Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are times that I am sure the average resident of the Northwest Territories gets very confused when they listen to the goings-on of this Assembly. We constantly talk about consultation, between ourselves as MLAs and Cabinet Ministers, between ourselves as MLAs and our constituents and, even, as a government, consultation between ourselves and our aboriginal partners.

While the other side of this House certainly tries to paint a positive picture on the amount of consultation that they do with the Ordinary Members of this Assembly behind closed doors, I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that the consultation is not quite as all-encompassing as the Cabinet Ministers have led the public to believe. Mr. Speaker, I do not have to try very hard to think of examples of this government spending significant amounts of public money with no consultation with Ordinary Members of the Legislative Assembly or other affected stakeholders.

--Applause

The recent Minister's Forum on Education was formed and mandated with no consultation with the Ordinary Members or the Standing Committee on Social Programs. The $4 million and rising MDAP where any resident of the Northwest Territories could access up to $10,000 was announced by the previous Minister Responsible for the Housing Corporation with no consultation with the Ordinary Members or the Standing Committee on Social Programs.

In last year's budget there was $400,000 extra for the City of Yellowknife so that it could market itself as a potential diamond centre, again, there was no consultation with Ordinary Members.

This Government under the auspices of the former Minister of Finance spent $500,000 on an Economic Strategy, again, with no consultation with the Ordinary Members. Where was this item carefully considered in the Main Estimates?

I hope, Mr. Speaker, that by just mentioning a few examples from the past couple of years residents will realize that the Ordinary Members of this House are not consulted over every decision made by this government. And, that there are several occasions where Ordinary MLAs find our about new government programs and initiatives at the same time as residents of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I bring this up because the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has stated that the Ordinary Members of this Assembly have had eight months to adjust the budget, behind closed doors, somehow implying that the failure of the government to address financial shortfalls in the education budget had to do with the inability of the Ordinary Members to make this happen.

This is not true, Mr. Speaker, as my colleague from Thebacha well knows having sat on the committee that considered the budget of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment for seven of those eight months. He is well aware of this. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.