Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To myself, it is not a question of whether I continue to support the Premier or not. I think it is important for me to convey very important messages that I have been receiving from my home riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Mr. Chairman, I too assume moral responsibility as an elected Member to this Assembly, as well I do not put myself above my colleagues in this House who elected me as a Minister. The challenge for me, Mr. Chairman, is the level of advisement we received throughout the process. That concerns me and especially concerns my constituency.

The fact that the money issue raises great concerns, the fact that we put these people ahead of the very small people who are disadvantaged, that concerns me as an Ordinary MLA representing the riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes that has a very high population who still rely on a subsistence economy as well as many who are on income support and in public housing.

I also have the business community that is vibrant that relies on industry which I need to protect as well. The integrity of my riding is important. This issue has raised many concerns throughout and I am saying that we need to look at an ongoing commitment from all of us to help the Northwest Territories prosper in my own riding or their riding.

I feel compelled to respond while I continue to hear that there is a need to protect the integrity of one person who has caused so much grief and so much concern to all of us. It is inordinate for us to defend and continue to defend under our legislation when we know that there was ill-advisement throughout the process. I cannot directly say that I can be accountable because I was never privy to the information until most recently.

My constituents are continuing to raise a very important point to me. I must be honest with them and represent them under my oath of allegiance to this Assembly and I must let them know today through this process that I was not made aware of what had transpired in the period of time we had taken to debate this.

As I said earlier, it is very important, as other Members have, to discuss in this House today what we feel is morally right and morally wrong. I think when the issue comes to severance and whether it was done in accordance with proper policies and procedures, I have been indentured to ensure that we need to make these changes to reflect better government. The accountability aspect I will not speak to too lengthily because personally as I said earlier, I was not privy to a lot of the detail until recently when it was disclosed through the public process.

It harms me as a Member of this Assembly that we continually debate amongst ourselves what is morally right and morally wrong. I think we have spent a lot of time, a lot of effort trying to make things better for our people and yes, we always have shortcomings. We have a poor fiscal position, unfortunately, that we tend not to deal with. We tend to deal with more, to me, issues that would normally... in this case, this report.

I feel that under our mandates we do have to address critical questions and time consumed on this report takes away from our ability to deal with those issues that are very important to our people. I feel somewhat betrayed when we stand in the House or stand up in meetings and pray that we work for those who are underprivileged. I must say as a Member of this Assembly I feel privileged to represent my riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes and also work and represent the people of the Northwest Territories in the small communities of Kakisa, Trout Lake, or in the board room in Ottawa.

That is one privilege we have as elected Members that we can always cherish and will continue to do so. Again, my main concern is putting people, who are in need, at a disadvantage. I want to convey to my fellow colleagues here in this House that is why I assumed this role, it is a challenge.

Hopefully if those Members in the House that feel we need a new leader or we need to continue with our current leader, that is certainly something that I will sit here and evaluate as the debate continues. With that, Mr. Chairman, I thank you.