Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. The issue of the electoral boundaries was very easily settled in Nunavut, but here in the west the controversy continues. I want people to understand some of the difficult issues that we have been grappling with since the result of the court challenge by the Friends of Democracy. A Judge ruled that three ridings in the west are deemed unconstitutional by virtue of their constituents being under-represented. These ridings are Hay River, Yellowknife North and Yellowknife South. The Legislature has until March 31, 1999, pending the results of an application for a stay to fix the numbers problem.
So let us look at the options. We can redraw all the boundaries, but with less than two weeks to work in, I do not think that is practical. We can address the problems of being too far over the average in two ways. By making a large riding smaller or making the small ridings larger. Either of these solutions would make some people unhappy. In making a large riding smaller, we need to add more seats in electoral districts. To make the small ridings larger, we have to combine them or attach them to parts of larger ridings. The Deh Cho, for example, could be increased by adding part of Hay River to it. Tu Nedhe could be made larger by adding part of Yellowknife North to it. But there are problems with both of these scenarios however. People are worried that the balance of power to Yellowknife would have a negative impact. That this would become an issue of major centre versus regions. Adding a seat in Hay River and Inuvik make people concerned that the balance of power between larger centres and smaller communities will negatively impact small ridings. Aboriginal people are concerned that any detraction of power and representation from the small ridings in favour of larger predominantly non-aboriginal centres will have a negative impact on the fulfilment of the goals and aspirations of aboriginal governments.
Some people are concerned that we should not be spending more money on more MLAs with other pressing requirements on our financial resources. Every one on all sides of this issue are concerned about their rights to fair representation. They say that the most sure way to avoid criticism is to say nothing and do nothing and be nothing. I think we have already tried that option and ended up with a successful court challenge.
What to do from here is a difficult question because no matter what we do, not everyone is going to be happy. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.