Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members of the 18th Assembly made transparency and accountability a fundamental principle of our four-year term. Together, we developed the public accountability process in the form of a Mid-Term Review. This process was not perfect. It was designed to be fair, issue-based, and open to the public. The review was in place for close to a year. Although government Members were critical of this Mid-Term Review and in fact voted against establishing it, at no point did they refuse to participate in the process.

This motion today is the outcome of that Mid-Term Review process, which is why I am speaking to it. Unfortunately, on the day of the Mid-Term Review, every Member of Cabinet announced that they would refuse to honour an outcome of no confidence and voluntarily step down. The only recourse left to the Assembly was to bring a revocation motion forward, which is what we are debating today, Mr. Speaker.

I believed on that day, and this day still, that that was a bad faith move on the part of our elected Cabinet Ministers and Premier. They take no issue, Mr. Speaker, with how they are elected to Cabinet, and that process also falls on a secret ballot and a non-binding result. I think we can all agree, all honourable Members of this House can agree, that it would be inconceivable that a result in the Territorial Leadership Committee that elects a Minister would be not honoured when formal session begins and appointment motions are brought forward. That kind of consistency is built into processes like the Territorial Leadership Committee or like the Mid-Term Review and is fundamental to preserving the integrity of our democratic institutions here in the Northwest Territories.

It further goes to building trust in the public. If members of the public see a vote of non-confidence, a majority vote of non-confidence that is issued by this Assembly or one of its committees, it is important that that vote be followed through with.

Mr. Speaker, I have always stood for inclusive, positive politics that ensure that Northerners are front and centre in the governance of priorities. I cannot support this process that plays fast and loose with our democratic institutions and offends the spirit and intent of processes like the Mid-Term Review. We owe it to our constituents and to the people of the Northwest Territories to preserve our integrity and to honour the vote that was the outcome of the Mid-Term Review. This isn't about personalities. It is not about politics. It is about principles. I have no problem taking a principled stance here today and supporting the outcome of a process that we all agree to as an Assembly of 19.

I can speak to great length about the shortcomings of the honourable Member of Thebacha in his role as Minister of Justice, Minister of Lands. I have already done that during the Mid-Term Review, and I don't think that ground needs to be re-tread here. For me, this is not about one Minister's performance; that question was settled in the Mid-Term Review. It was settled with a vote of non-confidence, and I urge all Members today to stand up and be counted and vote the way they have voted at the conclusion of the Mid-Term Review. That is what our constituents expect. It is what Northerners expect and it is what our democracy deserves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.