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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The last three months have had their share of government controversy and with session starting up again this afternoon, there will be no shortage of topics for MLAs to talk about.

All regular Yellowknife MLAs contacted last week said the supplementary health benefits program will be the hot button issue.

Health minister Sandy Lee announced Monday she was postponing changes to the program until Sept. 1 but it's likely to remain a big issue during this legislative session.

Glen Abernethy, MLA for Great Slave, held a constituency meeting last Wednesday and said 27 residents showed up - from physicians to seniors to family members of people with serious medical conditions. All of them, he said, "were very upset about this cabinet's position" on supplementary health benefits."

Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay said the government's track record over the past 18 months has been pretty bad.

He cited the supplementary health program and the board reform initiative as examples of policies made public too early, before proper consultation from groups affected by the decisions.

"They seem to come up with half-baked policy decisions and they don't fully understand what they are doing by taking them public."

"People want something done and I think this session that is coming up is going to be a showdown between the regular members and this cabinet and it might not be very pretty," said Ramsay.

With the government's recent $34 million Discovery Air loan, Premier Floyd Roland's affair with a former legislative assembly clerk, and former premier Joe Handley's new job with a Deh Cho Bridge contractor all coming to light in the past two months, Ramsay says public confidence in government is at an all-time low.

"I don't know how it could sink much further," he said.

"I just can't see the public accepting us not doing anything and just letting these guys get away with what they are doing."

Regular MLAs hold the balance of power in consensus-style government. They vote in, and can vote to remove, cabinet.

"Dumping the whole cabinet, that's something else I think members are going to entertain doing," he said.

"It will be discussed. I can tell you that much."

Abernethy said he's "heard rumblings up and down the hall" about removing cabinet, but said on Thursday it was not an agenda item regular MLAs had set for pre-session committee meetings.

Abernethy said he had concerns with cabinet's ability to communicate information to regular MLAs and wondered if they will even listen when MLAs raise questions. He cited comments Health Minister Sandy Lee made in last Wednesday's Yellowknifer, where she said the supplementary health benefits program would go ahead even if she were removed from cabinet.

"It sounds like cabinet doesn't care what regular MLAs think," said Abernethy.

"That's not really how consensus government is going to work. They're supposed to be there to listen."

Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro would not comment on whether she supported removing cabinet members, but said she shares concerns about cabinet's lack of communication.

She said sometimes it felt as if the "public has more information than we do. Communication from the executive is not what it should be."

Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins said he does not necessarily see removing cabinet as being productive.

He would prefer a proposition, not opposition, approach.

"Cabinet can't see us as the opposition but we are actually partners in the executive of running the future," he said. "Could communication improve? I don't think anyone would say they are perfect, but I don't think it's that bad that we need to overthrow the government."

Michael Miltenberger will also unveil his first budget as finance minister tomorrow. It is expected to run a small deficit to spur on infrastructure projects, cut jobs to continue last year's government reduction exercises, while also introducing new taxes to generate $10 million in additional revenue.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley did not return phone calls.