Mr. Speaker, this is not an easy time. I’ve been on both sides of the floor during times like this and it’s not easy. A couple Members, I respect the brutal honesty and their stand on the position. We are all here to...There’s reason for each person to do what they do and they feel whatever they have to, to do best.

I was walking here this morning and I was wondering where I was going to start. I was going to start from the time I got in here, my expectations of being an MLA to what I saw after I came in here which didn’t impress me at all and Jackie’s made reference. The politics within the politics is what got to me and I could not believe that. I didn’t want to believe that, but unfortunately it’s true. I’ve seen it during the 15th ; I’ve seen it during the 16th .

We profess ourselves to be leaders across these Territories. There are times when we act like leaders when it’s for our convenience, and there are times when we don’t act like leaders and people expect more of us. I hear people talk about my Northwest Territories and my Northwest Territories goes from Sachs Harbour to Fort Smith, from Fort Resolution to Aklavik. It includes all the Northwest Territories. I hear from people. We can’t fool people out there. We can’t. I really wonder sometimes where we are going. Where are we going? Are we doing what’s best for this institution or are we doing what’s best for the Northwest Territories as a whole? I really thought about this morning as I was walking here and I was also thinking I picked the wrong time to try and quit smoking, because I could sure use one right about now.

---Laughter

I agree with some of the comments over there. I hear some of the comments over there and I appreciate the brutal honesty of some Members. Like I said, everybody has a reason for doing what they do. It’s not an easy position to be in, whether you’re on that side, where I’ve been twice already. I’ve been here for four and a half years, I think this is the third, maybe the fourth time I’m going through this and people across the Northwest Territories are saying well, that’s fine, hold people accountable. You’re putting too much energy into it and that energy could be best used somewhere else. The communication issue, it happens on both sides. It happens on both sides. I sat with the Regular Members for the first 12 months of the 16th and here for the last going on four, I think four months to the day, and I see that it works both ways. That’s something that has to be cleaned up. Throughout this whole exercise, and I’m really glad

we’ve had this debate in public on the floor of the Chamber because the people out there can see. Throughout this whole exercise, I think it’s become evidently clear that we have to fix the line of communications and, in my opinion, so many times the ability to move forward is hindered by dragging stuff from back here. We can’t move forward if we are constantly dragging weights. That’s the God awful truth.

We all talked about moving forward for what’s best in the Northwest Territories. If I have done anything wrong, I would face the Members and I would stand here on my merit and be judged as to whether I had done my duty or not. I would accept the consequences. Look me in the eye and say I have no confidence in you, don’t pull the trigger. I can respect that and I can live with that. But to be put at the side of the ditch and machine gunned into the ditch is not something I truly respect.

I have heard talk of a ship out in sea. You know, you get an imbalance of people paddling on one side, ore on one side. We are going to veer off and I think it’s happened too many times in this case. Perception, we can stand up here and I can be up here saying all about the Northwest Territories, people don’t always hear what you say. They see what you do. Perception is nine-tenths of the law and what you say or what you do actually speaks a lot louder than what you actually say.

Mr. Ramsay mentioned fighting with Cabinet and that’s a true statement. I mean we all have our differences in here and we aren’t always going to see eye to eye. We sit…Cabinet, Cabinet doesn’t always see eye to eye. We don’t always see eye to eye with each other. But at the end of the day we have to put all that aside and we have to not just talk about doing what’s best with the people of the Northwest Territories, we actually have to do it.

Mr. Abernethy pointed out this is a great place. This is a great place to live. It truly is from the time you’re born until you’re planted, we live a very good existence here. Our schooling is taken care of. You see our kids in school, they don’t have to find part-time jobs because their SFA will look after them. We have a good system here. It’s not perfect. I’ll be the first one to say that. There are glitches as the Members like to point out, but for every glitch there are probably 10 or 12 good things that are happening and people across the Northwest Territories are being looked after, sometimes not as well as they would like, but they are looked after and I believe looked after very well. In my opinion this Territory in this country is the best place to be living.

You are concerned with leadership issues.

Leadership, in my opinion, is 19 Members of this Assembly. We have to set aside any issues, any

differences, we have to set all those aside and we have to start moving forward, we have to work together and I’ve always been confident in people’s ability. I’ve always been confident that at the end of the day a good common sense decision may be made based on what we keep talking about is best for the people of the Northwest Territories and to blow up the government right now, is it the best use of our time? Do we not have work we have to do? If a message was being sent, the message is heard, I guarantee. I listened to each one of you as you spoke over there. I have heard what you were saying and I am sure we’ve all heard what you were saying. That’s a good start and something we have to work on and that’s something that we have to nurture and just to make sure that is something we continue to do all the time. It goes both ways. Like I said, I sat there for twelve months, four months on this side, it works both ways, it works both ways. I think that’s something we are going to have to sit down, I think as Jackie said, we have to sit down and get things ironed out. Why can’t we, as Rodney King said, why can’t we all just get along? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.