Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really am delighted that we're finally at the stage where this bill can be presented in the Assembly for passage. I would just like to reflect a bit on the tortured history that has gotten us to the point we are at today. I believe it extends to the previous Assembly and the previous government and previous Ministers.
I just want to reflect that, to my knowledge, we are at the stage we're at today as a result of a lot of hard work on the part of at least four Ministers who were previously involved; Mr. Whitford, myself, Mr. Todd and Mr. Nerysoo. We should recognize that we've come a long way to get here today.
I just want to recall a few of the hiccoughs that have occurred. Maybe "hiccup" is too mild a word to describe some of the gyrations we had to go through to get to where we're at today. But Members of this Assembly will recall a great consternation over the constitution of the mine review committee, the composition of that committee. Those were difficult times that resulted in lots of problems. Then the Royal Oak strike intervened and really stopped the work, stopped progress on the bill because of the gravity of that situation.
Then Mr. Todd became Minister and boldly tried to change the composition of the committee, and met with some mixed success. In fact, I think the committee derailed, once again, despite his good efforts.
Recently, to Mr. Nerysoo's credit, the committee has been revived again, there's new blood. And we've achieved miraculous agreement from the various interests to recommend this bill. I think that, without knowing a lot about the details of this bill, the fact that there has been consensus reached satisfies me that we have a good piece of legislation.
I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that not only the Ministers deserve credit. I know that Mr. Quirke has worked extremely hard on this and has suffered, as we have seen progress stopped, blocked, even stepped backward. So I would like to mention his dedication to getting us to where we're at today.
Another unsung person who I think should be acknowledged is Mr. Terry Vaughan-Thomas. Mr. Vaughan-Thomas came out of retirement in British Columbia. I think initially he thought he would have a short task. I know, because the arrangements were initiated when I was Minister that Mr. Vaughan-Thomas agreed to work at a very modest cost and in very modest circumstances, and I think that he deserves some recognition today for having had the necessary personal qualities to bring management and labour together, seek compromise and, most importantly, keep going with this piece of legislation.
So, Mr. Chairman, I would just like to reflect that the committee has managed to rise like a phoenix over and over. Finally, we have a bill that we can approve in this House. I think it's noteworthy today as we start to go through this clause by clause, that we reflect on what a long road it's been to get here.
So, I congratulate all concerned; the people who gave their time to sit on the committee and slog through the detailed clause by clause considerations, fight out the issues and come to the compromise that has resulted in the present bill. I want to congratulate everybody and say that this is a major achievement, and I think we now have a modern piece of legislation. I look forward to the clause by clause consideration of Bill 5.