Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had actually not intended to speak at all for lack of time to prepare some notes. I feel it is important to address it. I have not had time to consult properly with my constituents. I did raise it on a number of occasions in a number of constituency meetings that I have held. One of the first points that I made with all of them is that there was an agreement made with the Aboriginal Summit earlier this year by some of the leaders that said we will leave the number of seats in the western legislature at 14. I felt at that time that, it was not done considering whether or not 14 was a number that could allow us to operate effectively or not and that it may actually compromise the ability of this government to represent the public and that we had, perhaps inadvertently, compromised the ability of the government to do its primary duty which is to represent and to carry out the functions of government on behalf of the public. Nevertheless, that commitment was made, and I understand now that the Aboriginal Summit leadership is still not exactly supportive of the Electoral Boundaries Commission, but that they would probably seek to have some advice on how to be set up, if that was what we wished to do.
I would have preferred that the decision or understanding that was made in January would have not been made at all. I know that the Aboriginal Summit, the aboriginal leadership, is moving toward some sort of an understanding on the type of government that should be set up here in the west in the initial terms of the Government of the Northwest Territories, as we know it after division.
Mr. Speaker, I have been a Minister in the government. This is my third term. Hopefully it will be going for a fourth.
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Thank you. It is my view, based on my piddly little years of experience, that six is not enough and that 14 is not enough. I think our primary duty, because we are in a public government, is to make sure we can operate as effectively as possible and that, in my view, 14 is not enough, six in the Cabinet is not enough. Although I have reservations about the way in which we have come to make a decision and the context in which it has been made, I have decided not to sit it out, but to join the debate and much to the delight, I am sure, of some Members to support the motion. Thank you.
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