I was just coming to the exciting bit, Mr. Speaker, about being straightened out by what I thought to be a very young fresh-faced person, who looked as if he was just out of high school. I thought, by God, this person is tough, and he is a person of substance. From that day on, I learned to respect this individual.

I won't go through the details of his career with this government, but I believe the way in which he was trained, Mr. Speaker, may give us some ideas about how we may want to produce senior people in our public service, because we've made a big issue of it many times.

Over 30 years, these are some of the accomplishments of Mr. Elkin, Mr. Speaker. While he was responsible for the Program Planning Evaluation Department, which was part of the Executive at that time -- it was almost like the deputy of the Executive -- he was responsible for the coordination of the project to develop and construct the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Museum, which was very controversial at that time. It went through, it was built and that's another story.

While he was the deputy minister of Local Government, he spearheaded the development of community government throughout the territories. During this period, more than 17 communities became incorporated, taking over the governing of their own affairs.

Over the last five years -- and we're all aware of this, Mr. Speaker -- he was responsible for the overall coordination of development, design and construction of the new Legislative Assembly building. Not many people know that.

While deputy minister of Public Works and Highways, he developed the effective structure in Public Works and Highways for design and construction, for the vast majority of government infrastructure, including schools, sewer and water systems and housing. These have been used as examples, by other northern countries, of the way things should be built.

He was also chairman of the Construction of Canada/USSR Arctic Sites Exchange Program, and helped to establish good working relationships with the Russian government and the northern republics. He also established the NWT as a leader in design and construction in this northern environment. He established close working relationships between Canada and the USSR, as the chairman of this committee on many items relating to the Arctic.

He has served many Ministers, Mr. Speaker, at this level of deputy minister for the past 20 years, a remarkable achievement. Among my colleagues, he was known as the mandarin. He was the mandarin of mandarins because he had survived so long. It's a remarkable achievement. In my opinion, Mr. Speaker, if you're looking for somebody who could pass on skills to those bright young people who want to be successful mandarins, this is the person you should look at as a resource. He should not be wasted because he does not intend to leave this community. His kids are here. His grandchildren are here and he is committed to doing what he can, I know, to make the north a better place to live. Thank you.

---Applause