Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker, and welcome back, colleagues. I hope that everyone had some time to rest and enjoy the summer holidays. Mr. Speaker, we are now only a few short months away from ending our term as the 13th Legislative Assembly. Although we have dealt with many issues over the last four years, I wonder what our residents will remember this government as.

Will they remember the struggle we had encountered over balancing the budget or making the dream of Nunavut a reality? The thing our residents will remember this government, as a government that took away the voice of the rural communities and gave it to the urban of our territory. When Bill 15 is read and passed, it will change the political structure of this House forever. We cannot forget the smaller communities. They have just as much right to voice their concerns and raise issues of those of the person in any of the larger centres. Yet we have failed to compromise in these issues and the entire North will suffer as a result. We cannot forget the roots of this territory and where most of us come from. The smaller communities are the cultural centres for the territories and yet do not have a strong enough voice to do anything about it.

I have continued to stress the need for an additional seat for the North Slave area, specifically Rae-Edzo. My region still feels that there is a need to have more representation from the smaller communities and this would at least give us more voice. How can the larger centres expect to know and feel what it is like living and working in the smaller communities when very few of the residents ever travel outside of the municipal boundaries of their communities. Through all these talks and deliberation that has gone, I feel this is a black day in the history of our territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause