Debates of August 23, 2007 (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to use my last Member’s statement of this 15th Assembly to reflect on my just over two and a half years here. It has been a privilege, and I mean that sincerely, to serve the people of Inuvik Twin Lakes. I look forward to the opportunity to reaffirm their confidence in me and come back and do some more battle in the 16th.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with my colleagues on this side of the House, especially those in Social Programs. We had many discussions; we had differences of opinion; but you always acted in the best interests of your constituents and I respect you a lot for that.

Mr. Bell, Mr. Dent, Mr. Handley, you’re all leaving this Assembly and I wish you well in your future plans. We’ve had some agreements; I’ve agreed with a lot of things you’ve said. There are some things that you’ve said that I haven’t agreed with and I wanted to agree with you, but then that would have made us both wrong, so I didn’t.

---Laughter

I’ve enjoyed sitting here next to my colleague Mr. Hawkins. It’s been an interesting two and a half years, Robert.

To Mr. Braden, our elder on this side of the House, I counted on Mr. Braden a lot for advice and he’d always lean over and tell me what we were doing, so I appreciate that.

---Laughter

I believed him for the first week; after that, I was on my own.

We have a job to do here -- it’s not a job, it’s something that we chose to do -- and that’s almost impossible to do without the support of people that put you here, people that work to get you here. Then once you get in here, Mr. Mercer and his staff really put you to work. I remember my first couple of days here where I went to torture room B and had my own private orientation.

---Laughter

Also without the support of your family, it’s almost impossible to do what we do. My wife is up in the gallery there and we’ve been married for 28 years now and she’s had to make a bit of sacrifice for me being gone all the time; at least I hope it was a sacrifice.

---Laughter

So to all my colleagues in here, I wish you all well in whatever you decide to do. To those that are running for re-election, I wish you well and the best of luck. I pray things work out well for everyone in here. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is the last sitting day of the 15th Assembly, so I would like to reflect some thoughts over what transpired over the past three and a half years.

When I arrived for MLA for the Nunakput riding three and a half years ago, I did not discuss my candidacy with my wife, Lucille, or my two sons, Bertram and Darren, because it was a spur of the moment decision. To be honest, I did not expect to be elected and representing…

---Laughter

To be honest, I did not expect to be elected and represent my constituents when elected. Mr. Speaker, becoming an MLA and representing your constituents can be a difficult job because we know we can’t solve all the problems of our constituents. We can only lobby the government and colleagues to listen to our issues and concerns during business reviews and hope they will include your projects into some budget planning process.

Mr. Speaker, as an example, I lobbied very hard to my colleagues to have an RCMP presence in Sachs Harbour. Although it took three years, the Minister of Justice eventually included this project into the business plan.

Hear! Hear!

---Applause

Two RCMP officers will be located in the office we’ll be establishing in Sachs Harbour by 2008, although it’s one year late.

I also lobbied very hard for the last three and a half years for an all-weather road between Tuk and Inuvik, but recently, over the past few months, to find $15 million over three years to construct the 22-kilometre access road from source 177 from Tuktoyaktuk just so that the community of Tuk can have year-round access to a gravel source. This morning, Mr. Speaker, I listened, with interest, when the deputy mayor of Tuktoyaktuk was interviewed by CBC and he is obviously very disappointed that this government could not commit any funding towards this project before dissolution of this government. The deputy mayor has spent a lot of time and effort in promoting the construction of the road. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I hope that the Cabinet will make a strong recommendation to the 16th Assembly to add this as a high priority of the next government. Apparently, the Deh Cho Bridge at $150 million has precedence and we move forward because Cabinet considers this a national interest. Whose interest is it? Is it the Premier and Cabinet? This bridge, when built, will not serve the people.

Okay, I have your time for Member’s statement expired.

Mr. Speaker, may I request unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues. Whose interest is it? Is it the Premier and Cabinet? This bridge, when built, will not serve the people in the Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu regions. Once again we, in the Far North, are left out on major projects to connect us to the rest of Canada and we will continue to pay the high costs for fuel, oil and gas, et cetera.

Mr. Speaker, on other matters, I would like to thank Tim Mercer, Clerk of the Assembly, and his staff for all the support they gave me over the last three and a half years. To my honourable colleagues, it was a pleasure to meet, discuss, argue and eventually resolve issues through our committee deliberations.

To my wife, Lucille, sons, Bertram and Darren, my brother Charles Pokiak in Tuk, thank you for all the support you gave me over the last three and a half years. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, the communities of Tuktoyaktuk, Ulukhaktok, Paulatuk and Sachs Harbour. Thank you for having the confidence and electing me to the 15th Assembly to represent you. When I ran I said what is needed is you needed the confidence of your MLA to represent and speak on behalf of your interests and, more importantly, to keep in contact with constituents. I think I have accomplished that.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to make one last effort and try to convince the Cabinet to fund construction for an access road to source 177.

---Laughter

Will they make a commitment today to fund this project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter

---Applause