Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is great to be back here, and I welcome all my colleagues back to the Legislative Assembly. We have a long six weeks ahead of us, and going into this type of thing there is anticipation, there is excitement, but there is also concern. It is just like getting together with your family. We know that we are going to have a long session together, and we know sometimes with that type of length we are going to get into some arguments and some debates, so I apologize for anything I say to them over the next six weeks.
I would also like to mention that you opened up this session talking about the fact that we’re going to be on national TV, Bell channel 513 and Shaw channel 289 or 489, depending on the type of system you have. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our staff who worked over the last couple of years to get us on this national platform, so it’s great for our Legislative Assembly.
In the next six weeks, devolution will definitely be a big factor in our discussions. We have a lot of work to do. There is a big question of how we are going to go forward and how the new budget is going to be affected by this session, by this devolution, what we are going to do with our Heritage Fund with those revenue resources that we have. I would also mention the fact that we’re going to be discussing electoral boundaries, the future of the Northwest Territories and how those electoral boundaries will be divided up and what the future of the Northwest Territories will look like.
I look forward over the next six weeks to looking at and getting updates on the Tuk to Inuvik highway, education renewal, decentralization in the GNWT and our regions, mining strategy, the Energy Plan and how that will save the people of the Northwest Territories money and make the cost of living reduced here in the Northwest Territories.
This is an exciting time for the Northwest Territories, and I look forward to the next six weeks. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
