Under our rules of the House, Mr. Speaker, I believe it is section 25, I heard what the Member said and I find some of the words he has used to describe my conduct to be unparliamentary and unacceptable. In keeping with your most recent ruling, I ask him, in the spirit of the House, to withdraw those. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. I will ask again, what specific word or combination of words would you wish withdrawn? To your point of order, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think you referred to them yourself just recently. The word "shenanigans" was one of them. I think those are unacceptable to describe the conduct of any Member and I ask him to withdraw it. If he cannot remember what he said then I will probably have to wait until tomorrow, but I know a Member has just been named recently for refusing to withdraw certain words that were found offensive. I just find this is the same thing. Thank you.

Speaker's Ruling

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. On the point of order, the Member has been specific with the word, the word "shenanigan", which he finds offensive. I would, I guess in the hopes that this could be resolved very quickly rather than have to reserve, I will ask the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake if he would withdraw that word "shenanigan". Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The particular term the Premier is concerned with, "shenanigans", I will withdraw that and then I will qualify my points from here on in and ensure that I have transcripts of what is actually said. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The matter has now been dealt with, the point of order that the honourable Member for Sahtu has raised, and the specific word "shenanigan" has been withdrawn at the request of the Chair by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. That matter is now concluded.

Item 3, Members' statements. Next on my list is the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to get back to the business of this House, I feel that this government has to do more to ensure that we are receiving the maximum benefit from the oil and gas and diamond activity that is happening in the Northwest Territories. I feel that we have to do more to ensure that industry is living up to its obligations. They put in place benefit agreements and socio-economic agreements, but yet, Mr. Speaker, there is a large segment of our population who are not benefiting from these oil and gas activities.

Mr. Speaker, I am talking about the youth, people between the age of 16 and 25. Those people have to have a feeling of ownership of what is going on around them. They have to have that opportunity of getting that first job and being able to work their way into a specific trade or having the opportunity to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are there.

We have a lot of young people in our communities who have the potential, but because they do not have that experience on a resume, they are not getting those jobs. I think we have to push industry a little bit to make sure, through this government, through the training and resource dollars we have, to offer training programs -- that we open up that door for those young people in our society to give them that opportunity.

I spent some eight years in the oil and gas industry. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I was given that opportunity and I made a career out of it. I think that is all we can ask for from this government and for the people that we represent to ensure they have that opportunity like a lot of us have had.

I think industry has to realize that the developments they have are for the future generations that we keep talking about. I think we have to also realize that the opportunities that these developments bring have to be meaningful. We cannot have all the development and start looking at the statistics with regard to how much royalties we are going to get. We have to look at the social implications of what is happening around us, also with regard to oil and gas and diamonds. We see the social problems in our communities. We see the housing shortages in our larger centres because of these developments but as a government, we do not have the resources to take them on.

So with that, Mr. Speaker, I hope the government really thinks about this and I will be asking the Minister questions on this later. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last summer, I was asked by the Premier and Cabinet to serve on the conflict review committee. I agreed with a lot of trepidation because of the serious issues before the committee. I realized at the time that recommendations we would be making and any actions that would follow thereafter could have very serious impacts and implications for people's lives.

I agreed to serve on the committee because I believe the integrity and standards of our government is its very backbone. I took on the task with the thoroughness and the discipline I use in all of my responsibilities. I had, and continue to have, no other motives than good government.

Some people may agree with all of the recommendations or with some of them. Some people may even not agree with any of them, but we did the best job we could. I did the best job I could.

We have debated the report in this House and we voted on the recommendations. Some people here have even questioned my loyalty to the Premier, that I was involved in some sort of coup or overthrow.

Let me say, for the record, that the Premier has my support. If he did not have my support, I would have the dignity to resign and not sit on Cabinet. I could not operate that way.

I want to assure all of the Members and my constituents that I do not operate on ulterior motives or various schemes, or backroom, whatever we want to call them. I operate up front and I will say what I believe and you can believe what I say, because that is where I am coming from.

A lot has happened in the last couple of days in this House and it has caused me a lot of turmoil, a lot of lack of sleep and a lot of concern about what we are here for. I believe that we have to begin now to start to take steps to get this behind us...

Honourable Member, Mr. Handley, your time for your Member's statement has expired.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Handley, you may conclude.

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure all of the Members in the House and my constituents that I do not operate with ulterior motives. I believe we have a full agenda. We have an important agenda in delivering the best programs and services for people that we can. We have a lot of great opportunities in front of us. It is time for us to begin to get back on course and let us do what the people put us here for.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I just want to again say that we need to get on with our purpose here. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to address an issue at this time that affects a great number of residents in Hay River and the surrounding area. The issue I refer to is the condition of the NWT Centennial Library in Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, the Hay River public library has occupied the same building in Hay River for some 30 years. This library has the highest program attendance of all libraries in the Northwest Territories, including Yellowknife. It leads all small libraries in the North in materials lending. The Hay River public library is much more than a simple book-lending service. It has become a highly used community centre, providing for the educational and recreational needs of our youth and all alike. For instance, Mr. Speaker, it had a total program attendance of over 5,000 people in the year 2000.

Mr. Speaker, this Assembly has spent a great deal of resources addressing the needs for literacy in the Northwest Territories. Libraries contribute a great deal towards enabling our residents to become literate.

Mr. Speaker, I believe strongly that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment should revisit its current formula of funding libraries throughout the North. I believe that a more equitable funding arrangement for our libraries would be to have population-based funding. If this funding arrangement meant more money for certain libraries, these additional funds should not come out of the Northwest Territories Library Services budget. If this was done, the libraries throughout the North would suffer as a result. If there was an increase, it should come from extraordinary funding.

I believe it is high time, Mr. Speaker, that this government examines its spending habits and this includes allocating some badly needed funds to our libraries. At the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker, I will have some further questions to the Minister responsible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stand today to bring concerns expressed by my constituents and their support for the Premier. Realizing that I have only a certain time to speak in my Member's statement, I would like to let you know I will be using my time in item 9, replies to opening address, to expand on this statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. Like other Members, the events of the past couple of days have caused great concern and among my constituents, the most significant thing that they have been asking is where am I on the very critical issue of confidence in the Premier? I will be issuing a press release later on this morning, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to read this:

Great Slave MLA Bill Braden has declared his confidence and support for Premier Stephen Kakfwi to stay on the job and continue the progressive agenda he has been leading for the past two years. Stephen Kakfwi has had my support since the beginning of the 14th Assembly. I want to make it absolutely clear that I want him to stay. I believe he has the support he needs among the broad Northwest Territories community and among MLAs. I expect that he, and the Assembly, will come out of this confidence issue with a clear mandate to stay the course.

In the October 24th Legislative Assembly debate on the Special Committee on Conflict Process, Mr. Braden supported the Premier and the need for confidence. He has stressed many investor and government agendas that are now underway -- including self-government plans, devolution, pipeline and diamond development -- would be seriously jeopardized by a change in leadership at this critical and challenging time in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen.