Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't support this amendment, but I have actually had a discussion with the people that I represent; well, with the leadership. Their main concern was a fair distribution of resources right across the territory. I'm not sure that consensus government creates a fair distribution of resources to all ridings. I'm not saying it's not happening. What I'm saying is the consensus government system doesn't create an atmosphere where everybody feels that they would be getting their fair share of the resources being spent by government.
I think that we need to be able to go back to people in this room who support the only consensus government. We should go back and look at what the principles of consensus government is. I believe that the way the system is set up here, where you have 11 people sitting essentially in opposition and seven people on Cabinet, would work if the consensus government was followed with true principles and true intent. I believe that it has great potential for not representing individuals who sit in opposition, truly in opposition of Cabinet. It doesn't work if Cabinet doesn't wish it to work.
The system where everybody is represented and everyone has a say is not really coming out under this current consensus government. I feel that people wouldn't even consider party politics or give it a second thought if we thought the system was working the way it should work. By ensuring that everybody has a say in what goes on, who sits on Cabinet, who gets which dollars into which riding on which types of projects, where the projects are brought to here and discussed, the decision is made. That's where this party politics seems to creep into it, where the decision is made by a Cabinet which is like a party at this point. Then you have Regular Members who will vote with Cabinet on any issue that makes them the backbenchers, the people who are trying to hold government accountable for reasons that we would state would lose the vote, so you don't have accountability.
In a true consensus government, if we want to talk about how consensus government should work, then it works by the opposition having the majority vote. This ensures that each and every Member in the House is represented and would have to be represented. Cabinets representing their ridings and the people on this side have a fair opportunity to represent their ridings, as well. Maybe party politics is not the way to do it. Maybe the way to do is to go back to the principles of consensus government and follow consensus government.
I mean, it works if it's followed. It doesn't work if it's not followed. I mean I have done fairly well with the projects, but I didn't have a say in a lot of things that went on. I didn't have a say when huge projects were approved in the ridings of people who sit on Cabinet. What I did try to do and what we did try to do on this side of the House was ask the Cabinet to make small tweaks; minor, maybe a small percentage in order to say that this is what we feel that is important to the ridings that we represent, but we don't have the authority or the ability, I'll say, to be able to carry out what our wishes are in here. It's not because we are asking for too much. It's because we don't have the votes to be able to ask for the little that we have, to be able to get the little that we have asked for. If consensus government was working, this wouldn't even be a discussion at this point.
I think that, at some point down the road, there will be another discussion. Maybe it has to be in a plebiscite. That's what people here in the room seem to think would be good. Go back to the communities and ask them. Unfortunately, the time is not now.
I can't support this amendment, because the people I represent don't want me to support anything that has to do with party politics at this time. Most of the communities that I represent grew up in the system, the leaders grew up in the system of consensus government, and as the honourable Member from Nahendeh said, they said, "You need to give it a full opportunity again." At least one more time to see if the system would work.
I can't support the amendment, but I just wanted to state the reasons why I even considered going out and talking to the leadership on this. It's because I thought that this one wasn't working as well, either. Thank you, Mr. Chair.