Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a short comment on the commission report. Mr. Chairman we have read this report with great interest. Some of us felt disappointed in the fact that our requests are not considered at this time. We also feel disappointed that the report made reference to the presentation that the Mayor and the Chief of Rae-Edzo did during the consultation process of the Boundaries Commission. As I am sure everyone read, my community and regions are supporting the idea of having one more MLA for Rae-Edzo itself, and one for three outlying communities. I believe this is a very good option due to a number of factors.

Firstly, the population of Rae-Edzo is approximately 1,662, which makes the community the fifth largest community in the western Arctic. The differences of community development between Rae-Edzo and the outlying communities are vast. Rae-Edzo currently has a fairly good infrastructure with basic upgrades to the overall system being required while the other communities are in their early stages of development. The needs of the people in Rae-Edzo compared to other communities are very different. Over the course of this Assembly and during my predecessor's term in office, many times there has been conflict between lobbying for something that is needed in Rae-Edzo and at the same time lobbying for something needed in the communities. When only limited dollars are available for one project, I then must make a decision as to which community should get what they are after.

It makes it unfair for MLAs to ensure all the residents are treated equally and fairly. I believe that Rae-Edzo is large enough to require its own MLA and over the next few years can see Rae-Edzo expanding considerably. In Yellowknife we do not have one Member lobbying, representing his or her own constituency in their ridings but rather have four MLAs represent the whole Yellowknife. With this in mind, I support an addition of two more seats to be distributed outside of the Yellowknife area.

I would like to comment that this has been a difficult job for the commission and would like to congratulate the commission for the hard work and time that they have put into this document. It is a very hard thing to decide what region should or should not get an extra seat. In closing, I would like to thank the commission for the good job they have done, but not too satisfactory a structure to some of us. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

--Applause