Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday, March 21st, will be the official kick-off of spring, although it doesn’t feel like it outside at the moment. Spring in Yellowknife means Caribou Carnival, Mr. Speaker. This is an occasion where all residents, visitors, families, young and old, partake in numerous events that are taking place. This will begin next Friday, Mr. Speaker. Some of the events that we have gotten used to enjoying at this carnival are dog mushing, or a tea boiling contest, or vying to be the owner of the ugliest truck in town. I was going for that until recently when I sold my ugly truck.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, this being Friday, I thought I would add some humour here. One of the most visible and important parts of this event is the contest to choose the Caribou Carnival queen, princess and, this year, prince. The winner is chosen by the number of tickets sold, but in the process, these contestants become great ambassadors for the events and get people really excited and get the anticipation of the event built. It was in the spirit of joining this excitement, that the Yellowknife MLAs of this Assembly invited all the contestants to join us in the gallery today and to share lunch with us later on. I believe that most of them were able to join us and I will be recognizing them at the appropriate time later on.

I would just like to thank the contestants, all of them, for putting their names forward in this venture and making an important contribution to this very important event in our city.

I should also thank all the sponsors without whom we couldn’t hold these events. If anyone has had a chance to look at the tickets being sold by these contestants, there are some spectacular prizes that are serving as great incentives for everyone to sell as many tickets as possible.

I think that is a very important aspect of it. So, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to give a plug for our Caribou Carnival which starts next Friday and to invite the Members to come and say hi to their contestants when they get an opportunity throughout the early afternoon today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause