Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will keep this brief. I think I am the last on the list, we have been going over three hours, so I will do my best to keep this tight.
I just want to say a few thank you's before we finally and mercifully put the 19th Assembly out of its misery. Better late than never, Mr. Speaker. And I am just joking. I think that today has shown that despite a lot of the issues that, maybe even the public have seen over the years with some of the, you know, way that we interact with each other that this group, while maybe not as cohesive as it could be, everyone is working towards the same goal. Everyone has the people's the residents of the territories’ best interests at heart. I am proud to be part of that, Mr. Speaker.
First and foremost, I want to thank the people who are the reason we are all here, and that's the constituents. So I want to thank my constituents, the constituents of Hay River North, for giving me the honour of serving two terms in the Legislative Assembly here. I can't even begin to explain what I have learned, what I have experienced here. It has been it has been truly amazing. I have met amazing people. Even in my own community. When you are an MLA, people come to you and they open up to you. You hear things that you don't expect to hear from people. And you really, you really get insight into their lives, into their families, into the history of the community, and it really brings you much closer to the community and that's something that I am always going to treasure, Mr. Speaker. And the people of Hay River have been through a lot, especially in the past five years. You know, we often talk about COVID as the beginning of the crisis after crisis. Well, in Hay River, just prior to COVID, we had the highrise fire. Overnight, 150 people were homeless, just like that, Mr. Speaker. The other thing that that highrise had, in addition to 150 people and their homes was vacancies. There was a time when you could go to Hay River and find somewhere to rent. If there was a teacher that the DEA wanted to hire, they didn't have to worry there was nowhere for them to live. And we lost all of that, Mr. Speaker.
Less than a year later, or almost a year later to the day, we started to deal with COVID. And for two years, we dealt with COVID and Hay River, I think, might have been more divided than any other community in the territory. And those wounds are still healing.
Mr. Speaker, after that came the flood at that point, the biggest natural disaster in the territory's history. 50 homes damaged or destroyed. People are still dealing with that. People are still out of their homes.
After that, Mr. Speaker, almost a year to the day, was the first evacuation this year. And our neighbours over at KFN, a number of our neighbours lost their homes.
Not long after that, we all know what happened. The worst fire season in the history of the Northwest Territories. I got the evacuation alert and then we packed up we had been packing since that morning because when that wind picked up that morning, I thought that we should be prepared. And we drove out of town, I drove down to High Level, and by the time that I got there, there was no cell service. I tried to call home. I tried to call back to Hay River to see what was going on. Couldn't get through. I got a call from Minister Thompson. He was great about keeping me updated about what was going on and, basically, he said Enterprise is gone. And I couldn't fathom that. I couldn't understand that. And, Mr. Speaker, that's what happened.
And so the amount of homes that have been lost in Hay River, and our neighbours of Enterprise and KFN, over the past five years is extraordinary. It's unbelievable, and people have been dealing with a lot. And Mr. Speaker, that's on top of everyday life. Life can be tough in the best of times and so that backdrop for the past five years has been difficult for everyone, and I want to acknowledge their resilience and the struggles they have been through, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I've really I really enjoyed being a Regular Member. It's a much different lifestyle. I was home a lot more. I got to go to all of the events in the community. I talked to a lot of people. It was great. But as a Minister, I spend much more time either in Yellowknife, on the road, or in Hay River in my office and in meetings, virtual meetings, and so I don't get to go out as much and my constituency Ann has had to pick up that slack, and I really want to thank her as well.
People usually don't go to their MLA when they are happy about something, and so she has had to deal with some very angry people, some irate people, and it's tough. It can be tough on a person to sit there and deal with that, with all of these other things that I just mentioned, in the background as well. And so I am very appreciative of that and what she's been through.
Mr. Speaker, I am one of the MLAs for Hay River. I am lucky to have another colleague, the MLA for Hay River South, who is my dad. And, frankly, I don't think that I could ask for a better colleague to help me represent Hay River. I think if you look around the room here, I don't know if there is an MLA who is more universally respected or liked. I, in my hallway there, the Minister's hallway, I hear him in our hallway more often than any other Regular Member. He's not just lobbying; he's building relationships. And from my perspective in Cabinet, I can see that that has paid dividends for Hay River. When you are well informed, well researched, reasonable, rationable, likeable, you can you are influential, and I would recommend that anyone who, who is back here, look at some of those traits and tries to employ those, because I think that he has been perhaps the most effective Regular Member, and I am proud and honoured to be his colleague and work with him.
I also want to mention very briefly, because I can't talk too much about this, but in the last Assembly I had a colleague who was very influential to me, Alfred Moses. He really took me under his wing and, you know, I regret that we lost contact thereafter, after that last Assembly. But I really appreciate everything that he did for me. And I was I became very good friends with Alfred, very good friends, and we would hang out after session, you know, every day. Alfred, myself, and Herb Nakimayak, favorite MLA from Nunakput. It's a call back to earlier, in case anyone wasn't listening.
And so, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to mention that I saw he did a lot for me, Alfred. He really, he instilled in me the values that you need as an MLA. He was so communityminded, so hardworking, and I think about him often and I know he is missed.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to being an MLA, I am also a Minister and I really have to thank my ministerial staff. We have a very small team. You know, I go to these meetings with federal, territorial, and provincial Ministers and they have their chief of staff and three other staffers for their one little tiny department. Upstairs there's three of us, Mr. Speaker. I have Ron and Sheila, and we manage ECE, justice, and government House leader position, and it is a lot of work and it would be impossible without them; the place would fall apart and so I can't speak highly enough of the work they do. And I thank Alfred for putting that team together because I came here, I took over his office and his team, and so I am very appreciative of that too.
Mr. Speaker, I also have to thank the departmental staff. I am not going to echo everything that Minister Wawzonek said, but I do endorse it. I think that government employees get a bad rap sometimes. There is always a bad apple who people say oh, they don't even do anything, they don't work. Mr. Speaker, the staff that I work with, the senior staff, a 60, 70, 80hour week, that's not unusual. You know, we work long hours and there's times when we have been working 12 hours a day, I need something done for the next morning, they continue to work to make sure that we get that done the next morning. So I work with a number of deputy ministers and ADMs, and I can't speak highly enough of what they bring to the role and their value to the territory. But as a Regular Member, I thought oh there's 6,000 employees, the GNWT can do anything. Until you get into the departments, you realize there is a lot of employees but they have jobs, they are focused on service delivery, they are focused on these things, and really the people who do the things that we are asked to do, it is a relatively small group of people and they are dedicated and they put in the time and I am very appreciative of that.
Mr. Speaker, I have to of course thank my family. I already thanked my dad. My mom, she's probably here in the gallery more than most people. She's not here right now but whenever we are sitting, she makes a number of different appearances as well as my sisters. They are all very bright, they all very openminded, and I can go to them with issues and they've always been very supportive. And I realize that not everyone has that support and so I am very thankful for that.
And of course, finally, I just want to thank Chantal, my spouse, Mr. Speaker. I am on the road a lot. You know, it's, even if you have a meeting here one day, it's a threeday trip to Yellowknife for me often and so, you know, she's understanding about it. She picks up the slack. She makes sure that if the truck needs to get serviced it goes into the shop, the fridge is full of groceries, and all of those kind of things, the daily life that we often don't have time for. She is, you know she's that constant in my life so I really appreciate that, and I appreciate her and I love her, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
