Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I love being able to represent the people as a Member of this Assembly. I absolutely love it, and I'm passionate about it, so even though I'm usually pretty even-keeled I sometimes get frustrated with decisions that are made or when I think we should be doing a better job.

That's why I've been a little cranky lately, because I'm sure you could tell from some of the statements I've made in this House over the past sitting or two sittings. I know that the Ministers have noticed, because I've been taking my frustrations out on them. However, Mr. Speaker, in the end, we're all on the same team, we all have the same goal, and we all have to work together.

That's why I want to start off this statement, at least start it, by giving Cabinet a compliment. As a member of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, I've had the ability to review a few pieces of legislation that the government has brought forward. Depending on the bill, the review process can be quite a bit of work. When it's all said and done, the committee will recommend changes to help the government improve the bill. I have to compliment Cabinet on being open to accepting the changes, or working with the committee to craft a change that works for everyone. In pretty much all the legislation we have reviewed, I can point to places where this cooperation has improved things and made things better. It highlights the best of consensus government, Mr. Speaker.

I wish that this cooperation would have extended to the timing of the introduction of the nine bills that the Standing Committee on Economic Development will now how to review over the summer. However, it is what it is. While I don't speak on behalf of committee, I think it is safe to say that we will do our best. While there is always a dump of legislation at the end of every Assembly, being tasked with reviewing this many highly technical bills with this level of complexity and with this little time is unprecedented. In order to do our job effectively, we essentially have to become subject-matter experts, and we just don't have time.

Because of the importance and long-lasting effect of these bills, every resident in the NWT deserves to have an opportunity to provide input, input that becomes the basis for the committee's recommendations. Again, it is unfortunate that these bills weren't staggered, because there is no way we are going to have enough time to visit all of the communities that we would like to. I apologize in advance to those communities who won't have an opportunity to provide input in person.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the role of the public servants, and I appreciate the work they put into these bills. I know they do a good job, but the committee's work really does improve these bills. I am upset that we won't have the time or the resources to wind up with the world-class legislation the Northerners deserve. I hope, if anything comes of this, that future assemblies recognize the situation that we are in and they learn from this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.