Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a way never before, the NWT took Ottawa by storm, led by our Premier, Bob McLeod. Mr. McLeod’s vision and leadership brought together many politicians, Aboriginal leaders, and certainly business leaders in a way never before seen, united in a front to support the North. Our campaign without his leadership wouldn’t have gone as far as it did. It was a great success. Our campaign was to raise northern issues, and it all came down to the leadership of Bob McLeod. He deserves our thanks for that, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause
In a way never before, to his credit, he brought the NWT issues all the way down to Ottawa. They talked about the NWT for a whole week. Never before have our issues become their issues.
Over the four days in Ottawa, our story was told all about the NWT. We made those leaders understand our agenda and what’s important in the North. They learned about the potential of the North and what the North can do for Canada. They learned about our potential. Our Premier, with his ambitious hunger and focus, made sure, in a seriously focused attitude, that the NWT delegation was out there pounding the streets, and we knocked on doors and we got that attention.
Our Premier led our vision with seven priorities. Without that focus, they wouldn’t understand about the sustainable needs our territory needs and the investment. This Premier brought this to our House. He brought the attention and credibility to the northern issues and I thank him for that.
Our vision was finely tuned, and it was to dovetail with the issues led by our federal government so we can improve Canada’s North. We talked about building infrastructure, we talked about supporting housing, we talked about increased training, all important pillars for success in the North. These priorities are designed to thrust the northern economy forward, because we can be, and will be, a net contributor to Canada.
Now that Ottawa has had a formal education on NWT issues about what type of economic powerhouse we can be, I am going to tell you, they were keen to hear our message and we were keen to tell it.
In short, and to bring it to a close, I want to say we couldn’t have done it without the leadership of Premier McLeod, the Aboriginal leaders, our business leaders, and certainly the fine staff and support people we have in our GNWT. It would never have happened without them, and their fantastic work made us all look good. Thanks to Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
