Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As this week is Apprenticeship Week, I would like to rise to pay tribute to apprentices and of course, tradesmen. This is a week that has some special, personal significance for me. I have had the privilege for the last two and a half years, basically since we have been elected, of sitting next to my honourable colleague from Inuvik, who is a journeyman mechanic, a wrench-puller extraordinaire, from Inuvik and an all around swell guy as my Minister of Finance notes. I, as well, have the honour of being a journeyman carpenter, Mr. Speaker.
Clearly, tradesmen can be anything they want. Mr. Speaker, very clearly as a society we would be lost without tradesmen and apprentices. They build things, they fix things and they keep us going. Being an apprentice or tradesman is good work. It is valuable work and it is honourable work. In our territory, soon to be two territories, those kinds of skills are now needed more than ever. They have my full congratulations. They are a fine bunch of guys and women. Thank you.
--Applause