's position is and, of course, I will respond to the other Members. I would like to start off, if I can, by quoting, if I may because I think it is important, Theodore Hesburg, who was the former president of the University of Notre Dame. He said, when it came to decision making, that his basic principle was: that we do not make decisions because they are easy. We do not make decisions because they are cheap, and we do not make decisions because they are popular. We make decisions because they are right.

This Assembly made a conscious effort 15 months ago, to put together a two-year deficit elimination strategy and many Members of this House disagreed with that at the time. Some wanted it shorter, some wanted it longer. But an appropriate compromise was made. The decisions we made have been difficult. They have not been easy. Mr. Picco is right. The last 12 or 13 months, I think it would be fair to say, that the Finance Minister has taken the brunt, rightly or wrongly, of the concern of the public at large.

This Finance Minister does not use buzz words, he uses serious positions as it relates to the budget. If you are going to have an effective debate, with respect to the budget, then it has to be done in a civilized, well laid out, argumentative manner. It is easy for those who continue to use, as it was used today in my opinion and I intend to deal with it tomorrow, purple prose, to exaggerate the fact that this government and some Members of it have not take the serious steps necessary to meet the requirements of our constituents at large.

Nobody feels more about what is going on in this country than I do, or any other Cabinet Minister around this table. I have been accused many times of wearing my emotions on my sleeve. I have pleaded with Members of this House to deal with the root causes of our problems for the last 12 months. I have spoken to many of you about reading Colin Irwin's book, Lords of the Arctic, Wards of the State. I have asked a number of you to take a look at the Kinloch report as it relates to health care across the system. Frankly, we have not had that debate. I was glad yesterday, at least the debate was raised by Mrs. Groenewegen, and I am glad to hear Mr. Miltenberger talk about it today.

The reality of cuts, you shake your head, but the reality of our situation is, it is not just the fact that our base has been cut by $60 million, it is the forced growth of $40 million that is out of control in the social envelope. The discussion and the debate has to be taken in that context. It is not a question of how many houses you are going to get, whether you are going to get a health centre, it is a question of are you going to protect the essential services for the constituents that you represent? Because the federal government has cut the budget by 60 million bucks, the forced growth because of population explosion and other factors is forcing an additional $40 million on the expenditure base of this government.

Parallel to that, and I include myself in this debate, as you indicated, is the expectation of our constituencies. Not only do we want skating rinks, we want zambonies. Not only do we want zambonies, we want zamboni rooms. And we continue, historically, and I have taken the time, to spend our way into this position. We are left with the daunting task of trying to bring back some fiscal sanity and to ensure that the essential services that we provide to our people and to my neighbours and my neighbours' kids, I make no apologies for saying that, are there. Whether it is in schooling, in health care, in housing, et cetera. To do that, we made a conscientious effort in the budget reductions to take a two-year approach, which we all agreed to.

We knew it would be a difficult task. The first year we took, as I have said on many occasions, from those who have the most, to keep it simple. We knew the next 12 months, this 12 months, this budget that we are facing, is going to be even more difficult and more challenging for all of us because it effects those who have the least. It effects health care, et cetera. If we do not make the tough decisions, you will not have to worry about it, because there will be no money to deliver the essential services to the people.

My friend from Inuvik talks about fairness and talks about it passionately. I agree with him. My responsibility, and my friend here talks about protecting Iqaluit and his constituency, and I agree with him. But I have a responsibility for the territories. I believe, as will be demonstrated in the coming weeks, that this Cabinet Minister and other Cabinet Ministers have clearly led by example in the cuts and reductions that have taken place as have some Members of this House. I am confident we will be able to demonstrate that this House, and this Cabinet, and Members of the Legislative Assembly, have demonstrated by example. My responsibility goes beyond Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove. It goes into Iqaluit. It goes into Arviat.

This budget that we are bringing down now, is probably the most difficult we have ever brought down in the history of the Legislative Assembly. We all knew it was coming. We all talked about it the last 13, 14 months, and to suggest otherwise is wrong. If we do not make the cuts, we will as I have said on a number of occasions, leave an inheritance of debt for our children both east and west that, in my opinion, will be fiscally unmanageable. That will take away from our ability to deliver the essential services and totally, as I said yesterday, unacceptable.

It is my believe that this budget, and if, as my friend from Fort Smith has said, we stay the course no matter how difficult it is, we will be judged not now, but in the future. It would be expedient and easy for us to be politically correct and do little. We have been challenged more than we have ever been challenged before and it is incumbent on all of us that at the end of the day when April 1, 1999 rolls around we have given it our best shot to ensure that the two new territories are left in as fiscally sound a position as possible.

The budget deficit elimination strategy has been well laid out and I would suggest to you now, even though there has been criticism which is understandable, I think it is slowly becoming accepted by many and it is incumbent upon all of us as we move forward in the debate on a program by program basis but bear in mind that while, as Mr. Henry said earlier in his MLA statement, I have indicated there has been participation by the Ordinary Members. There will be dissent within it but the overall fiscal targets have set must be met if we are going to ensure that we have a balanced budget and there is going to be some fiscal health for future generations in the Northwest Territories.

I take this debate very seriously. I have taken the time to look at the demographics of what is happening. I challenge you all to do the same. At the end of the day, I am convinced you will come to the conclusion that the steps that we are taking, no matter how difficult they are, are the right steps and hopefully with your cooperation and the cooperation of the public at large, we will balance the budget this coming year and look forward to some light at the end of the tunnel and be able to demonstrate to your constituencies as political representatives that you can move beyond cutting and get on with creating in job opportunities some hope as Mr. Picco said. Some security for the basic essential services that are required by our residents. Thank you.