Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have shared some information with the Members of this House about this issue. We can get very technical about it. I think this is where, as people who like to keep things as simple and as transparent as possible, we sometimes get ourselves into difficulty and hear the worst in what are very straightforward answers.

There is no about-face, unless you want to twist it into that. You are completely able to do that as Members.

The chief of staff position is not a newly created position because it came out of the executive assistant position, out of an existing position. Members, including the Member for Inuvik, will remember I was properly asked very strongly not to increase staff. Even additional secretaries were discouraged when we took office. I thought they would have applauded the fact that to politically enhance my office and the staff's ability to deal with their counterparts across this country, that retitling the executive assistant position to be called chief of staff and in order to track the people who can do that job, to give it a senior management level type of salary, to try to work it that way, that it would be resoundly applauded.

Here we are over a year later with this Member still much chagrining at this development. You know, you could have avoided all of this. They simply could have agreed to give me the additional staff position called the chief of staff and also allow me to keep an executive assistant position as well. That is hindsight.

The fact is we have put together a legislative proposal. We are dealing with it. The Minister responsible, Mr. Handley, has answered the questions. I do not consider that an about-face. It is explained in the legislative proposal and in some of the responses we have made to date. Thank you.