Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, like my other colleagues, I did not follow this as close as some may have. I tuned into when it was on television. I did hear it over the radio at times. I am still a little surprised, maybe not so much anymore, at how far this has gone and how big an issue it has gotten to be on something that I assumed was a simple oversight and it could have been settled very quickly. I guess in hindsight, we can say that now. It was something that could have been settled very quickly had the Minister taken ownership of the issue and become more accountable.

When it came to the table for our decision last time and when the allegation of bias was withdrawn and the Conflict of Interest Commissioner's report was tabled, I thought that was the end of it. I was confident that there was no longer a complaint on the table and we should not have to go forward. I was of the opinion that we had already spent too much time, too much money and it has taken away too much of our attention from other issues that I felt were more important.

However, at that time when I made my vote, I was not aware that there was other information out there, other issues that were on the table and had to be dealt with. I was not aware that there were phone calls. I took it for granted when I heard the Premier stand up and say that it was a one-time isolated incident.

So in that case, I am glad that the committee did win the vote. I am glad that they did go ahead and provide us with this report and I took the time yesterday to go through it. There is a lot of information there. I think they did a very good job.

However, I am not saying I agree with everything that the committee has stated. I think that it was a very courageous and honourable thing for the Minister to do today by resigning. I think that is something that demonstrates that she is taking ownership of her actions. However, in the committee's report, there are statements and recommendations that I will make comments to later. I wanted to just touch on them a bit here.

For instance, on the Conflict of Interest Commissioner. I do not see it in the report anywhere that states that this lady was found in a position where she was biased. It kind of hints to that but it does not demonstrate clearly to me, it does not give me the comfort that this woman was found biased in her dealings.

There is still a recommendation that we will be dealing with later. However, it bothers me that the Conflict of Interest Commissioner was evaluated for her dealings and the way she handled this whole inquiry. I do not believe, at least in my opinion, that is what we set the committee up to do.

If there is and was a problem about her performance, then that is something that the Board of Management should be handling or should have handled. I still believe that the Board of Management should be doing a proper job evaluation of this position, of this person.

I have a problem in that area. I also have a problem when it comes down to the recommendation of the Premier's staff. I do not know if I agree totally with the recommendation. I think this is an issue that has to be handled by the Premier himself. It really, I guess in a way, is testing our confidence in the Premier and I think it is going to leave that question out there for many of the people in the North as to the confidence that this House has in our Premier. It is going to be a very difficult process.

I want to be able to recommend that we allow the Premier to be given the opportunity to prove himself and prove that he has the confidence of the people of the North.

I have more comments to make but I will reserve those until we deal with the recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.