Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today because of an event that happened yesterday. The subject that I am going to talk about is certainly no stranger to this House. The sad thing is that it never gets enough air time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk today about the unsung heroes of this Legislative Assembly. Their names never get on any plaques. We never really talk about them very much. They never ever get paid. They very rarely get mentioned under any circumstance. Mr. Speaker, they are the backbone of every politician. Mr. Speaker, what I am really talking about is the commitment our families supply to us, supporting us to make sure that we are here to do what we have to do.

Case in point, Mr. Speaker -- and this is kind of why it touches me so much -- is the fact that yesterday morning I got up and drove my wife to work. I then took my son to his grandmother’s house to drop him off because she is taking care of him right now. I rushed in to get here for a 9:00 meeting, another meeting at 10:30 and one at lunch. Guess what? We had session at 1:30 and, to no surprise, it went to 5:45, and here is another one, we had another meeting. That meeting went to 8:00. Now, I had a meeting that started at 7:00, so I went to that meeting at 8:00 and went until after 9:00, and it continues, Mr. Speaker. On my way home after 9:00 -- I walked home -- I had to visit a constituent on my way home.

I received some phone calls last night as well. Mr. Speaker, I arrived just in time last night to help my wife finish giving my son a bath, and I just got him dressed and put him to bed. Mr. Speaker, these are really sad things because I hope the day doesn’t come that my wife has to card me at the door, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be on the Premier’s family, whereas he travels so much. I am certainly glad I have the support that I do. I have to recognize the difficulties that we all go through, especially that our spouses must suffer from.

Mr. Speaker, every start of every Assembly, I bring down a photo of my son here as a reminder of why we are here. I would hold it up, but I have been in trouble before for holding things up, so…

---Laughter

I won’t break that rule twice. Mr. Speaker, I am just going to quickly close to say special thanks to people like my mother, who takes care of my son, my mother-in-law, who is always there for us when she takes care of him, and especially to my wife, who tends to get neglected because they realize the sacrifice and the importance of this job, and that we very rarely find precious time to get together to share the family time. But, Mr. Speaker, it is just important to bring this up, and I think that sometimes we forget about why we are here and how important it is and the support we get. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause