Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, visitors in the gallery and people of the Northwest Territories. First of all, I would like to congratulate you in your new role as Speaker of the 15th Legislative Assembly. I am sure the Members of this House have selected the right person for the job. Congratulations are also in order for the new Premier, MLA for Weledeh, the honourable Joe Handley. I have had the privilege of working and dealing with him over the past several years and I can certainly vouch for his abilities and dedication. I also want to thank the honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Kevin Menicoche, for nominating me today.

Mr. Chairman, we all know that political life can be very demanding and that family life for us is very crucial. I want to take a moment to thank my wife Joyce and my daughter Shauna, and my sons Kevin and Robin who are not here today but are in Fort Smith cheering me on. I have been very blessed and fortunate to have a family that offers me their support and understanding throughout my career.

We are all here representing different parts of the Northwest Territories and different populations of people and ridings who have supported us. I want to say thank you to all the people in the Deh Cho for supporting me during our recent election. I want to especially thank those who helped me during my campaign.

I have to admit that it wasn't an easy decision to put my name forward for a Cabinet seat. I spent many hours over this past year and over the last several years talking to my family, my friends, my colleagues, the people in my riding and to people all across the North. I am proud to say the feedback and encouragement has been all positive. I am certainly glad that I went through that process because today I can stand in front of you with confidence and say I am ready to commit my time, energy and bring my experience to that of the position of Cabinet Minister.

I was born and raised here in the Northwest Territories. I grew up and was raised here in a small community. I have seen the problems and challenges that face our small communities and communities across the North. I have also had opportunity to travel and meet the many interesting people in almost every community in the Northwest Territories. My education, my background, has all been in the field of business and management. I have worked in and held many political positions. I have worked with hamlet councils, Metis locals, band councils, friendship centres, tribal councils and Deh Cho First Nations. I have also sat on many taskforce teams and have been a founding member of many corporations, social and political organizations.

More recently, I have had the pleasure of serving in this House as the MLA for Deh Cho for the past four years. During that time, I was a regular Member and also Chair of the non-tax-based community affairs committee, Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs and also a member of the Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development.

Mr. Chairman, my main reason for running for Cabinet is I have a genuine interest for creating a better quality of life for the people of the North. Four years ago, I put my name forward for the position of MLA because I wanted to improve the standard of living for our children. I wanted to see our economic, political and cultural way of life assured for all the residents of the Northwest Territories. I also wanted to create new and better relationships with our communities, with our aboriginal governments and with the federal government. These are the views I will bring to the Cabinet table and Cabinet discussions.

There are a number of key areas this government has to focus on over the next four years, in my opinion. The first is to deal effectively with aboriginal governments in the North to settle land claims and outstanding issues. This includes building partnerships and developing new governance models. The aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories have been at the negotiating table addressing self- government issues and land issues for a very long time. To bring these matters to a conclusion, we will require a good relationship between all parties involved. This will require trust and cooperation. We need to develop a system that is fair and responsive to the needs and concerns for the aboriginal people and also for all the people of the Northwest Territories. I am sure as claims are settled and resolved, we will see the territorial government take on a completely different look.

Mr. Chairman, there is also the unfinished business between this government and the federal government that has to be resolved soon. The first issue involves the transfer of jurisdiction over northern lands and resources from Ottawa to the North. It's so important that decisions that affect our lives are made here and not elsewhere. We also need to negotiate an agreement that will give us our rightful share of our royalties and resource revenues, because at the present time the federal government receives the bulk of the royalties and we just receive a small percentage that doesn't even come close to covering the increased demands for infrastructure and government services. My position is that northern resources have to be controlled by northern people.

Mr. Chairman, the Northwest Territories has the fastest growing economy in Canada. The development of our diamond and gas resources will create many jobs and business opportunities and in order for us to all share in the benefits, we must ensure we have the programs adequate to help communities and small businesses to get started and to continue to operate. Many of today's programs are falling short of our actual needs to take an active part in the major projects in the different ridings. Economic investment is required in our communities.

I am sure everyone will agree that our most important investment that we, as a government, can make is in the area of education. We have to take another look at the PTR. Is it really at 16:1 if we take out the principal's position and the non-teaching positions out of the ratio? I think we will find it's more like 20:1. Without investment in education and training, we will continue to see many jobs in the North head south. It's been said many times that if more NWT residents had the necessary skills to enter the workforce or received secondary education, the better our economy will come.

Our government also has to look at ways to bring new life into our non-renewable sector. I believe our long-term economic future lies in tourism and non-traditional economies, including trapping and furs. This whole sector has a great deal of untapped potential and we have to give it a higher priority.

We also need people in Cabinet who will dedicate time to improving our consensus style of government. We need Ministers that will include MLAs in planning and setting priorities and in developing guiding principles. In order for consensus government to work, we need good lines of communication.

Mr. Chairman, we will have many challenges facing us as a new government and we have to always be mindful of the fact that this government has to make every effort to ensure that it operates in an open, efficient and a cost-effective manner. Our financial situation and the potential threat of hitting the debt wall is of great concern to all of us in the Northwest Territories and it's crucial that we do everything in our power to ensure that doesn't happen and make every effort to identify new sources of funds.

Mr. Chairman, in closing, there are many other issues out there and many other issues raised to me during my campaign that we have to deal with. We have a situation of overcrowding and shortage of housing in the NWT. We have languages that are declining. We have many other issues that affect our social well-being that I don't have the time to raise here today. However, these issues are very important to me. Whether or not I am elected to a Cabinet position, I will continue to raise these matters and put them to the forefront of this government's agenda.

Finally, I want to say that I am not a person who shies away from making tough decisions. I pride myself in bringing new ideas to the table. We are living in very exciting times. We have opportunities opening up right across the Northwest Territories. It's important at this time that we have strong aboriginal leadership at the Cabinet level. I feel that my leadership style is suited to today's issues. I commit to all of you that I will work with integrity and perseverance to achieve results. So when you go into the voting booth today to vote for Cabinet Ministers, make sure you vote for Michael McLeod. Thank you.

---Laughter

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