Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to speak in support of this motion. Back in July of last year, I was at a videoconference call over at the Greenstone Building with the Finance Ministers from around the country, and as we were waiting for the call to start, we ended up talking about elections and things that were happening in our jurisdictions, and that's when I first heard from Manitoba and Saskatchewan that they had changed the dates of their election, and because they have fixed election dates, as do we, because of the possibility of those dates coinciding with the federal election and that the federal government, as a senior government, has made it clear that if there is any movement to happen, it will happen at the provincial and territorial level. They had taken advantage of that advance notice and they had gone to their systems to do that. Subsequent to that, we also know now, I believe, Prince Edward Island is looking at the same movement of their dates because of the overlap.
That issue, I brought back to Cabinet. We thought there was significance here. There are potential problems that we could all readily identify that have been outlined by Mrs. Groenewegen. We also took the matter over the months to Caucus and back to Cabinet to talk about how it was going, what are the options, what should we be doing, and to the point where as time has marched on, devolution is coming, we're not that far from the election, the decision was that somebody put a motion on this floor in the House, which Madam Groenewegen has done and I thank her for that. I'm happy to second it, to have the discussion about that we need the tools to manage our business.
We're the only jurisdiction in the country that doesn't have this authority. We are the only jurisdiction in the country that doesn't have the capacity to deal with the problem that's going to occur on our watch, which is this overlap with all the potential and practical problems that will occur by having three major elections, four major elections happening at the same time. This motion is a very common sense, practical motion that, as a Legislature, we need to be in a position to manage our affairs. We shouldn't stand here handcuffed, because for this period of time when we know there's a problem coming to be able to deal with the issue that's going to be before us here in the not-too-distant future. To me, this is a very practical, common sense motion that allows us to proceed; to talk to the federal government, to get the authorities so that we, in fact, have the tools to manage our affairs, and as Mrs. Groenewegen pointed out, when we get that and there is further discussion, there will be another process, a public process. That bill will have to be included. There are things that Madam Groenewegen indicated that are worth considering, things like triggers and those types of things, but this is the fundamental next step to pass this motion and to give us the tools to manage our affairs.