Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting this motion today. I have pondered over the make up of the new Western Territory with 14 Members for some time. My initial thinking was that 14 Members would be a good number to go with and certainly people of the west seemed to want us to keep the number low. However, after having digested and looked at the situation, I have come to the realization that with 14 Members, six of whom will be in Cabinet, plus the Speaker, that leaves seven Ordinary Members. Sitting on the Ordinary side now, I can well appreciate what this role is, what this job is.
I can very strongly state that if we only have seven Members on this side, we will be a very ineffective government. Part of the reason for that is that the Members will be overloaded with work. Right now, we have four main standing committees for 14 Ordinary Members, plus we have two minor standing committees, the Western Caucus and Ordinary Members' Caucus as well. In addition to that, we serve on various committees, such as the Constitutional Working Group, the Western Coalition, and on and on it goes. In order to function, we need some numbers. I am not suggesting that we have to increase it by a lot, but I think it needs to be looked at, Mr. Speaker. My position would be that I am in support. I feel that the situation in Yellowknife also needs to be addressed. We do have 45 to 48 percent of the future territories' population and four Members out of ten at the moment.
I think if the Boundaries Commission is looking at this, they definitely need to take into consideration the Yellowknife situation. Mr. Dent has pointed out the inequity that is there now where the smallest riding in Yellowknife is half of what the biggest riding is in Yellowknife, so there needs to be adjustments. Mr. Speaker, at the time of the vote, I will be voting in favour of this particular motion. Thank you.
--Applause