Mr. Speaker, over the past several days a number of articles have been in the papers indicating that Mr. Bourque had intended to resign and retire. Mr. Speaker, that is unfortunate, because there are few men or women in the Northwest Territories who can meet the kind of compassion and understanding that Mr. Bourque has shown throughout his service to the people of the Northwest Territories. Whether he served in Broughton Island, Fort McPherson, Fort Smith or in this government either as an official or as a deputy minister, he has been caring and always willing to listen, even though those things that we have said we are not always the things that he believed in. The other things that make him an honourable person are his honesty and his willingness to sacrifice his own beliefs to ensure that some of the political direction that we gave was implemented. He did it with dedication, at times suggesting to us that there were alternatives.
I had the opportunity to be the individual who appointed Mr. Bourque to our government as a deputy minister. I brought him out of the community of Broughton Island, with the opposition I might add, of some of my colleagues and some of the people of the public service. To this day I do not regret that decision. I think we all can say that there has been no other deputy minister that has walked into this House with as much credibility as Mr. Bourque. Whether he has travelled throughout the valley or the eastern Arctic, whether he sat in the meetings of federal officials or travelled internationally, he was always recognized for his ability to work with people and care for the issues, while showing understanding for the feelings of others, whether it was the anti-fur groups, or people trying to fight to ensure the survival of a way of life for the traditional and indigenous people around this world. I think we have much to be proud of in this man. We have much to say about his family and their support to his commitment to serve the people in the Northwest Territories. In that context, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on this side of the House, all of them, asked me to show our appreciation on behalf of all the Members of this Assembly. We place great value on people, in this particular case Mr. Jim Bourque, for his dedication, service and work on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause