Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have talked a number of times around this issue and I will not use the whole allotment that would be given to me as mover of the motion.

I would, Mr. Speaker, like to reference why I feel this is necessary for us as the 14th Assembly to move to a general election. To clear some of the concerns raised out there, there has been some talk that if we do go to an election, that will cost us more money. Well, Mr. Speaker, all we do is move up the election year from the next year up to the upcoming election, if this motion is adopted, which would be mid-February, I believe, would be the time that they could put this into place and possibly have a new government in place by mid-March.

Mr. Speaker, it is important for us, as we read through the motion, that we maintain the confidence of those who put us here. Mr. Speaker, it is not an easy job to try to set up your private life and business life to match and equal what is expected of us, but it is required of us to do just that. Mr. Speaker, I have mentioned this a couple of times, but to get to the point, I will just read a couple of things to try to draw attention to that.

Under the Conflict of Interest Act, obligations of Members, section 75(a):

Each Member shall perform his or her duties of office and arrange his or her private affairs in such a manner as to maintain public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of the Member.

Further in that, under 75(d):

Each Member shall make all reasonable efforts to resolve any conflict of interest that may arise in favour of the public interest.

Mr. Speaker, under section 77(3):

Where the Premier has a conflict of interest in any matter relating to the performance of his or her duties as Premier, he or she shall:

1. (a) Disclose the general nature of the conflict of interest to the Executive Council;
2. (b) Delegate to a Minister designated by the Deputy Premier the responsibility to perform his or her duties in respect of the matter; and
3. (c) Refrain at all times from attempting to influence any decision in respect of the matter.

Mr. Speaker, even though we have heard some Members say that this is something they wanted time to consider, because it may be deemed as new from the Auditor General's report, unfortunately, it has been an ongoing item. And that is why the committee recommended to this House the recommendations it did.

Mr. Speaker, when we look at the actions of our government, and again, for the record, it was unanimously accepted by this House that the Auditor General's report be accepted as it was written. There was no disputing the facts, but the House decided that there was no need to go any further, that the resignation of the Premier was not required. And that, in fact, in speaking to the committee recommendation, there was some discussion about the possibility -- would it really fix things to remove one Member, the Premier? Maybe we should look at a general election or go out and get a new mandate. Those comments were made around this House, were made in the media as well, and I think this gives opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to restore that credibility back to this institution, to go back to the people of the Northwest Territories and tell them, or see what they tell us, if this is acceptable behaviour, if we can in fact look at our rules and say, "Well, for this instance, we have decided to step back and just continue on."

I heard Members in this House talk about concerns of impacts of this government's policies that cost them an extra $20 when they need to get something changed, a document of this government, but, on the other hand, we will let go an added benefit of $250,000. That is not including the pension that person would get because of the way the termination is set up. In fact, while we are here continuing to work, and if we continued our mandate, that person would still be eligible for a pay and all the benefits of a GNWT employee, even though we would be out on the election trail, so to speak.

Mr. Speaker, it has been ongoing, and I laid it out already, in this House, when we have been told one thing and now told another. It is not acceptable. It is not acceptable that we have laws that we can bend for our own purposes, but yet expect our residents to follow the rules.

It is not acceptable that we can tell someone who has applied for income support that they do not meet the policy and they have to be excluded for another month or two, or they just do not qualify, period, because the policy is firm. But in our own instance, when it comes to taking care of business in a sense of ruling on our own behaviour or our own actions as government, we seem to fall short.

Well, here is an opportunity, Mr. Speaker, that we can all put that trust back into the system. We can all go out and seek a new mandate. We can all do our best to restore, to the best of our ability, the confidence that the people of the Northwest Territories would hold in this office, and they expect us to hold while we are in this office.

Now, I am not asking anybody here to suggest that anybody wanting to come back should walk on water. It cannot be done unless you are walking on a frozen river or lake.

Mr. Speaker, it is a matter of following the rules we set before us and accepting those consequences, accepting what we have done. As Members of this Assembly have accepted the report and what has happened, and not accepted that we should impose a penalty on the fact that actions were taken that did not fit our policies and guidelines as a government.

Here is an opportunity, Mr. Speaker, that all Members, as independents not held down by any rule that you have to vote with a party or anything like that, but as independents, to represent the people who put you here, to step up to the plate.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that Members will do the honourable thing and restore, accept this motion and restore credibility back to the institution that we are in. At the appropriate time, I will be seeking that we have a recorded vote. Thank you.