Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to welcome the Minister and his officials to the proceedings this afternoon. I want to start off by saying that it is a great thing that we are here today to discuss this Bill 6, new legislation for the Workers' Compensation Board. It has been a work in progress for a number of years, as some of my colleagues have been here a lot longer than I have will know, going back to the Act Now reports.

I wanted to start off by thanking the Minister for working with our committee to see to it that the legislation was what we had intended it to be. He was very flexible in getting this legislation to the state it is in. I think he should be commended for that. In addition to that, I wanted to mention specifically Mr. Braden. He has been a champion of injured workers for a number of years here in the Northwest Territories. He is not a member of our Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development but he spent a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy in seeing to it that the legislation met the requirements of both the injured worker and the employers here in the Northwest Territories. So I wanted to extend a special thanks to him and, as well, Ms. Lee who is not a member of our standing committee but she too spent a great deal of time and effort on this legislation. I wanted to thank her as well.

In addition to that, I think the worker's advisor, Mr. Colin Baile, as well spent a great deal of time putting together briefs for us. I really appreciated the work that Mr. Baile put into that. After the Auditor General's report in 2006, starting to work towards this new legislation, we also got to work closely with the Governance Council of the WCB. I think they deserve a pat on the back as well for their ability to come together with us. We had some meetings. We worked together on trying to get this legislation to where it is today. It is because of that cooperation and working together that it is what it is. So again, I know there is a new president at the Workers' Compensation

Board. There are going to be some changes here with the new legislation as it comes through. I really hope there is some continuity in the Governance Council as well, Mr. Chair, to see through the legislation as it moves forward. With that, I will leave it at that, Mr. Chair, but it is a good day for both the employers and the injured workers in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.