Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I stand before you today to put my name forward for a position on Cabinet Executive Council again. Before I start, though, I would like to commend all the candidates who put their name in this morning for Premier and congratulate all my colleagues for their election.
I also want to commend all candidates across the Northwest Territories for putting their name forward. As we’re all well aware, going through a campaign is awfully difficult, it’s awfully difficult on the families more so than us. Having said that, I need to thank my family for their unconditional support as I continue to do the work as MLA for Inuvik Twin Lakes. It’s one of the reasons I got into politics to begin with, was because I believe I can make a difference. I believe that I can make a difference and a future for my children’s and your children’s lives, and my grandchildren’s and your grandchildren’s lives. I thought I could make a difference in that. If you don’t have grandchildren now, you will soon enough, and when they do come, they are a blessing. Mark my words. They are expensive, but they are a blessing.
---Laughter
I also have to thank the residents of Inuvik Twin Lakes for their ongoing support and encouragement as I go about my work. Some of our biggest critics are our constituents back home, especially some of the elders. If you’re not doing your job, they will let you know. I think we’re all well aware of that. I have to thank them. Their support has just been much appreciated. I’m just humbled by the whole thing.
Mr. Chairman, congratulations to yourself also and to Premier-elect Bob McLeod.
We have a future ahead of us, I think, in the 17th Legislative Assembly that’s ripe with promise. It will be challenging. There will be challenging times. There will be times when we’re not going to agree with each other and that’s fine. That’s the way it should be. I’ve heard the term “healthy tension” as something that’s needed in here to keep everybody on their toes, especially those that are on the Executive Council. I look forward to working with Members of this Assembly. I think I’ve proven over the past three years during my time on Executive Council that I’m quite capable of handling the work that’s put before me. I think I’ve proven that I put the needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories first.
We’ve done a lot of good work in the 16th Legislative Assembly and I think a couple of the Premier candidates may have mentioned this
morning the money that’s gone into youth under the watch of the 16th Legislative Assembly. As much as
I would like to take credit for it, it wasn’t really something that I did. I think it’s something that collectively in this Assembly we recognized the importance of the youth in the future of the Northwest Territories. We put our money where our mouth is. They appreciated that and I would encourage the Members of the 17th Legislative
Assembly to follow along those same lines. I know we have a former youth worker from MACA amongst our new Members and I’m sure he’ll keep our feet to the fire on this one. I’m looking forward to that.
Something that troubled me this morning when one of the Premier candidates was speaking, was the fact that we’ve lost $300 million in the last five years. To me that’s unacceptable. I think last Friday’s meeting with the Aboriginal government was a good start in trying to collectively advance the issue of Northerners taking control of the North instead of being dictated to all the time. Those days, in my opinion, should be over. I think it’s a decision that this Assembly is going to have to make. In my opinion, these are probably the most important four years in any Legislative Assembly. There are some big projects on the horizon.
We have devolution. I think that needs to be ironed out. Imagine what we could do with our share of the $300 million. We have people in the communities saying, well, we want houses, we want more programs for our youth, we want this, we want that. One of the Aboriginal leaders said the other day we have to quit bickering. I found those words very true. I think we do have to quit bickering. We’re all off to the side bickering here. There are truckloads of money going off on another road to Ottawa and we don’t see it again. They say, well, we give you transfer payments. What are we? A welfare state? I don’t think so. We have untold resources beneath our feet here and we have to be the ones to take advantage of it. I would hate to see something like a project like Mackenzie Valley Pipeline go ahead and the potential royalty monies that would come from that. That would go a long way to improving the lives of the people in the Northwest Territories.
We have to position our young people where they are able to take advantage of those opportunities. I truly believe we need to have a good training program for our young people, through some of the different departments, through Education, and we try to get a lot of our young people into training. We need our young people to take up arms. Well, no, not take up arms; take up pens and pencils and go back, get their education and be the ones that take advantage of all that the North has to offer.
I look forward to the next four years. I’ve proven that I am capable of handling any portfolio that comes. I commit to the Members that my door is
always open, except when it’s closed. As Minister of Housing it was closed a lot over the last three years. I commit to that. I have a good working relationship with all 16, no, it’s 14, 14 returning Members, and I know I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of the new folks. I like the balance they bring to the Legislative Assembly. I look forward to a good, healthy debate the next four years.
All I can promise you, colleagues, is honesty, integrity, hard work, and these are some principles that I try to live by. I try to take people at their word unless they prove me otherwise. I’m not afraid to make hard decisions, but I’ll give you the rationale for those decisions.
As I said, this is not about me. I think this is about collectively as a group working together for the betterment of the people in the Northwest Territories over the next four years. I look forward to the confidence the Members may show me to help me be part of this group that advances all issues of all residents of the Northwest Territories over the next four years.