Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to just say a few words to our Conflict Commissioner.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, I would like to thank Mr. Hughes for his service as the Conflict of Interest Commissioner for the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, the time does not provide for a full listing of Mr. Hughes' accomplishments in his long and distinguished career. Mr. Hughes is an officer of the Order of Canada. In addition to his work as Conflict Commissioner with the Legislative Assembly and Ethics Councillor for the public service of the Northwest Territories, Mr. Hughes has been a distinguished lawyer and jurist, a deputy attorney general in British Columbia, and Conflict Commissioner for both British Columbia and Yukon. He has also chaired commissions on contentious issues in Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon, including the APEC inquiry in British Columbia.
Mr. Hughes has been a chief federal negotiator on land claims negotiations, and, in British Columbia, he was chair of the Taskforce on Legal Aid Services, and chair of a committee involved in justice reform, gender bias in the justice legal system, and a member of the Canadian Bar Association's Standing Committee on Equality.
In 2002, he served as chair of the BC Tri-annual Judicial Justices' Compensation Committee. I will not list them all today, but suffice it to say the list of volunteer organizations that Mr. Hughes has given his time to is as impressive as the accomplishments of his professional career.
Mr. Speaker, while Mr. Hughes is a renowned expert on issues of conflict in Canada, it is his professional and practical approach to the job that is most impressive. You always felt comfortable going to Mr. Hughes, to ask his advice on how to arrange your personal affairs to ensure they did not conflict with your professional duties.
Mr. Speaker, we were very lucky that Mr. Hughes chose to take on the position of Conflict of Interest Commissioner in this Legislative Assembly, and I would like to thank him, on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, and, personally, as a Member of this Legislative Assembly, for the work he has done for us over the years.
With that, I say to Mr. Hughes, thank you, mahsi cho, merci, thank you.
---Applause