Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too am in support of the bill, for many reasons. My colleagues mentioned many, many good reasons why we should be getting this bill. There are no guarantees that I will live until I am 60 but I do have a couple of children that might benefit from this if I am not lucky enough to be there.
Other jurisdictions in Canada, if you look at the Ontario government, they give themselves a pay raise, an enormous amount, over 100 percent, I believe. The Nunavut government is looking at 3 percent. They have to pay out of the general revenues of their government. These are decisions made by elected officials. It is never an easy decision. It is never a popular decision, a decision that you make and your constituents and media will find something bad about it.
We hold jobs where we are sometimes the centre of conversations at dinner tables. We are in the media on a constant basis, being criticized or being promoted. We have the luxury of giving good news and the responsibility of giving bad news. We are on call 24 hours a day. A person who is working at Wal-Mart is not expected to jump on a plane at 10:30 at night to come home by midnight and get to work at 7:00 for the first meeting. It is not the same kind of job as a nine-to-five job. There are no guarantees at the end of the job. You stand up for the little guys or do things that are right. Oftentimes, you upset people in positions of power.
We deal with individuals on a constant basis who are earning a salary of hundreds and hundreds of thousands and a bonus of millions. We are talking about a few bucks in the supplementary fund that is not even part of the general cache of the government.
Our salaries are comparable to individuals working at BHP on a two-week rotation, 12 hours a day. Our salaries are very low in comparison with other positions in the Northwest Territories.
There are a lot of reasons why I support this. My colleague, Mr. McLeod, is saying that our communities are suffering financially. I agree with him, but if we have to depend on the supplementary fund to relieve those pressures at the community level, then I believe we are in trouble as a government.
Mr. Speaker, there are no guarantees I will be eligible for income support as well. I have no problem in supporting this bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.