Mr. Speaker, it is about a year and a half ago now that we all got together in Fort Providence as 19 newly elected MLAs, a number of us strangers to each other, to sit down and take a look at what we were going to do with the coming four years. What kind of measurements, values, performance targets and objectives we were going to set for this 14th Assembly. We came up with a document called Towards a Better Tomorrow. Favourite reading for all of us here in the Assembly, I know, Mr. Speaker.

That document was not entirely the property of the MLAs in this group. It is a rolling document, a living document. We took statements and issues that had been worked out and illuminated by the Assemblies prior to us, I think going back two or three Assemblies, and we built on what they wanted to achieve. We came up, Mr. Speaker, with four priorities, things that we wanted to be measured on. They are short and straightforward and I would like to read them again in this House.

1. We propose that we develop self-reliant individuals, families, and communities working with governments towards improving social well-being;
2. Better governance through partnerships;
3. A northern-controlled economy that is balanced, diverse, stable and vibrant; and
4. Adequate resources helping all levels of government to become more self-reliant in meeting the needs of the people they serve.

Mr. Speaker, these were the pledges and the promises on what we said we were going to try and deliver on in the life of this Assembly. However, our performance, our record has been badly tainted, badly bruised, Mr. Speaker, by the events of the past few months and weeks. Careers and reputations have been smeared, battered. This is a record of a performance that I am not at all proud of.

When I came into this job, I knew things were not going to go perfectly all the time. That was fine. In our discussion about the conflict process report on Wednesday night, I talked about this as well and I said that what I believed was really important was that when things go wrong, it is how you manage them. That is the real test of your ability to lead, to take on challenges and hopefully not only survive but prosper in the face of them.

The performance of the past has hurt us. It causes me to ask a few questions about what is going on around us. We are consumed, as we have heard, not only in the past weeks and months but today, Mr. Speaker, we are consumed with a process and what is going on in this room, this legislative arena. There is a much broader and much more diverse constituency out there that we have to pay attention to.

I wonder, Mr. Speaker, can we still say that we have the support and the trust of the voters who put us in here? Mr. Speaker, do we still command some degree of respect among the 4,000 people who work for this government, its boards and agencies? By the private sector, investors, and risk takers, Mr. Speaker? The people who have put money into the ground and other people in the Northwest Territories with their own careers, their families, their futures? Are they still onside with the agenda that we talked about that we said we want to deliver?

Mr. Speaker, how is this crisis in confidence perceived by our partners in other governments, the First Nations, our community governments, the federal government and our provincial and other territorial neighbours? How are we perceived by those partners? They must look at us and feel and think, "Gosh, they are so lucky in the Northwest Territories." The potential that we have for wealth creation, for jobs and social stability has to make us the envy of just about every region in Canada, Mr. Speaker.

We have a young population. We have diverse cultures. We are trying to make headway and we are making headway in the areas of health and education and standards of living. We have billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs in diamonds alone. Billions of dollars and thousands of jobs in diamonds alone. Oil and gas in quantities that people still are not comfortable even estimating how much is out there. We have it at our doorstep, Mr. Speaker.

A pipeline project, one of the biggest ever undertaken in the world, that the American government and the American customers are now saying is going to be a Canadian project first. It is here. It is on our doorstep.

We have hydro potential that can sustain us for generations and perhaps most remarkably, Mr. Speaker, we have gifts of clean water, air, land and wildlife resources so vast and diverse that it astonishes people who come and see it and experience it from other parts of the world.

Yet as we seek to capture these riches, negotiate the deals and make the partnerships and arrangements amongst ourselves that will make these potentials real for us, we have a crisis in confidence in our own Premier. Indeed, as other Members have talked about, in our system.

What are we doing, Mr. Speaker? Are we indeed trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? We have so much here. The toll in careers, the cost to taxpayers, the loss of time and erosion on our real agenda is too high already. Nothing further, Mr. Speaker, can be gained from prolonging this. There is no purpose in examining or testing our already fragile government in other ways. If we continue to delve into areas of self-doubt, I think it really will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Mr. Speaker, I have already stated in the clearest possible terms my support and my respect for Stephen Kakfwi and the progressive agenda he has been leading in the past two days. His skills and strengths, the scars and the bruises he has collected in his three decades of northern politics are what we need now to bridge and connect the leaders of the aboriginal and federal governments with our community partners and with industry.

This endorsement, Mr. Speaker, is not without qualification. For me, that qualification, that concern is best expressed every day on the editorial page of the Globe and Mail newspaper. It prints this piece of advice and attributes it to Junius. I do not know who Junius was but I think he was a pretty smart guy. This is his advice: "The subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." To me, Mr. Speaker, this means that our leaders must demonstrate humility. They must have open ears, open minds, open hearts as they go about their duties every day.

Mr. Kakfwi and his team must never forget that this is a consensus government, that we are here to work together. It will take time to put behind us the damage and the hurt of the past few months. I stand here saying that I know we can do it. Let us get on with it.

Mr. Speaker, a lot of people have taken a lot of time to watch us, to read about this, to talk with each other, to talk with other leaders. They have expressed their opinions to us in many, many ways. I want to thank the people who have talked to me, especially my constituents and others around the North who have given me their time when I have contacted them. I will say it again: I know we can do it. Let us get on with it. I will be voting in public and in support of this motion. Thank you.

-- Applause