Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s the last day of session, and I will be glad to be going home. When I first came here at the beginning of session I was one of the ones who said, “Let’s not waste our beautiful summer days in here.” I saw ice on the lake and buds on the trees when we got here, but we’ve gone through a change of season.
I was one of the ones who said, “Let’s not try to beat this untenable budget document to death here. Let’s just go back to the drawing board and come back.” But a number of Members wanted to persevere and press on, and they did. Between reinstatements, reinvestments, reassignments and the fact that we’re going to be revisiting some of the ’09–10 cuts when we come back to do our business plan, I think we ended up with something that we can go home and talk to our constituents about and be very proud of some of the advances and some of the accomplishments that will be entailed in that budget document. I do look forward to getting back to Hay River and debriefing with my constituents and dissecting some of the details of the budget further.
Mr. Speaker, this was an experience. It was an unusual experience, even for those of us who’ve been around here for awhile. I must say that I’ve gotten to know all the Members quite a bit better. I want to say how much I appreciate all their perspectives and what they bring to the table. I think there are many things that can be accomplished when we work together.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
