Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks I have heard people accuse us of foot dragging over constitutional development in the western Arctic. I can understand why some might think that we are being negligent. However, I think that they are wrong. I would like to set the record straight. Partners in a New Beginning was released in October with the promise of public consultations to begin in December. Unfortunately, that plan hit a snag. Ottawa balked at the process because it felt that elements of the Partners report might run counter to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since then, the Constitutional Working Group has endeavoured to get federal officials to support a broad public discussion on the three models proposed in the Partners report. They succeeded, but it was a time consuming task. That is probably why some people think that we, as MLAs, have not been paying attention to the issue. We have not been making a lot of speeches, that is true, but taking strong positions at this time would be inappropriate. We have put our opinions aside for a while to let the working group do its job. We will have opportunities to comment for or against the proposals when the consultations begin in March. To work outside the process would impair public participation. In the meantime, several Members of this House, including myself, have asked the Minister for Constitutional Development for regular updates on the Partners process, particularly in relation to the vital issue of ratification. We have also expressed concerns about certain areas of the package.

I want to thank the Minister for being candid and forthcoming in his replies, all of which are available to the public through Hansard, television broadcast from the House, and media reports. We may not have made a lot of noise about the constitutional process in the past few months, but anyone who pays attention to our work will see that we have not let it slip. They will also have a good idea of what has happened since October and where the process is heading. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.