Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Greetings to my constituents in Inuvik, my wife and children. Today I rise to speak on the issue of what I see as a major about-face. Mr. Speaker, when we first came into this Legislative Assembly, we were told that on the royalty revenue-sharing issue, that we would hear some good news by June. We were told in fact maybe the fall. The latest update, Mr. Speaker, we were told 2003. The timing is quite coincidental with when this Assembly ends its days.

On the issue of fee increases, we were told that revenues we tried to raise on our own were small and virtually had little impact, so they were not a good idea. We were told on the taxing of our people in the Northwest Territories, that as well had little impact because the federal government would take much of that back.

Mr. Speaker, just as we started this session, in my question to the Minister responsible for FMB, he stated that the chief of staff position was probably a DM position, as I read it. An about-face, Mr. Speaker. We were told how things would work out when we sat down as Members of the 14th Assembly that some things were not a good idea and we should not move forward. They justified those reasons to us, yet today, Mr. Speaker, in this budget today and what this government answers in questions today, we get different answers than we were given a year ago.

We see fee increases across the board coming with this new budget. We had this government propose new taxes and we had the Premier state that the chief of staff position was an executive assistant position, but the Minister of FMB told me in an answer that when it is classified, it will probably be a deputy minister position. About-face, Mr. Speaker. How much more will we take as Members of the 14th Assembly? Thank you.

-- Applause