Thank you, Madam Chair. A lot of the Members are indicating that this was already dealt with. Obviously, it’s not already dealt with; that’s why it’s back here. I think everybody knows that we have to go through three readings in order to make a decision on these things.

I like what Member Bisaro had to say about the consideration of what the Electoral Boundaries Commission had to say on culture and language. That’s what my whole point is, that that was not considered. I think what should have happened is that should have been a paramount issue. You should not eliminate a language, one of our official languages, and you don’t make decisions that will eliminate one of the official languages or cultures of this House, of this Legislative Assembly.

People seem to be confused as to how many MLAs can represent the NWT. It’s in the legislation. There’s a maximum amount. It sounds like people in here think that it just goes on forever and that the number will never stop. It stops at 24. That’s the maximum in the legislation that you can have. So that’s the most you can have. We’re nowhere near that. We’re at 19 now and moving to 21. Individuals are saying that’s $2 million, which it’s not, but that’s $2 million to add two MLAs. Again, that would be the cost of having every nation represented in here, people that represent every official language in the Legislative Assembly. That would be the cost of that.

The Member for Thebacha has said nobody has ever come up to him and said, don’t pave my street, get a new MLA. Of course no one says that. Who

would say that, right? Why would anybody ever dream to go up to an MLA and say, don’t pave my street, get another MLA. That’s ridiculous.

The point is we have to make the decision here to make that decision. I know we have to cut $30 million out of the budget. That is something we will work on. We would put this into the framework. We seem to be able to find ways to pay for a lot of things in this House, but when it comes to paying what I am asking for, pay a little money to keep a nation in this building, all of a sudden the cost is too high. We can’t possibly do this.

This is what I have a real issue with. I cannot for the life of me understand how Members of the Legislative Assembly can vote to eliminate a language and a culture that is official in the Northwest Territories. I can’t for the life of me understand that and I would like to ask for a recorded vote.