Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is the Year of the Volunteer and I have been contemplating doing a Member's statement on this very important issue for some time. As I was walking to work this morning, I came across the causeway and there was a nice warm wind blowing. As I got closer to the causeway, I could hear all the flags snapping of all the communities that are represented here from across the Northwest Territories.
It gave me pause to think about the quality of life we have in the Northwest Territories. A quality of life that I would not trade with anybody else in the world. It is something I think we tend to take for granted, or we lose track of, as we in this House debate day in and day out, trying to get good things for our constituents and point out issues that need to be better addressed.
Mr. Speaker, the issue to me is that in large part, the quality of life that we have is due in no small measure to the work done by the many hundreds and thousands of volunteers in our communities. The people who work in the area of sports and recreation; with children; those who do Meals on Wheels; fire departments; those people who work with Brownies, Cubs, Guides and Scouts; the service organizations like the Legion, the Lions Club, Rotary and the Elks; those societies like the seniors societies; and the Society for the Disabled.
Mr. Speaker, I would estimate that they put in hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours and raise countless dollars through their fundraising efforts. They work quietly, tirelessly and continuously for the communities they live in. For me, and I think for everybody else, we owe them a debt of gratitude because the quality of life that we have would not be the same if we did not have volunteers throughout our communities who labour in all these critical areas for our communities.
As we debate our budget, I think it is important not to lose track of the fact that we have a good quality of life here. I for one would really like to thank the volunteers who labour in all our communities in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
-- Applause