Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, honourable fans across the floor there. Over the past two years, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and specifically the 13th Assembly, has faced many challenges. The Agenda for Change was a map to give an idea where as an Assembly, we as a government wanted to go. The first plank on this road was to balance the budget and provide a secure financial future heading into division. No one, Mr. Chairman, understood or contemplated the depth of the problem we faced. With the guidance of the Finance Minister and the Cabinet, with the new committee structure and the public service, we have begun to see the light. However, that balancing act of the government has not been without its collateral damage and pitfalls. The issue of division, of assets and liabilities, of legislative amendments, of fiscal uncertainty has caused much concern and will need the cooperation of all Members to bring it about with the proper resources in place. The Premier will be key in providing the leadership and bringing understanding of the issues and avoid, Mr. Chairman, avoid an east/west in-fighting as April 1, 1999 gets closer.
Mr. Chairman, as Premier, Mr. Morin has always been available to me, as an MLA, to voice my concerns. Mr. Morin, this past summer, came to Iqaluit to tour the community and see first hand those concerns I have raised. I congratulate him for that. The Premier has also contacted me at home in Iqaluit on issues and has asked for my opinion. I thank him for that. The Premier has to lead by example and accept the accolades and the criticisms. I have tried to articulate my concerns with the process of government. The seemingly intrepid way that the government spends the taxpayers' money, to awarding of contracts, and hopefully bringing about more accountability. The government's use of policies and the seemingly broad interpretation of said policies is a major concern. The continued teeth-pulling exercise of asking questions in this House with flippant and nondescript answers is not acceptable.
The Premier, in response to oral questions, very often drags out his answers, like yesterday, so that he wears out the question period time clock. That is not acceptable. Charges asking and demanding for ministerial resignations, answered with a deafening silence, is not acceptable. Public money, spent for the public good, has to be transparent and accountable. The publishing of sole sourced and negotiated contracts by the Premier is to be congratulated. But the number of major sole sourced contracts continues to be of concern. The emergence of RFPs guided by yes by those same policies is not acceptable. Our labour relations, staff morale, our continued stalling with pay equity, and finally a court decision to put us at the table was not acceptable. The Public Service Act that, in my opinion, was wrong and draconian, needs to be amended to allow real free collective bargaining. This has to be addressed.
When you, as an MLA, try to articulate these and other points, you are treated with disdain. The Premier should be guiding his Cabinet in a more open and accountable process. The continued response of all meet with the Member or provide a briefing to the Member is a poor excuse for making information available to the majority of the Northwest Territories residents. I think the electorate sees that type of fudging, yes fudging, Mr. Chairman, of information and accountability for what it is - a farce.
Our record on Affirmative Action and northern hiring has had much publicity for not doing what the policy outlines. Mr. Chairman, the Premier has to work on making this government more open and transparent. The innuendo of ongoing RCMP investigations, of sole sourced contracts awarded to friends, of jobs being filled through nepotistic means, has to end.
The government is being painted fairly, or unfairly, in the public eye, as greedy and seemingly underhanded. That is not acceptable. Mr. Chairman, on many issues like the deficit, division, economic policies, we have made progress. But the issues of accountability, transparency, labour relations, staff morale, we have received a failing grade, and Mr. Chairman, I say we because I am part of this 24th Assembly. Later today, I am very pleased to be eligible and able, in this House, to ask eight questions of the Premier, which I will use to the full extent of that power given to me as a legislator.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, when a Member stands to ask a question or asks for clarification on an issue, that person should be seen with the respect that they deserve when they are asking those questions, not to be painted as some type of PR-grabbing, grandstanding, soap-box character. Innuendo of that type is cheap, and the Premier should be dictating and asking his colleagues and Cabinet to refrain from that type of behaviour. If there is one thing I have noticed for two years now on this side of the House is that the cat-calls have seemed to be a little louder, as demonstrated a few minutes earlier. I think the Premier should take a leadership role and to direct those Members on his side of the House that have been doing that, to stop. That would be a first good step in the way that this government is looked at.
On the second point, Mr. Chairman, the Premier, at different times, because he is accountable to the whole Assembly, because he was elected by the majority of Members in this House, to serve in the role of Premier, using his experience as legislator, he knows what it is like to be on the Ordinary Members' side of the House. I do not have the opportunity to have two or three aids to help with questions. I do try to use the research, the committee. But it is a tough balancing act between writing statements, questions, meeting with Ministers, and asking for information for what I think are the good reasons. If anyone in their right mind in this Assembly took an opportunity to read the Hansard to see where the questions have come from this individual, they come from all avenues of the Northwest Territories. It is from environmental issues to health issues to other concerns.
When I read the Hansard, I am proud of the questions that I have asked. I do not think they should be ridiculed because of the number of those questions, because that is what I am here to do, Mr. Chairman, is to ask questions in this House. It does not matter how many numbers. If my colleagues on the OMC side have a feeling that we are asking too many questions, I wrote the rules in the committee to ask for the ability to extend question period. Although that was voted down in the committee, I feel fine with that. But my point is, if you get the correct answers, you do not have to ask five questions if you get the answer that you want. You only have to ask one question to get that correct answer. That is where the Premier should be directing his Cabinet colleagues to do that. More accountability, more transparency, with the Aurora Investment Fund, which I will have the chance to ask Mr. Todd about later. Those types of things should come publicly forward. Thank you.
--Applause