Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to begin my Member's statement by quoting from our consensus guiding principles: "Consensus government is a unique combination of the British traditions of ministerial responsibility, Cabinet solidarity, and legislative accountability and the Aboriginal traditions of open dialogue, inclusive decision-making, accommodation, respect, and trust." Mr. Speaker, I love consensus government. I would never wish to be a politician in a partisan system, but the system we operate in only works when we all play our roles and we make sure these conventions are followed.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to the principle of ministerial responsibility. That is the principle which is a Westminster's system of government where a Cabinet Minister bears the ultimate responsibility for all actions of their department. The accountable Minister must take the blame for the faults of their department. "This means that, if waste, corruption, or any misbehaviour is found to have occurred within a ministry, the Minster is responsible even if the Minister had no knowledge of the actions." Mr. Speaker, that quote there is from Wikipedia, a source just as infallible as our own guiding principles.

This principle is essential to consensus government, Mr. Speaker, as it guarantees that elected officials are answerable for every single government decision. It is key to motivate Ministers to closely scrutinize the activities within their department. One rule coming from this principle is that each Cabinet Member answers for their own ministry in question period.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, when the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation started talking about their election campaign as an excuse for not knowing what is happening in their department, that is not acceptable. This is not how our system of government works. When a Minister starts talking about decisions of previous Ministers, that is not how this system works. Today, I heard the Minister talk about and take credit for an award on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. They get to take credit for that because they are responsible for all past decisions of their ministry. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation on how the Arnica Inn project got denied due to her department not providing support and how she is going to take responsibility to correct this situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.