Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me be the first, under Members' statements, to congratulate you on your election by your colleagues -- which is very important -- to the very significant job of Speaker of our Legislative Assembly.
You still have to convince many northerners, Mr. Speaker, that parliamentary democracy, which is what we practice here, is one of the great inventions of mankind. It provides a place where people's voices can be heard in very many different ways. If you just look at our order paper, you can see how many ways in which voices can be heard. It seems to me strange that so many northerners have failed to see what an incredible invention parliamentary democracy really was, when we look at its long history and how it has developed. You've been a Member of this Legislative Assembly for 11 years, Mr. Speaker, and I believe you fully understand and appreciate what an incredible invention it really is. Because, without straying too far from the basic principles of democracy, it remains a very flexible system which can be accommodated to any circumstance in any country in any part of the world.
If you look at the members of those groups that practice parliamentary democracy, you realize how many countries really are in the group of countries which appreciate this wonderful invention. We seem to take in so many inventions, yet fight so much about this one. I know you will uphold all the good traditions of the parliamentary system, Mr. Speaker. I am sure we will continue to add several wrinkles of our own as we accommodate it to our special needs.
There is still much work to be done to convince northerners that there is little wrong with the system, Mr. Speaker. In the long run, what will matter is the quality of our representatives and the use to which those representatives put this system to make it work. We put our trust in you, Mr. Speaker, and I know it is very well placed. You are known as a straightforward, just man and you will do everything you can to uphold those traditions and do everything you can for the advancement of all our peoples. Thank you.
---Applause