Thank you, Mr. Chair, colleagues. I am very humbled by your support for me as Premier. I pledge I will do the best job that I can to work with all of you in the best interests of the people of the Northwest Territories.

I want to congratulate my friends and colleagues who put their names forward for Premier, Mr. Michael Miltenberger, Mr. Kevin Menicoche. Our last names all start with M, so if we were a hockey team, we would be the 3M line.

---Laughter

But there’s also one other connection that perhaps not many of you know, but all three of us went to Grandin College, so there was a good chance that the Premier today was going to be from Grandin College. When I think of Grandin College I think of Father Pochat and all of the other students that we went to school with. I was very grateful for that.

I want to thank my family for their support and unconditional love. My wife, Melody, who is not here right now but was here earlier; my son, Warren; my brother Michael; my niece Brenda, thank you very much. Again, I want to thank all the MLAs here for their support. As I said on election night, we have a very experienced, competent, talented group of MLAs and we’re going to get the job done.

I want to thank all of the people from Fort Providence and Yellowknife that supported me, my campaign team that worked very hard to get me re- elected. In times like this you always reflect on where you grew up, in Fort Providence. My mom and dad were very supportive. My dad didn’t care too much for politicians. Every chance he got when they came to the door, he chased them away…

---Laughter

…until my brother got elected, and for a long time they called him the black sheep of the family.

---Laughter

But he was very interested in politics and I’m sure he would be very proud that both of us got involved in politics.

I also have to talk about my grandsons. They make you appreciate life and how important life is. My wife was trying to explain to them that I was running for Premier and she was having a hard time explaining to them. They said, well, he’s already the Prime Minister.

---Laughter

But they are pretty good politicians in their own right.

I want to thank all the people who called me, sent me e-mails, texted me – I’m not on Facebook – and offered me their support. To those people who prayed for me all night, I’ll say thank you, it worked.

I want to recognize Members of the 16th Assembly

that are moving on. Premier Floyd Roland; thank you, Floyd. I’ll be seeking your counsel. Speaker Paul Delorey, my brother Michael, David Krutko, Sandy Lee. To all the Aboriginal leaders that are here, thank you very much for coming. I think this is a good way to show we can start working together. We are going to get on that right away, as soon as the Assembly puts forward the Cabinet. I’m sure they are going to do a very good job.

I want to say good luck to all of you putting forward your names for MLAs. I think it’s very important to show that consensus government works, the more people we have running for office. I look forward to whomever you put in Cabinet and I pledge to work with all of you so we can get things done. Thank you very much. Mahsi cho.

---Applause