And, therefore, I would like you to consider my point of order, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

I'm very familiar with the use of the word "sleazy," Mr. Speaker. I know the English language very well and the word "sleazy," is only unparliamentary if a Member uses it in the context of calling another Member sleazy or, in fact,

dishonouring Members of this House by accusing them of that kind of behaviour. I have too much respect for the people in this Assembly to ever call a Member sleazy.

Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is not Friday, but my colleague from Yellowknife South has reminded us all that the Kidney Foundation begins its drive today. I would like to recall for Members that probably the most famous person in the Northwest Territories with kidney problems was a man called Albert Johnson, who lead the RCMP on a merry chase in the 1930s. In the fall of 1931, Mr. Speaker, he went into the store in Fort McPherson and purchased himself a whole case of Dodd's kidney pills; a total of 550 kidney pills. I have often thought, when I read about this man, that although you had kidney problems, with the right kind of help you can do superhuman things. In fact, he proved himself to be a person who had tremendous physical resilience despite the fact that he had this impairment, this difficulty. I often thought that if he had not had that problem, they would probably still be looking

for him because it did slow him down a little bit. I just added this little bit of northern trivia, Mr. Speaker, to just remind us that there is a fund that is established to help people with kidney problems and it is possible to lead a good life with assistance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to table Tabled Document 39-12(7), the Northwest Territories ballot that I referred to yesterday in my Member's statement. It's the Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey of opinion of the Northwest Territories about recall.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will give one example just this morning of somebody who has a claim on Victoria Island who can't develop it because of the uncertainty of tenure and so on. To keep that claim alive, you have to pay money every year and get so much work done, otherwise it lapses. That's one example. I would like to ask the same Minister, although we're very much interested in revenue, companies are also interested in revenue. Does the government have any kind of role to play in making it more attractive for companies to operate here? For example, by giving them a reduction in the kinds of taxes they have to pay because the initial costs are so very heavy? Have you given any thought at all to helping people during the start-up period so that it's easier to phase in by giving some kind of tax holiday for a year or two? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's fine to say, yes, we'll eventually get an accord so we can share in the wealth. But, what if there isn't any produced and people aren't going to come here because it is so difficult. Since this is the budget session and we're talking about economics, I would like to ask the Minister of Finance a question, although he may want to defer it to another Minister. I understand that one of the big problems that many of the companies that would like to put in millions of dollars into this part of the world experience is the problem of tenure. How much certainty of tenure do companies have in doing work here with all this debate going on about who owns what?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today's Yellowknifer puts our Finance Minister and a very famous Roman politician who lived 2,000 years ago in the same headline. About 2,000 years ago a Roman senator called Cicero said we have to lessen dependence on government, get people to work and get the economy moving. We can't have all these handouts, we have to create our own wealth. Mr. Pollard, I'm sure, should be very happy to see that comparison.

Since, in his budget address, he has pointed out that what we have to do is encourage our economy and in light of the letter I read this morning, Mr. Speaker, about mining companies giving up because this isn't seen as a good place to do business, what did this government do in this budget in order to make it more attractive for all the money in the south to come into the territories? Is there anything in this budget to make it attractive for those people to operate here?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, March 1st, is the national day for the country that I came from many, many years ago, so I always celebrate it. Today I would like to read into the record, Mr. Speaker, a letter from a fellow Welshman who has been involved with mineral exploration and mining in the Northwest Territories for close to 30 years. He is the president of Aber Resources, his name is Grenville Thomas; this is what he says in his recent letter to Mr. Lovell, the mayor of Yellowknife: "Thank you very much for your call this morning in regard to Aber's closure of its Yellowknife office. I can assure you that it has nothing to do with any concern we have with the city of Yellowknife or the services supplied.

"I am enclosing a letter I wrote to Nellie Cournoyea a year ago expressing my concerns with over-regulation. This is a big problem in the Northwest Territories and in Canada as a whole. However, in addition to this you have devolution, division, land claims, native self-government, environmentalist and all manner of self-interest groups to cope with, in an Alice in Wonderland scenario. Great for Alice, but not for the mining companies striving to discover and develop northern deposits.

"The amount of hot air generated and the paper required to record it all is staggering for a population of 60,000 people. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, never has so much paper been generated by so many for so few. For example, Aber is currently prevented from working on Victoria Island land because of a dispute over jurisdiction between the federal government and the Inuvialuit. Bear in mind that Inuvialuit settlement was made in 1987. The north desperately needs someone to pull this desperate group together by emphasizing their common interest as northerners, not their differences."

The letter is signed by Mr. Thomas and at the bottom he has a PS that says "I'm going to Argentina in late February; just to look around you understand." Because things are obviously not going very well for his company even though they are still active in the Northwest Territories.

People are attracted to overseas, Mr. Speaker, because of greater security of tenure, reduced taxes and royalties, tax periods, greater possibility of owning things and also access to high-level mineral resources. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, my time is now up.