Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is Valentine's Day and I would like to share with the Legislative Assembly this morning a letter that I wrote to the Prime Minister on this day, and it starts out like this: Dearest Prime Minister, or may we say Steve?
---Laughter
We pen this valentine with trembling hand and heart all aflutter with deepest affection for the 40 years of almost wedded bliss we have shared. Yes, Dearest, it's been four long decades since you lead us to the alter of constitutional consummation with your passionate promises of provincehood, your breathless whispers of fiscal fulfillment, your shameless wooing that one day our relationship would blossom and we would live together happily even after. Oh, Stephen.
---Laughter
Ohhh, Stephen. How we fell for you, lusting and pining and panting for the day when it all might come true. Was it only last summer when you stood before us here in our own humble parlour and professed yet again your solemn pledge that if we behaved ourselves and if we kept faith, we could be just like our big sister Alberta, and rein supreme and rich and bear many children in the bosom of our untold wealth. But, darling Stephen, our long-distance relationship is troubled.
---Laughter
Troubled. We grow restless. Your seductive temptations that once fuelled the wild beating of our heart are alas sounding empty and hollow, and cold as the Arctic tempest that blasts across our fevered brow. The truth is, Dearest, the many children of our union are getting out of hand. They demand so much. What with doctors' bills, power bills, fuel bills, grocery bills, day care bills, legislative bills, are we getting through? Then there's the matter of that diamond engagement ring. Beloved, may we remind you that we were the ones who found it. We mined it. We cut it. We polished it. But it's like you're taking all the credit and we're the ones still paying for it. Will the day come, Beloved, when we will consummate our relationship? Oh, Stephen, what's gone wrong? Where is the love? Where is the heart? Where is the happiness? Signed, With great expectations, the 15th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause