Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When this newly elected Assembly gathered barely five months ago in Fort Providence, we set out to establish a fresh vision for our government. Our Caucus decided to build on the vision of previous Assemblies.
At the end of March, we released our plan, entitled Towards a Better Tomorrow. I would acknowledge, Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner's recognition of that vision in her opening address and the use of that vision and its principles by the Minister of Finance in the budget address.
The key principle of the vision is the importance of communicating our messages. We realize we have many different audiences among our own constituencies. We also recognize that there are many other audiences. The Honourable Joe Handley, Government House Leader; Mr. Nitah, deputy chair of Caucus and I, as Caucus chair, wrote to more than 60 Northwest Territories organizations to personally solicit their review and comments on the document.
Our outside audiences, Mr. Speaker, are people who need to know about our plan. They include our neighbouring provinces in other territories, businesses and investors in Canada and offshore, and especially, Mr. Speaker, our colleagues in the senior government in Ottawa. I acknowledge the work of my colleagues, the Premier, the Ministers and many hard-working staff, in helping to take that message to the outside audience.
On many occasions, Mr. Speaker, MLAs, as members of standing committees, and Ministers have worked together in support of our common goals, agendas and messages. We have attended national and international symposia on diamonds and petroleum, and events here in the Northwest Territories, such as the Association of Municipalities in Fort Simpson, the Sport and Recreation Directions workshop in Hay River and the Intergovernmental Forum there.
We will continue to build and enhance the communication we need to have with Northwest Territories residents, Mr. Speaker. This includes taking our message to every part of the Territory we live in and make every effort to hear what people have to say.
In this respect, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise, along with host MLAs for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland, and Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen, that Caucus will be travelling to Inuvik in September, from the 5th to the 8th, to continue our work as the 19 Members of this Assembly on the evolution and progress of Towards a Better Tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause