Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today and speak on behalf of Members of the Ordinary Members' Caucus. This session of the Legislative Assembly is a short one. We will be here for less than two weeks. During this time we will deal with a number of pieces of legislation and other critical items, like the Northern Employment Strategy announced yesterday by the Minister of Finance.
Members have been aware of the dates for this session for over three months. Most of us have made adjustments in order to be here. We expect the same of Ministers. We recognize that there are some circumstances beyond the Ministers' control which prevent them from being in the House. For example, the Ordinary Members know the Premier did not have the ability to change the timing of the western Premiers meeting currently underway. However, we want to express a concern about planning. On our first day in this House on Tuesday only four Ministers were present. This severely restricted the areas where Ordinary Members can ask questions and hope to get answers.
Mr. Speaker, we know that each Minister was absent for what they saw as very legitimate reasons. We do not wish to pass judgement on those reasons. However, the high number of Ministers absent has disrupted the business of the first two days of an eight or nine day session. In the future, there is a need for Cabinet as a whole to review Ministers' other commitments. The Premier and Cabinet may need to priorize the activities of Ministers to ensure there is a strong Cabinet presence in the House at all times.
Mr. Speaker, Ordinary Members have many questions from their constituents. We need to ask these questions in the House so people can hear the answers. We expect that Cabinet also wants to make sure people get good information about what the government is doing. Mr. Speaker, in order to allow both Cabinet and Ordinary Members to do their jobs effectively, we would request that the Premier and his Ministers make every effort to be in the House for Members' statements and question period every day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause