Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments made by the Premier about Mr. Elkin, who announced his retirement yesterday. He's a constituent of mine, Mr. Speaker, and a former colleague. In fact, we've known each other for well over 25 years.
We have paid tribute to other deputies in this House, and I remember many of us made comments about the contributions of Mr. Jim Bourque. I won't go over the chronology of events already covered by the Premier, but I should make reference to one or two issues, Mr. Speaker, that may be valuable for people to know.
When Mr. Elkin went to take the northern service officer course in Ottawa, in 1964, it was under the direction of a man called R A J Phillip, known as Rajah. He decided he was going to try to create a northern core of well-trained people, who would have experience in just about every level of government in Ottawa, right throughout the federal public service. Then, when they went north they would be very, very well trained to do the jobs they were going to do. Mr. Elkin spent the year in what was called the northern university. People who went through it were called GNUs. You became a GNU after you did this one year program in Ottawa. Then you were sent to a community, as a settlement manager or a northern service officer.
In Mr. Elkin's case, he was sent to Coral Harbour and Rankin. The idea was that you would make your mistakes in a couple of places and not have to live with them. That was the theory. You went to one place, obtained experience, then if you screwed up, at least you wouldn't have to live there for the next five or ten years and live with it. So, it was a way of giving people experience in that setting.
I first really got to know Mr. Elkin in 1967, when I was living in Igloolik. I had bumped into him the odd time and he had always struck me as being a fresh-faced young school boy. He looked pretty young. I was a bit of a rebel in those days. I know it's hard for you to believe, Mr. Speaker. But in those days, I was a bit of a rebel.
---Laughter
I remember Mr. Elkin. He was the assistant regional director. I can't remember what the incident was, but I remember in Igloolik it was a cold day, just before Christmas, and he straightened me out just like that. I couldn't believe...