Please be seated. Mr. Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, good afternoon. Quyanainni, qaiqqafi, and shiik kut hai cho.
I would like to offer my congratulations to the NWT Wise Women Award recipients for 2017, Judy Lafferty, Lydia Bardak, Ernestine Lennie, Jane Grossetete, Linda Ann Mabbitt, and Jennie Jacobson. Best wishes to each of these very fine women. Keep up your good work!
I want to wish each of our MLAs a well-deserved break following this session, safe travels to your homes and communities in your ridings, and a happy and blessed Easter in a few weeks.
Now, as Deputy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, I am pleased to assent to the following bills:
Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act.
Bill 13, Marriage Act
Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2016-2017
Bill 21, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2016-2017
Bill 22, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2017-2018
Bill 23, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2017-2018.
Thank you, hai cho, quyanainni, merci beaucoup, mahsi cho, koana. May god bless.
Please be seated. Colleagues, before we adjourn today, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Pages who have assisted the Members during this six-week session. It is truly a pleasure to have young people in our Chamber.
Members, March is Aboriginal Indigenous Languages Month. In the NWT, we have 11 official languages, so let's get out there and promote our precious languages. At this point in time, I would like to say masi to this session's interpreters. They are Mary Rose Sundberg, Ruth Carol, Sarah Cleary, David Black, Tom Unka, Margaret Mackenzie, Suzie Napayak-Short, Dennis Drygeese. Thank you for providing excellent services during this long sitting. Masi. Without you, the language would be lost.
I would also like to take this opportunity, on behalf of all Legislative Assembly Members and staff, to offer a fond farewell to Vera Raschke, who will retire as legislative librarian before the House sits in May. Vera joined the GNWT in 1987 and became our Assembly's librarian in 1993. She is famous among us for finding information that no one else can. Vera has always provided first-rate library and information and also any information services to the Legislative Assembly, the government, and the public, as well. I also want to recognize her contribution to the quality of our Hansard transcripts. Vera will be missed, obviously. We wish her every happiness in her retirement.
A thank you to Cayley Thomas, who has assisted us at the table during the last two sittings and with standing committees, as well, including a few road trips. We will miss you, but we know you won't be far if we need to ask for you again.
I would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate one of our own, Michael Ball, committee clerk, and his wife, Dana, on the arrival of their daughter, Bridget Nicole Merrigan Ball. Congratulations.
To you, my colleagues, I wish you safe travels throughout the North back to your constituencies as you return to your communities. Spring is a beautiful time here in the Northwest Territories. The days are getting longer, and the weather is warming up, gradually, slowly. I certainly do hope that you will spend some quality time enjoying the spring carnivals and community events in your constituencies that will be taking place across the Northwest Territories. I also encourage you to continue to work hard during this recess and to take the opportunity away from this House to connect with your constituents and with your family as well.
I look forward to seeing you all back in this Chamber refreshed.
Orders of the day for Thursday, May 25, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.:
Prayer
Ministers’ Statements
Members’ Statements
Returns to Oral Questions
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to Commissioner’s Opening Address
Petitions
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
Motions
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Masi, Madam Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Thursday, May 25, 2017, 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
