Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it feels that we have been here in this situation too many times now. I want to apologize to the committee, I was not able to attend the committee meeting yesterday, I had to attend a community meeting in Fort Providence so I was not able to participate in that discussion with the committee and neither was I able to get back in time to put my comments into this committee report, so I should not be viewed as part of this discussion in this report.

I have a lot of concerns over this issue. I have thought about it quite a bit. I do agree that the Auditor General's report is pretty straightforward. It is pretty hard to contest a lot of the comments in there. It is really disappointing to see that Cabinet and their advisors did not follow the agreements that were laid out and some of the interpretation of the policy, I cannot support.

At any rate, there were a lot of infractions that happened, which was wrong. We all agree that it was wrong. However, I wanted committee to hear both sides of the story, and I had requested, when I was here yesterday, to the committee that we have some witnesses come forward so that we can hear the other side of the story -- we can hear from the Premier, we can hear from the staff and other Ministers. However, there was no interest to do so.

As an elected Member, it is my job to make decisions on behalf of my riding. Right now, as a result of this conflict of interest review and all of the incidents that have transpired over the years, we are spending up to $2 million now, and it really bothers me. Nobody has asked me for approval to spend that kind of money, yet it is being done. We have to ask ourselves, how did this happen? How do these things continue to grow and how do we...it seems like a never-ending exercise that we are in here. Is it because we received poor advice? I do not know, but certainly it is because we have a process that allows for it. For me, there are only two routes to follow here. Either we ask for a review and do corrections to the policy so that this does not happen again, or we shut this government down.

It is really difficult for me to consider stopping and trying to run for another election, or even changing the whole Cabinet or the Premier, because I have worked hard over the last three years to learn the system, to put some initiatives in place for my riding. We do not have a lot. I cannot afford... I do not have million dollar jails, or multi-million dollar jails or hospitals in my riding. All I can count on are initiatives that I have initiated in my riding and hoping that it is going to bear fruit.

We are getting close on a number of things. It is really important for me to listen to some of the chiefs that have contacted us, like Charlie Furlong and James Firth, that ask us to stay focused on the big-ticket items.

I, like everybody else here, am embarrassed by the number of incidents that have happened, where we are all labelled and painted by the same brush. Many times, more often than not, some of us do not have and have never been asked for any comments or have never been consulted on a lot of decisions. We just have to live with them.

I certainly am concerned. I am glad the Premier took the time to give us an explanation and try to justify what has happened. I do not agree with all of the Premier's explanation. However, I feel that everyone is allowed to make mistakes. Over the last three years, I am sure, more than once, for every Minister across that room, I would have liked to fire them, but we have to have an understanding that we can work together.

I am totally convinced that our Premier is very hard-working and did not go in there with the intention of pulling the wool over our eyes. It was a mistake. I am not going to support the recommendation to request his resignation. At this point, I cannot do it. Those are my comments. Thank you.