Mr. Speaker, as Members may be aware, municipal governance legislation is coming into force on April 1, 2004. The new Cities, Towns and Villages Act, the Hamlet Act, and the Charter Communities Act have been modernized into more useful, relevant tools for our community governments to use as they work to address the many opportunities and challenges that they face. In partnership with the NWT Association of Communities, my department has worked over the past nine years to bring these positive changes about.

Mr. Speaker, the partnership has continued as we work together to assist community governments get ready for the implementation of this new legislation. For the past two days, 16 senior administrative officers from communities across the Northwest Territories have been meeting in Yellowknife to prepare for the implementation as of April 1st. Mr. Speaker, they have taken a break from their meeting to visit the Legislative Assembly today and it is my pleasure to recognize a number of them who are here today including Jackie Coulter of Sachs Harbour, Troy Jenkins of Fort McPherson, Nellie Gruben of Aklavik, Debbie Raddi of Tuktoyaktuk, Jerry Veltman of Inuvik, Tom Matus of Wha Ti, Susan Christie of Fort Providence, Bernice Swanson of Fort Simpson, Loretta Bouwmeester from the City of Yellowknife, Terry McMullon of Fort Resolution, and John McKee of Fort Liard. Mr. McKee is also the president of the Local Government Administrators of the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize Yvette Gonzales, the CEO with the NWT Association of Communities and Eleanor Young, executive director of the Local Government Administrators of the NWT, along with a number of my regional staff from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. It is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to all of you and thank you for your tremendous efforts as you work to support our community governments. Welcome to the House. Thank you.

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