Ms. Lee, I will allow you to continue speaking to the motion, but stick within the motion itself. You are straying into process outside of this bill, so stick to the motion, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe I have made my points clear. I think there are items in this bill that I agree with. There are many things that I understand are important and I support them. However, there are a few items that I don't think are suitable and that is the airport spending and the legal aid clinic. For those reasons, I am going to vote against this and put the government on notice that we expect them to bring things forward when we are meeting and not do everything when we are outside of here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be voting in favour of Bill 13, but I just wanted to indicate my displeasure as well. A lot of the things contained in Bill 13 could have been brought to the Members beforehand and debated. Instead, the government chose to do it after we finished sitting back in June. There were a few other opportunities and they did send us some memos, but it's not the same as sitting with us as Regular Members as a joint committee to debate the merits of some of the expenditures, Mr. Speaker. With that, I will finish up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to say clearly I will grudgingly vote in favour of this bill. I am disappointed because if we vote in favour, it goes through without any serious objection, unfortunately. If we vote against it, we create ripples that are difficult to see at this time. Will they still charge forward? I have no doubt, so I have to vote in favour of it because I feel like my hands are tied.

I can't see that far in the future, so I don't know what will happen if we don't. I feel left out of the process, so what do I do? Do I vote against it just because I feel left out of the process? I think Members could have been consulted better and earlier because we knew this. The merits on this bill stand on their own and it's not one of those things I really want to vote for, but I feel like my hands are tied.

The government may look at AOC as not united enough to fight against them to vote against this bill. I am not sure how they feel. They may think we are not ready to go. I don't know what the case is. I think AOC's time is coming to stand up and vote against bills like this and to show we really mean business. Whether we put on the gloves, as a metaphor, whether we do whatever we do, the time is coming. So you won't be getting many yes votes as easy as they may come today or as easy as they have come yesterday, so I think the government needs to know that that time is coming.

There are some displeasures I have for voting for yes and I wish I could vote for no. It's about the process. I think special warrants are wrong the way they are being used. I think the special supplementary issues are issues I have and that's why I want to vote no.

Again, I refer back and close by saying I can't foresee the ripples. I don't believe in the merits of this bill. I don't believe in everything that's been brought in with regard to this bill that other Members have had concerns about, but as a whole I will have to vote in favour. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting the passage of Bill 13. The reason I am supporting it is very simple. If the government has to find resources from within to find funds that aren't approved here today, our communities will suffer. As an MLA, it's a choice I have to make. That's our responsibility to our communities. I can't blame the government or anybody else. I am responsible here. So the roll of the dice says I have to vote yes. That's what I am doing to support this bill.

At the same time, we are learning the process as working MLAs. We see how things move and some of my honourable colleagues from this side are also learning. They are seeing how the system works. We want to be included and part of the process. I think the government got our message. It's a clear message they got. They have three more years. For me, the logic is very simple. If you take $20,000 out of the Stanton hospital, it won't have a huge impact, but if you take $20,000 out of the health centre in Tulita, it has a big impact for our people. That's a big difference. I am not willing to risk it to the services to our communities.

Again, I will restate that the government has our message. We can deal with issues that brought us to where we are right now by changing our practices or possibly amending the Financial Administration Act. That's what I would like to say, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for four days, we discussed this supplementary appropriation and the Members made it quite clear that they were concerned with a number of items and, as we hear here today, the process as well.

Mr. Speaker, the process that we used is one that is established and as the Premier said earlier, we will gladly sit down with Members to discus how we would go about this. This bill was put together within the rules we operate by. Yes, there are a large amount of special warrants within this supplementary appropriation. Forest fires, which were in the summertime when we weren't meeting when the department came back and knew they would overspend their budget. The school collapse in Inuvik and the fire that followed them is another $2.5 million, Mr. Speaker.

Now there was concern raised about the airport facility and the work that's going to go on there. That is now being established in the budget, after negotiations between the Department of Transportation and CATSA. They were trying to secure more money for the project, they realized there was a timeline in place, and if we don't get that project approved then CATSA itself will take over the project and put in place what they feel is necessary, without regard to how we operate, without regard to the industry out there that operates here in the Northwest Territories, and they have shown so. There's an example of Whitehorse and Nunavut where they're going to do the work to meet their timelines with the budget they have identified, without concern for the governments of the day.

So we're of the position that this needs to go ahead, that we should be in control of it, and that we should make the necessary repairs and infrastructure changes that would still see a useable facility that would still allow for the air carriers that operate out of there to make a go of it without being hindered more than necessary. Yes, we realize that the full plan isn't put together, but that plan will be brought back to Members of this Assembly for review. The rest of the plan that's going ahead is going to be within the business plans.

So, Mr. Speaker, we realize that there are times through supplementary appropriations, and especially special warrants, that are of concern. As a Member who sat on the other side of the floor, I have raised a number of issues about the use of special warrants. So, Mr. Speaker, in this bill particularly there are some large numbers in here around special warrants. It's not taken lightly that a bill that would come forward or if a request for came money forward that we would look at this and just throw it in there and say well, we think we've got the numbers.

Mr. Speaker, when we put this together I have not sat down with any of my colleagues and said if this does not go through then retribution will be paid to this Member and that Member on this project. That is not how we operate. Mr. Speaker, there have been many, many issues raised on this bill since it went into the House. I could sit down and pull out comments that Members have said that are based on pure politics, but, Mr. Speaker, we are about getting the business done and we need to do this. We take the message coming from Members that we need to take a good look at how we're going to use special warrants in the supplementary process.

Mr. Speaker, there have been a number of issues raised out here that we just need to put some clarity to on this bill and the information that flowed, especially around the airport facility. I am prepared to table, if the Members want, a letter that did go out requesting time from the committee for the Department of Transportation to go through what had occurred. A decision was made in late June, a letter was sent in July, and, unfortunately, we couldn't get the time together between committee members and the department until September. So, Mr. Speaker, there's a concern here about what we do, and as Finance Minister it's like I have to just throw this out there without regard to what might happen and without regard to the rules.

Mr. Speaker, this bill was brought forward following the rules of this Assembly. We can't tighten it up. As the Premier stated, I'll gladly sit down with the Members to look at tightening up the process, and we have to make sure we're clear on how tight we want them to be because there could be things that happen as a result of that, but we'll have that time to go through it.

So, Mr. Speaker, this bill does, for the record, put it on the floor, has allowed debate, and residents of the Territories have heard the discontent about the process in a number of the projects. But I feel, as Finance Minister, in reviewing the request that came forward, they were brought to the table and we reviewed them. With the Members' concern raised here, I will definitely be using that when my colleagues come forward for requests, to tell them to think twice about it before it comes forward.

Mr. Speaker, for the record, I would like to let the Members know over there who have questioned my credibility in this process and said that I am not doing my job, I have followed the rules, the rules that are open and available to everybody, and I have not gone around those rules. This bill was put together and is needed for the legitimate expenses that have occurred in some cases and that will need money coming up.

So, Mr. Speaker, just for the record, we followed the process, we are tight on our money, we recognize that, and we've heard the concerns and will gladly work with the Members on trying to make the process go a little smoother. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. A recorded vote has been requested.

Question is being called. All those in favour, please stand.

All those opposed, please stand.

All those abstaining, please stand. The results of the vote: 15 in favour, 2 against. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 13 has had third reading. Item 21, third reading of bills. Mr. Clerk, orders of the day.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Friday, October 29, 2004, at 10:00 a.m.

---ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 5:32 p.m.