Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think it's pretty clear where this motion is going, but we should make a point of throwing our reasons out there for decisions that we're making.
I see where the Member is getting at in terms of kind of questioning whether now is a time to be growing senior management, and I do -- I do think that those are questions that are worth raising. With regards to reducing the budget by $200,000, similar to some of my colleagues, I just don't think that I want to see this budget reduced any further than it already is. I mean, one of the first thoughts I had when I originally cracked open the 2024-2025 Main Estimates was I was very disappointed to see reductions happening to education because I think of education as being such an integral part of the mandate commitment to grow and enhance the northern workforce by investing in skill development. You know, I've spoken to that ad nauseam in this House already and plan to continue doing that. For good reason, because I believe in it so much. And so I think it's important to discuss kind of the idea of senior management growth and whether that kind of is a wider issue, is really -- and adding positions, whether adding a position is always the answer, and I think that is a wider discussion.
Getting into each and individual decision and kind of trying to manage what departments are doing, you know, I haven't been part of operating this department, I haven't been in on the conversations that were involved in creating a position such as this, and I think we need to think very carefully about making decisions like this on the fly to change -- you know, changes to HR that are happening within departments that the department feels will help things move along more smoothly. So, you know, I would just note that something that stood out to me when I was listening to the Member from Yellowknife Centre speaking is he was speaking quite eloquently to, you know, a suite of inspired ideas. I would have appreciated those being brought forward for our report on the main estimates and think that we could have maybe advocated for those that way. But simply by cutting the budget by $200,000, obviously we can't achieve those things. But I understand the kind of symbology of the motion and understand that the Member may want to kind of make that gesture. But to wrap it up and try to be brief, Mr. Chair, I do not support cutting the budget by $201,000. Thank you.