Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The sessional statement is the first time we’ve had a bit of

chance to hear what the Premier’s vision is for the territory -- and the Cabinet’s vision, I would assume -- since Mr. Roland’s election as our new Premier for the 16th Assembly. I can’t help but be struck by the consistency with this statement starting off, as now being here for the fourth term, as the similarities that we come across from term to term to term. I guess one of the things that I would like to see…We’ve all come here to do a job and we want to make a difference and we talk about those aspirations, we put words to it and sometimes it’s just so broad and so vast; we have so many issues that we want to advance that sometimes it seems like we don’t really have a very viable quantifying what kind of success or what kind of in-roads or how much we’ve actually advanced this agenda. It’s difficult to measure. I think that maybe coming from the private sector where you make a decision and then pretty much you see the results of your decision, what will happen, you see the results pretty quickly. With the government it’s different, and we’re sort of a vast territory and we cover so many areas of responsibility that it’s easy to become discouraged in some ways, because we aren’t really able to gauge the difference that our actions and then our words and our energies are making.

I guess I’m a realist. I always like to look at some of these things that we say and some of these policies and try to project and visualize somebody, somewhere, some home, some family, some place, some community where you could actually see where we’ve taken things from where they are now to a better place, to a better level; where we’ve made decisions here that have had a direct impact on someone’s well-being, someone’s ability to take advantage of opportunities for someone’s ability to realize their potential. All those things that we talk about, but sometimes I just wish we had a better way to quantify and measure what we do.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I think, as a government, we have many areas of responsibility which we have to be responsible for on an ongoing basis, but we also have many challenges. In looking at those challenges, we can become overwhelmed unless we take it one…If we just look at the mountain and don’t look at how we can address things one issue and one initiative and one step at a time, I think that we become unfocussed and I don’t want us to lose that optimism that we can make a difference. I don’t want to sound negative, but it’s really good when we can somehow measure, if we set a goal and say we want to see 10 percent reduction in the amount of alcohol consumed in the Northwest Territories in the next four years, and at the end of four years we can say, okay, that would be an indicator of something. You know, if we say we want to see 10 percent more graduates from secondary schools in the Northwest Territories in the next four years, and then at the end if we could have a report card at the end of our four-year term. If we could set out some of those things that we’d like to see at the beginning, put a quantity on them and then at the end of the four years we could give ourselves a report card and say, okay, the 16th Assembly of the Government

of the Northwest Territories saw that kind of progress. So in the days ahead I would like to see us try to put those kinds of targets in place, even if it’s only in four or five areas.

I’ve heard Mr. Bromley talk about the environment and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Why not set targets? Let’s not make them unrealistic, but let’s set

targets and then take concrete steps to realize those reductions. We have the authority; we have the mandate; we have the power to do things. It’s just a matter of us making those decisions. So I hope we aren’t going to be stuck in a rut of doing things the way we’ve always done them. I hope we can think with innovation and creativity and find some things, put some targets out there and realize some progress. I couldn’t list for you today, Mr. Chairman, all of what those things should be, but as we’ve had a chance to spend some time together I think we’ve been able to learn some of the common areas of interest that we have as Members elected to this House. Like I said, I think with everything that’s happening in the territory around us, there are a lot of other places we could be, but we have chosen to be here and that choice was supported by the people who elected and put us here and now four years will go by so quickly, but we have an opportunity to make a difference. That’s what’s important to me. I’m not here to warm a chair or just sit back and collect a paycheque or not make a difference. This is such a unique opportunity to serve the Northwest Territories at this level and sometimes we become even a little bit desensitized to that. We’re here all the day, we work, you know, we’re here every day, we work with other leaders, and it becomes kind of commonplace to us. But I think we need to always remind ourselves that this is such an unusual and extraordinary opportunity we have to affect the direction of the North and to affect the lives of and the environment, the things that are within our ability to change. We need to constantly remind ourselves of that and take that responsibility and that stewardship very, very seriously.

So I’m happy to be back here. I’m full of issues, ideas and energy from the intense dialogue we had with constituents in the month of September. Certainly the demands on our time and our resources are great, but I’m very confident that we can advance the agenda and I’m looking forward to the completion of a document that will set out the priorities of this government and then working with everyone, all 19 Members, to find ways to ensure that the 16th Assembly leaves a very positive mark on our territory.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.