Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleagues for their efforts to bring this motion forward. I did indicate to them during the early discussions some of the difficulties I did have with the motion. Unfortunately, I don’t see changes to reflect that.

I do want to refer to my statement today and my record of speaking out clearly, loudly, consistently, often lonely, on the absolute need to get our Aboriginal partners to the table participating in our Devolution Agreement-in-Principle. This is not a time, really, to be creating new structures. I think of a couple of reasons for that. One is the special recognition of our current fiscal situation and the unknowns about any costs associated with this, given a lack of terms of reference for such a commission.

The second aspect of it is, as my colleague mentioned, we are at the dying days of the 16th Assembly. We know the sensitivity of creating these sorts of things in the dying days of an Assembly when it really is responsibly a duty of the following Assembly, in this case the 17th , to be creating such

structures.

I am concerned, as I think my colleague Mr. Krutko mentioned, about the trend of creating new, and duplicating existing structures and what that does in terms of separating us as opposed to recognizing the need to actually come together and really

reinvigorate discussions with a clear goal and focus toward recognizing the benefits that can come from a real collaborative partnership. That simply takes hard discussions and the digging down to the common goals and putting things in place to make that sort of thing happen. So I believe there is that sensitivity to it as well.

Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that I strongly support and understand and agree with much of what I’ve heard in discussion of this motion and support of it and I’m there with the general intent of this motion, but not with the specifics of creating a commission. On that basis, I will be abstaining from the vote. Mahsi.