Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I would like to say something. I want to say thank you to all our visitors. You have to say thank you very much. I am representing Monfwi region and I would like to say thank you to all the people in that region, and we also have to remember the people that we sit with. But I am also married; I have a wife and children. I would like to say thank you to all my family and also I would like to thank my mother and my father who are in the audience. I also have a lot of Tlicho citizens in the audience. So I would like to say thank you very much for their support.
I hope that we will do well this year. We want to work together for the next four years. That is our job that we will be doing. From here and on, I would like for us to move forward in a positive direction.
In the North there are a lot of things that we’re worried about. In the North we have to support one another in order to accomplish a lot of these things that we have to work on together. We also represent 33 communities. So we have to support one another and work together. That is why we are here.
I’m so happy to be in amongst these MLAs here. They also have the same feeling; they want to support each other and to move ahead for the next four years in this House. So I would like to say thank you and I would like to thank all the visitors, our families and friends and all the Members. I’m so happy that we had a good opening with this 17th Assembly. Let’s move forward in a positive way. Thank you.
The Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I would also like to say thanks and I am glad that I am able to be sitting amongst you to represent my riding in Fort Providence, Enterprise, Hay River. They are the communities that voted me into this position and we have a lot of work ahead of us in the next four years. We also want to work for the betterment of our constituents and everybody in the Northwest Territories.
So I’d like to say thanks that I’m sitting amongst you again. The things that I feel are important to work on and we are all pretty much in the same boat. Who is going to be heading the head of the boat? We have to know who is, who our leaders are and there might be some rough waters for the future, but if we work well together, we will be able to represent our riding as good as we can.
Today, right now, it’s getting to be winter. In the past our ancestors were prepared for a rough winter and gathered food and preserved stuff, and we also wonder where we will be hunting and where we will be able to find moose, and these are the things that we knew in the past as Dene people. We work together well. We also have to think how we are going to be working well together with that in mind. [Translation ends]
…support also at the same time for our issues, concerns, dreams and desires and, of course, needs and wants of our constituents. There are common issues that we need to work on and build a sense of unity of working together, ensuring we all work for our constituents at the same time for the betterment of the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the people of Range Lake for trusting me with their confidence to represent them in the 17th Assembly.
More importantly, I would like to thank my wife, Cindy, and my two boys Tanner and Bronson, for sacrificing much time and energy during the electoral process. It is never an easy journey to get here, believe me.
As a pharmacist, I have been serving the needs of health care for thousands and thousands of Northerners for almost two decades and I have been honoured to do so. My commitment to being amongst you here today is to serve to the best of my ability the people of Range Lake, but more importantly, all the people of the Northwest Territories. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of the Mackenzie Delta for their continuous support as the Member of the Legislative Assembly. I’d also like to thank my family for their continuous support.
Also, I’d like to congratulate yourself, Mr. Speaker, and also the Premier, Mr. McLeod, and our Cabinet Members and the other MLAs here. I look forward to working with you all in a positive relationship and the staff of the Legislative Assembly. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all today I would like to thank the residents of Hay River South for electing me to the Legislative Assembly for my fifth term. I would like to thank my campaign team for their support and I would like to thank my husband, Rick, and my children, who helped me and supported me in getting here again.
I would like to congratulate all Members who were elected to the 17th Legislative Assembly; particularly I would like to congratulate my new colleague for Hay River North, Mr. Robert Bouchard. We’ve been getting to know each other a little over the last few weeks and we’ve been having a lot of fun. I may have some competition to being the class heckler here.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to congratulate you on being elected as the Speaker for the 17th Assembly. My congratulations to Bob McLeod, Premier-elect, for the 17th Assembly, and my congratulations to all of the new Cabinet Ministers who will be sworn in later today.
Mr. Speaker, I’d also like to use my Member’s statement today to answer a question that has been out there on the minds of a few people, not the least of which are my constituents.
People have been asking five terms, which has never been done before – Mr. Miltenberger and I are the first two to forge that envelope – a woman representing the second largest community in the Northwest Territories, and some people say a couple of brain cells rambling around in my head, so why not run for Cabinet. Maybe people don’t realize this, but we have a convention here in our Assembly of regional representation in Cabinet: two from the north, two from Yellowknife, two from the south, and one Premier at large.
When it was determined that Mr. Miltenberger would not be our new Premier, being from the south I had a choice to make. Mr. Miltenberger had 10 years of experience in the Cabinet. He is known for his amazing work ethic and a very bright man, and a friend to Hay River. Mr. Tom Beaulieu has been my colleague for the last four years but I’ve known him for many years, a former resident of Hay River with family there, also a very competent person who represents a small community. I believe that the small communities should be well represented in our Executive Council. I was very pleased to see both of these gentlemen representing the Members for Hay River South.
I’m going to have to be the first one to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
As we move forward, I look forward to using my experience, my 16 years of experience in this Assembly to back up Regular Members, Cabinet Ministers. I’m looking forward to a term where Regular Members can become even more involved in the roles of the Assembly and we can work together more collaboratively.
I did want to put that explanation on the record today and say that I do appreciate having my voice on this side of the House as well. There are lots of pros and cons to being in the Executive Council. One of the pros to being a Regular Member is that you can stand up in the House and you can express your opinion on behalf of your constituents on any subject and I value that very greatly.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. I’d like to tell the audience in the House, if you could turn your phones off. There’s no cellular service in the House. Moving on. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
