Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to give a few reflections on what has been, well, is almost coming to an end and has been a long budget session. As Michael Miltenberger indicated, this is the 19th budget that he and I have had the pleasure of working on together.
Each of us is sent here by the electors of our constituencies. I respect those decisions that people have made. It’s a democratic process. People can put their names forward and the electorate chooses. I’m honored to say that Hay River South has elected me five times. I have had credible, respected, formidable opponents in these election campaigns and that is part of the democratic process, and I also respect those people.
Just for the record, I want to share my appreciation for the hard work of this Assembly and for you, Mr. Speaker, in the challenges that face all of us as we do this kind of work. There is not a day that I walk out of this Assembly, and walk down that long sidewalk out front, if I run into Premier McLeod that he’s not toting a big briefcase full of documents that he’s taking home with him. There are Members in this House who have made sacrifices. There are Members with new babies that are away from them for extended periods of time. We all know this when we get into public office. I’m not complaining, but these are the stark realities of serving the public at this capacity.
What is serving the public at this capacity? It is public service. I’ve been here five terms, and maybe some people think that I should have aspired to do more than be a Regular Member. I’m honoured to be a Regular Member. I’m not the greatest original thinker in the room, that’s for sure, but I do think I have an ability to observe what other people are saying and to summarize and collect my thoughts and present those thoughts, and I do love my work at the constituency level as well. There’s nothing more gratifying as an MLA than getting a call from a constituent with a problem and being able to use your experience and your skills, whatever they are, to bring to bear on that issue and to help people and see concrete and favourable results from those efforts. It’s a very, very rewarding experience.
So to anybody who thinks we’re here wallowing in the sense of our own importance and all the money we’re making, and again, I look around this room and I see everybody in this room having come from different perspectives but able to do very well for themselves no matter where they are. I am very honoured to serve with this group of MLAs and I just wanted to take a moment this morning to thank them for what they do and contribute to the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
