Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night Mr. Henry, Mr. Erasmus and myself held a constituency meeting. Unfortunately, Mr. Dent had scheduled some other meetings and had other priorities. I understand he is holding his constituency meeting this evening. It was very helpful for us to hold this meeting and get some feedback on the boundaries commission that is underway now. One of the issues discussed was the need for an expanded Legislature. One of the persons from the public expressed concerns and questions as to why we need to expand the present Legislature. Practical considerations have to be given to the difficulty of us functioning with the 14 seat Legislature considering our Cabinet, Caucus and committee set up and structure. Just because we are splitting the territories in half does not mean the workload of this particular western Assembly will be cut in half. Responsible government requires also the accountability of Cabinet. We need to maintain an excess number of Ordinary Members on this side in order to keep Cabinet accountable.

Effective representation calls for parity of voting power between districts, so that each person's vote has similar power. There may be arguments to justify deviations from voter parity, such as geography and minority representation, but that should not legitimize the under-representation of people in more populated areas. I am not suggesting that Yellowknife should hold 50 percent of the seats in the House. I know there needs to be balance between rural and urban representation and room for cultural and community variances. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.