Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last June in this House I made a statement on the way consensus government is supposed to work. I pointed out that consensus government is a system where each Member is allowed to vote as he or she wishes on any subject matter. Consensus government is a system where our approval of any decision requires agreement by the majority of Members. Mr. Speaker, when I raised this issue in June, I was disturbed. Although we are elected to practice consensus government, this is not what was or is actually practiced.
During session last June, the Deputy Premier stated that as a government, we have a responsibility to make sure that our budget is in place and is followed as closely as possible. Despite these words, Cabinet continues to use supplementary appropriations, special warrants, to transfer money from project to project in certain ridings. Because of this practice, Regular Members spend a lot of time asking questions about why and how money has been moved around in Minister's ridings. By Cabinet doing this, I feel the political process is undermined. Regular Members have no knowledge or input on where these funds are moved. We are left out of the loop of the decision making process, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we sit in this House and on committees to work for our regions and to work for the Territories as a whole. Each Member lobbies hard to ensure that the needs of his or her riding are addressed and that government money is allocated fairly. It is disrespectful when Cabinet ignores this process and chooses which project it will fund without any input from Members.
Mr. Speaker, as elected Members we are writing the last chapter of the 14th Assembly and creating a transition document for the next Assembly. In this document, I think we need to include the things that have worked well during the last three and half years and the things that need improvement. The continuous disregard and exclusion of input from Members in the funding process needs to be addressed. As well, the inability of Ministers to freely vote is of great concern to me. My understanding is that this procedure is new to the Assembly. It is inconsistent with the concept of consensus government and it is geared towards party politics.
On a brighter note, I am pleased to say that I have seen one instance of consensus government in action. Of course, I am referring to the decision made by most of my colleagues to defer the implementation of the harmonization strategy. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.