Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 13, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Business Development Fund Annual Report and Recipients Report April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Item 13, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Item 13, tabling of documents. Item 14, notices of motion. Item 15, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 16, motions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker,

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Tabled Document 51-14(4), entitled Investing in Roads for People in the Economy, A Highway Strategy for the Northwest Territories be moved into committee of the whole for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The motion is in order. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Tabled Document 51-14(4) is...The motion is carried. Item 16, motions. Motion 11. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker,

WHEREAS it has been the practice of this Legislative Assembly to vote on confidence motions in the House;

AND WHEREAS Members have expressed the desire to have a vote of confidence in the Premier;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that this Assembly affirms its confidence in the Premier, the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I brought this motion forward because I believe the Assembly should express its support to Premier Kakfwi and the government that he represents. Our citizens have a right to expect that we will move past this issue and, as elected Members of the Legislative Assembly, will focus on the substantive issues that are before this House and the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, this government has established a five-point agenda to improve the economic and social future of the people of the Northwest Territories. Our agenda is based on the Legislative Assembly's Towards a Better Tomorrow, which we all participated in developing. Our collective vision reflects a common belief that residents of the Northwest Territories must benefit from economic development and that we will pursue this development in the interests of all the people we represent.

Mr. Speaker, under Premier Kakfwi's leadership, we have worked hard to establish partnerships with aboriginal governments, with industry, with the federal and provincial governments, and with all of our citizens in the Northwest Territories. We have worked as a team to secure the trust of aboriginal leaders, to build confidence in the business and investment community, and to gain federal support for our agenda.

Mr. Speaker, we have been successful in our work. There is excitement in activity throughout the Northwest Territories and in fact throughout Canada. The potential that we hold and the amount of economic activity going on here -- the stage has been set for us to take advantage of this potential. We all have spoken about the work that has been done in mining, in oil and gas. In fact, we just had the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a pipeline a couple of weeks ago. We have done a lot of work in the area of tourism and there is much to be done in that and other areas. We have done a lot to support traditional economies. We are moving ahead on issues like resource revenue sharing.

Mr. Speaker, those are all important things that this government is part-way through in its four-year mandate. Mr. Speaker, I might say that yesterday I was in Ottawa attending a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Finance. I have noticed a bit of a difference across Canada, a difference in respect and recognition of the Northwest Territories as more than just a little piece of the country off in some corner somewhere. We have a significant role to play in Canada. It is recognized by people around that table. I am proud to go there and be recognized, to have provinces like Ontario listen very carefully to what we are saying and what it is we are doing and how we are responding to issues. I have noticed that in many other fronts. I think we have made a lot of progress in just bringing the Northwest Territories to a point where we do mean something to Canada politically, economically, and culturally and in many other ways.

However, we cannot take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity in development unless we press forward. This requires a stable investment climate. People have to feel that we are more than, as somebody mentioned last week, a little banana republic somewhere. We have to be taken seriously as a government that is moving ahead with great opportunities. This requires stability in government and credibility of all our partners.

Over the last four days, we have heard from many leaders; aboriginal leaders, business leaders, leaders from our religious and community organizations, from ordinary citizens, and they are telling us that they have confidence in Stephen Kakfwi as Premier and confidence in this government.

Mr. Speaker, Premier Kakfwi has shown leadership, the leadership necessary to develop and maintain stability and credibility in the government and for the Northwest Territories. We are positioned to take advantage of opportunities like we have never been before, but we need to work together to ensure our constituents benefit from these opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, a vote of confidence is a very serious matter. If it is not supported, it could take our government down. To have a vote of confidence by secret ballot in a Territorial Leadership Committee, as contemplated by some, is unprecedented. That has never happened before. Votes of confidence have to take place in the House through a formal motion and be moved in a way where Members are obliged to publicly stand up and be counted. They have to vote yes or no or if they choose to abstain.

I urge all the Members to support this motion of confidence, stand up, be counted and I think we can get the vote done, get it behind us, get on with the reasons the people have elected us to this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. I did not want to do this but I must. I just have to remind members in the gallery to avoid large demonstrations or applause. It is part of the rules of the House that members in the gallery are not allowed to participate in the debate that is taking place. I would just ask if you could bear with us and refrain from spontaneous clapping.

To the motion. The seconder of the motion, the honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. To the motion. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger. Each Member has 20 minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are coming to the final days, hopefully, of what has been a very long eight-month process. A process that I can tell you fervently from the bottom of my heart that I hope is never to be repeated as long as I am in political office. I am sure anybody who has been involved with this could say the same.

There has been significant turmoil over the past few days. A lot of things have happened. Emotions ran high. The situation, at times, looked like it was going to end up where a lot of people did not want it to.

I personally spent a lot of time considering how to deal with the motions before us on the floor of this House and whether to make a decision to run for the vacant Cabinet seat.

As a member of the conflict committee, Mr. Speaker, I stand behind the report and its contents. The intent of the motion in regard to the Premier's office was to deal with the confidence issue and the ability of the Premier's office to continue to be effective in light of what had happened.

Mr. Speaker, the staff in that office are critical and are often the link, the key link for both MLAs and the public to the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I have said in this House yesterday and I have said in other venues that the issue for me was never a broad case of confidence in the Premier and Cabinet and the work of government.

Mr. Speaker, the number I have used is that I believe over 90 percent of the things that government does, I support. We have differences on some issues, but we are supposed to. That is where accountability comes in. That is where the role of MLAs comes in.

Mr. Speaker, I do acknowledge that the Premier has done good work, particularly in the areas like the national front over the past two years, as we have raised the profile of the Northwest Territories.

Before making my decision this weekend to run for the vacant Cabinet seat, I wanted to get a clear sense from the Premier that he would take definite steps to address the motion to deal with his office.

Mr. Speaker, I have received that assurance. While I, like other Members, have questions about whether the actions announced and the new news will be sufficient to address the intent of the motion, I take the Premier at his word that he will place the best interests of the Northwest Territories first and show the leadership necessary to move past these difficulties we are currently engaged in and get on with the important work at hand.

Mr. Speaker, there has been confusion all around in the past few days. I said yesterday and I say again today that it is important to step back from that, take a look at the overall direction we are moving and look at how to restore public confidence while maintaining the momentum we have worked towards as a Legislature.

Mr. Speaker, I have confidence in the Premier and his Cabinet. Therefore, I have no hesitation in saying that I am prepared to put my name forward for consideration for the vacant seat and that I will be supporting this motion. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. To the motion. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to put my views on this subject on the floor again. I tried to do so earlier, however, I was not able to skate around some of the terminology.

Mr. Speaker, I have watched this whole process for many months. I believe the whole process took eight months. I am getting very tired of what I am considering to take up a lot of our time. Maybe we had to jump through the hoops that we had to so far. However, it is becoming more and more obvious that there is no end in sight and every time we do see the light at the end of the tunnel, somebody slams that door shut on us.

I am of the belief that we do have to have a confidence vote in the Premier. I guess how we do that is more the question. I believe we have had to do this since I have seen the report of the special committee. I am on record stating that the report has probably shaken the confidence in the Premier. I do not have a problem, from my standpoint, standing up here and saying that I have confidence in and support the Premier. How we do that is a different matter.

My support for the Premier is not a question in my mind. I believe, like many of the people in the North, that he has worked hard and he has done well for us. My problem is with the process. I do not believe that we, as Members of this House, should be expected to stand up and publicly declare our position. I would like to state to you and the rest of the Members of this House and to the people of the North, why.

First of all, a confidence vote is one of the few tools we have in our tool kit as MLAs to keep the Premier and the Ministers accountable and that cannot be jeopardized. I am concerned that by going through this process and setting a precedent here by doing it publicly that we jeopardize that whole confidence vote issue. A public vote for me does not mean that we will be putting this issue to rest. If it is a closed vote, there will always be questions, questions raised from one point or the other.

A public vote to me is not a free vote. In my opinion, any Minister that does not support the Premier may as well hand in his resignation. That is another reason why I object to having a public vote. As a potential candidate -- and I have already stated that I am not announcing that I am running for Cabinet -- but as a potential candidate, I object to having to swear my support and loyalty to the Premier. I do not believe that it should be a criteria of anyone putting their name forward as a candidate to run for Cabinet.

No other Ministers on the other side of the House had to stand up and declare their loyalty to the Premier when they ran. Why should I? Why should any people who are considering running for a Minister's position do so now?

In my opinion, I am very concerned about how things have unfolded in the last few days. We have seen a lot of pressure being put on the Regular MLAs, a lot of pressure from letters in writing that had a lot of, I would say, threatening overtones. Some Members, I understand, may have been given ultimatums themselves. I will not accept that. I have to stand up for my colleagues and anyone that has been put in a position where they are pressured, I cannot allow this to go on. I do not believe that a public vote or a secret vote at this point is going to result in anything. The end result will be the same, Mr. Speaker.

In my oath to my constituents as a legislator, it requires me to provide my best efforts at effective representation, accountability, honesty, fairness and courtesy. Mr. Speaker, I feel the only way we can do that is through a secret ballot vote. When this motion comes up for a vote, I will be abstaining, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, I had an opportunity to go home and spend an important evening with my own family and a chance to sit back and reflect back on what has occurred in the last number of days.

Now, other people out there -- and the message that is being sent may have placed a number of Members in the very negative viewpoint of a lot of people because they are hearing one side of the story. Mr. Speaker, when I had the opportunity to go home, I was able to tell my own family and friends what I saw was the whole picture. I never like to make a decision based on only one viewpoint. I like to hear it from both sides.

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that, in fact, both sides have not been publicly aired. There has been one side of the equation that has been out there and to paint the picture, a very negative picture, of how all Members of this Assembly were conducting themselves.

Now, it is quite open that myself and the Premier have not seen eye to eye on a number of issues. That may be so, but the people of Inuvik Boot Lake elected me to this position to do my job to the best of my ability, to represent them in this forum. I believe I have done that. Nobody from my constituency has told me, "Floyd, it is time to look at another occupation." They have sent me back here a second time. In fact, my challenging of Cabinet and some of the initiatives they have done has only brought more support.

Mr. Speaker, when I recall working for the people of the Territories in the 13th Assembly, I do not recall a situation of this nature being so negative that, in fact, there was an approach used that would drown out the elected voices in this circle, in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I think we have a right as individual Members to speak on behalf of our constituents and why they put us here. I have made it very clear from day one on accountability and integrity, those were issues that I would look at and highlight, along with the ongoing work of government when we look at budgets and at strategies.

Mr. Speaker, I believe it is always important to sit back and reflect on one's work and where we were heading as an Assembly. I have had to do that. I have made comments that we have to get out of the paper and go back to the people. It is important that we do that on a regular basis so we do not get so caught up in this process that we think that we are above what happens out there in the public.

Mr. Speaker, as I was referring to earlier in my Member's statement about how we set the example for future generations, we make the laws here, Mr. Speaker, the laws that the people of the Territories will have to abide in. If they did not, they would face a penalty of one form or another, whether it is something as simple as speeding or something under the Criminal Code of Canada. We are all held accountable at some point.

Mr. Speaker, nobody is above the law. In our actions in this forum, we are going to be measured and how I measure my colleagues here is the same way I expect to be measured. I do not think that I can hold a measure of rule against the Premier or another Cabinet Minister or a Regular Member colleague and not expect that measure to be put against myself.

Mr. Speaker, I think at this point, I have to begin to try to set the record straight for some people in the Territories because it has been publicly stated by our Premier, and he spoke about the pettiness in the backrooms, he spoke about decisions made in the backrooms that were threatening him with non-confidence.

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed he chose the tactic he chose. Sometimes we have to take a more humble approach to the way we do business. That is difficult when people are poking at you to try to get a reaction or when you feel your political life may be on the line. I believe a true leader would be able to take those opportunities and recognize them and step back and take a more measured approach to the way we do business. I believe right from day one, as one of my colleagues said this has taken about eight months, this process could have been taken care of within the first few days back then and it was not. There was an opportunity missed.

I believe the night when we discussed the committee report and its recommendations, the very last motion, there was an opportunity missed to step back and just take a little lighter approach and say, "I will review what is going on here." That might have taken care of it; but no, actions were taken that went outside of that, which have placed us all in a negative light within the public.

I am not trying to make a practice of being negative on government, but it seems that I have been painted that way in my constituents and some of them would approve that I challenge government on its ability to carry out the business of government.

There are times when we have to slow down and take a look at the landscape to make sure we are still on the right trail. I must say we left the trail of good government a ways back.

Now, the announcement made today, Mr. Speaker, about the elimination of the chief of staff position, goes back a ways to help me come back in looking at what work is being done and that this government is coming back in line with good government. When they had that position filled and wrote a contract, they wrote a contact that was outside its own laws. Mr. Speaker, I started to have problems back then. So steps have been taken to improve that and I think we have to recognize that as well.

Mr. Speaker, when the word is out there that all will collapse if there is change, if that is the stance that government had taken at every re-election, you would never see anybody new because we were afraid we were going to lose ground with the work that was done. We should never be so big that we think with a step out of one of us, ourselves as a Member, if we are not re-elected, that this government would fail to function. The issues that were raised of importance within the Territories and its people continue to be of importance whether we are here or not. It is important how we address those issues, I agree. Yes, key individuals can help those processes work, but we should never think we are so big that they will not continue to move on without us. Time stops for no one, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I do not do this to try to make any points because I know, in fact, that if one is trying to do that, we lose the main focus of why we are here, of good government, of accountability to the people, of why we decided to put our name on the ballot the very first time. We have to look at that, Mr. Speaker, as we go about the business of the people of the Territories.

I can grab some material and I can go over it and talk about how well Floyd Roland has done for the constituency of Inuvik Boot Lake, but I well know, Mr. Speaker, that if it was not for the hard-working individuals within my constituency, many of those good things would not have been done. It took a team and that is what it takes in this forum, a team. How is this team functioning these days?

Well, we have what I would say, if we were playing a game of hockey, some hot dogs who want to be out in the limelight and take the glory. Some might even paint me in that area, that I do this to get more media. I do not need that, Mr. Speaker. I am doing quite well with my own family in what I do back home. However, I have told people and I know to myself that if I did not say anything on the issues that have occurred over the last number of days here, I would be failing in my responsibility as a Member of this Legislative Assembly and a representative of the people in Inuvik Boot Lake of bringing to task, difficult as it may be, the order of government and good government.

Mr. Speaker, the picture has been painted, as I said earlier, with a very negative slant to some Members of this Assembly. From outside the walls of this Assembly to inside the walls of this Assembly and yes, Mr. Speaker, to the backrooms. We are politicians and we are all grown. We know that it is a fact of life, backroom meetings occur as they have this past weekend, gauging support for this initiative or that initiative. Let's not kid ourselves.

There is no one here that can stand up and say they have not partaken, in one form or another, of a meeting to discuss what process or how they will put a plan together to question in this House or what initiative will come forward from Cabinet.

Mr. Speaker, when that backroom discussion starts to become front and centre of discussion of the residents of the Northwest Territories, we have a duty to ensure that both sides of the picture are being told.

Mr. Kakfwi, in his statements to the people of the Northwest Territories, talked about having a club held over his head. Is that not the fact of what is happening here when you have a couple of Members who are going to vie for a vacant position on Cabinet and they are told support the Premier or you will not have a number of votes? That is the message that is implied, Mr. Speaker. If you are going to put your name in the arena for a position, feeling that you cannot state what is in your heart because you know you might not get enough support from the other side to secure you that seat is a very difficult position to be put in.

Mr. Speaker, I do not think anyone in this Assembly can condone the actions that have occurred and the reactions to certain actions. I think we all have to apologize to the residents of the Territories of what has occurred here. I can apologize to my constituents, Mr. Speaker. The fact that government right now is tied up in this quagmire of politics and as the Premier stated it may be petty to him, it may be petty and maybe that is where we are having the problem, Mr. Speaker, because the issues that came before us are more than petty to someone as myself. We have a job and if you are on Cabinet, you have a job to represent all the people, not just the ones you feel are going to represent your side of the story. I talked about representing those who do not have a voice here in the sense of the associations, unions and everything else out there. Certain numbers can be pressed and this whole machinery kicks into gear. We see the effects of that.

Mr. Speaker, this motion put before us, as I see it, is another tactic that is used in a sense to go around an issue that we discussed as 19 Members; that we would go to a Territorial Leadership Committee to fill a position and that a question would be put forward on the confidence in the Premier. Now just because Members have decided to go that route did not necessarily mean that all those Members would also vote against the confidence, but that is the way the message was taken and that is the way it was run out in the public, in the media.

I think we have an opportunity and we need to settle this issue once and for all. I would prefer, Mr. Speaker, that those who would have concerns about speaking publicly at this time because it could impact the future direction they take in this Assembly, would have the opportunity to voice, not from the pressure that is being put on them but from their hearts, as to what they believe is happening here today.

As for myself, Mr. Speaker, I can speak with a clean conscience about what I do here and what I speak about. When I go home to my family, I can know that I have not done anything that is wrong. I may have challenged but that is allowed in the rules that I know of. I may have questioned. That is allowed. That is part of our job.

Mr. Speaker, when I speak to the people, my constituents, when they ask me questions, I try to give them the full story. I think that is only fair. If the Premier wants my confidence, then I think some of the actions that have occurred as a result of the committee report and its dealings need to be clarified to tell both sides of the story, and even to apologize to the people of the Northwest Territories for going beyond and embellishing what I think occurred. Now, that might be my interpretation. The opportunity is there.

At the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, I know that as a Legislative Assembly, we have to get on with business. What the vote of this House, the majority vote in this case, would start again the motion of getting on with business. I will accept that but I will always, for the benefit of my constituents, raise issues of accountability and integrity, of good government. After all, if I cannot sit down and look at my own children, as they are going to grow up here in the Northwest Territories and I expect them to abide by the laws that we put in front of them and the rules that we put in place. If I expect them to do that, then I have to lead by example.

I must say, overall, we are all painted with a bad picture. Mr. Speaker, with that, I will not be supporting this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the motion. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, Mr. Speaker, I too, before I get into the motion, would like to comment on the motion itself. It is pretty amazing that a motion of confidence comes from the other side of the House. If anything, it should have come from this side of the House so that you can show if there was confidence. To have the motion come from the opposite side of the House and allow us due process, in which we should have had the ability to determine that from this side of the House. We are the ones who evaluate the conduct of Cabinet, the Premier. It should have come from this side of the House, but in this case, it has not.

I have some questions about that in regard to the whole process. Everyone at that side of the House was elected through a process. The process was secret ballot, not knowing who was for or against you. So those people who ran in that particular case and lost had no idea who might have said they supported you on one hand and voted against you on the other.

Yet here you are today, every one of you on that side of the House, through your motion, has pulled a 180 degree turn on exactly where you sit on that side of the House.

I think that for this to come from that side of the House is not fair for the Members on this side of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I have had a chance to poll my riding, talk to my leaders and talk to former leaders in my region. I also gave the benefit of the doubt to the Premier. On Friday, I met with the Premier. I put the cards on the table with regard to the way I see it and some of the moves that he has to take to build the trust for myself, to make me realize that there is something going on in this government and it will be cleared up.

Mr. Speaker, it is awfully hard to sit through the 13th Assembly and now to come to the 14th Assembly and to end up jumping back on this roller-coaster ride called the conflict process because of what has occurred here in the last number of months.

For me, the whole process that this has pointed to is good government and ensuring that we restore the integrity of the office of the Premier and this government. As we can see, we are here again today because we have not been able to do that.

So it was because of that I met with the Premier on Friday evening. I made it clear to the Premier of the Northwest Territories that the problem that I had was where top officials of the Government of the Northwest Territories had to be dealt with. It involved the wrongdoing that has taken place regarding the unauthorized taping and also the participation in the telephone conversations, which should have been handled in a better way.

Mr. Speaker, we are all here to do the best for the people of the Northwest Territories and to ensure that we build that trust of the people of the Northwest Territories, to have good government, to keep this government accountable and to make sure that the people out there realize that the actions we take in here and we take within this building as government is seen out there as being on the same level of the law that they have to operate under.

No one in this government or in these offices should be above the law.

I for one, Mr. Speaker, have taken the time to give the Premier an opportunity to get the information that I requested, to look at the policies and procedures within this government, to put in formal action that there will be a protocol agreement, that they will seriously look at the ministerial handbook to ensure it is in writing, it is in black and white and that actions are being done so that this never happens again, so we are not here to go through this process again.

Mr. Speaker, I have received the information that I requested. The Premier has taken action. I believe other actions will be coming in the near future. I for one feel that we have to ensure that we continue to make these improvements to how we govern, ensuring the people who work for this government understand that there are rules and we have to follow them. We cannot find ourselves back here in another number of months, or the 15th Assembly, going through the same thing we have gone through in the last two Assemblies.

I think it is time that we ensure that we have a system in place. We have to look at the whole conflict process that we have in place. It is definitely an ineffective cost to this government and to the way we do it, where we are totally destroying lives, making innuendoes and hurting people who do not have an opportunity to really find a way to have the ability to have due process.

I for one feel that as a government, we have to somehow implement -- I do not know if we want to call it a watchdog or have an agency within this government that ensures that the Minister, the departments, the government agencies are following the protocols and the rules we establish in this House and it is enforced and they do have some teeth. If we find out that someone has breached a specific section of the protocols or the policies within this government, that we are able to react to it sooner than having to wait eight months and we end up in the situation where we are back in this House having the same debate and having the same disputes.

I will make it clear here today that I do support the Premier. I find the Premier in the situation of actions of others, in which he was also kept in the light -- or the dark, I should say, in this case. We have to find a mechanism that we do get back down to business. We do have to get on with the business at hand. That is the message I heard loud and clear from my constituents, the leaders in my riding and the Inuvialuit people. That we do have so much going for us and we cannot lose track at this important time. I think for myself and for the aboriginal initiatives that are out there, because of what has happened with self-government, the Intergovernmental Forum, we are talking about finally being recognized on the national front on where we are going with revenue sharing.

I think as a government, we have to somehow find ways of avoiding this type of a process that is time-consuming, is played out in the media, and at the end of it all, everyone in this room, everyone in the gallery and the whole Northwest Territories is affected, either directly or indirectly because of what has happened in this government.

For myself, having gone through the 13th Assembly, we had some good leaders. We had some tough decisions. We made some good decisions, but the public out there does not look at the good decisions. They look at the 13th Assembly as a public inquiry and that is not what good government is about. Here we are again because of a similar situation.

I for one feel we have to change the way we do things and find a system that is effective, that reacts to the actions sooner rather than having to go through this process for eight months. That you have the regime in place that catches these things before it comes to this point. That action is taken immediately whenever any intervention or violation is being done.

Mr. Speaker, getting back to the point at hand in regard to the process of the motion, I for one again feel that we do have to have a process in regard to this motion, like I mentioned earlier. The motion should have come from this side of the House to state exactly where we stand. We agreed to a process through Caucus to allow for some review to take place where we allow the Premier to make a public statement for half an hour and tell us exactly what he has done in the action taken to ensure the public is made aware and the public trust is reinstated by certain actions.

The Premier has taken those actions in my eyes. He has made sure there is now a strict administrative policy and procedure in place, which I have here in my hand, and that the actions on where we go from here are again in the hands of all Members in this House. We are the ones who can assure the public of that trust. We have been given that trust to preserve and protect and ensure we enhance it through what we do here.

What we do as a government reflects on who we are as a people. I think it is important to have good government. We must ensure that we have input from the people. I feel we do have to take the time to really look over what has happened here, to really look at exactly how these decisions made within the last week have affected everyone. Statements in this House have affected individuals on both sides of the House.

We can say we are one big happy family and leave here and say, "Oh well, it is over," but it is never over. The only time it will ever be over is when we do not have these types of situations. We have to ensure there are mechanisms that allow us to say these situations will never happen. But they happen. All we can do as individuals and Members of this Legislature is ensure we have good policies, good procedures and good enforcement of those policies and procedures to ensure they do not happen. When they do happen, we react to it quickly and also sincerely to allow due process.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting the Premier on this. I think it is time for us as a government to get back to business. We have too many big-ticket items out there. I believe that we have to do the right thing here; implement these policies and procedures and let us get on with it. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. To the motion. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we started the 14th Legislative Assembly, we all got together collectively and we developed a document called Towards a Better Tomorrow. We developed and identified visions and common goals. We developed many strategies, Mr. Speaker. The government itself outlined plans to improve the social and economic future of the people of the Northwest Territories and this was based on the Assembly's vision of Towards a Better Tomorrow.

Over the past two years, we have developed excellent relationships and partnerships with the federal and aboriginal governments here in the Northwest Territories and with industry and the business community. In my own department, Mr. Speaker, the Premier has been a strong advocate, contributor and supporter of the many strategies that our department has undertaken.

A lot of work has been done by all of us. I feel we are on track as to where we should be according to Towards a Better Tomorrow. There is excitement here in the Northwest Territories about the future that is in front of all of us. Northerners are participating in the economy and they are enthused about the outlook here.

We need to collectively tell constituents, the federal government, business and industry, who no doubt are watching, that we have a stable and progressive government.

Premier Kakfwi, I for one support you, in the words of Mr. Handley as he said last week, 100 percent. We need to stay the course and continue to build the dream of a "have" territory as envisioned in Towards A Better Tomorrow. I believe Mr. Kakfwi brings that so very important quality of stability to this government. He does care about the people and about the future.

Under his leadership, the Intergovernmental Forum brought together federal, territorial and aboriginal governments to assess a number of issues, including resource royalty revenue sharing. He has been here to promote the oil and gas activity and aboriginal involvement in this development. He has placed the social agenda on the front burner.

The people that each of us represent are also represented by others: the chiefs, the councillors, the business leaders. Over the past few days, many of these people have spoken out in strong support of the Premier by various means, including to myself. We have laid the foundation, a solid foundation, for the NWT. Now is the time to build on that foundation together, all of us together. I would hope that the Members, all Members on the other side, would support the Premier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause