Monsieur le président,

monsieur le premier ministre, messieurs et mesdames les députés, mesdames et messieurs et mes amis.

Once again it is my privilege and my pleasure to be back among you again.

I would like to join the Speaker, the honourable Members of this House and the staff of the Legislative Assembly, past and present, and the Department of the Executive in extending my personal best wishes to Myles Moreside on the occasion of his retirement from the public service.

I have known Myles for many years in my terms as a Member of this House and as your Speaker. I wish to extend best wishes to Myles and his wife, Kim, for a very happy and long retirement together. I would add that I had received a couple of phone calls from persons in the Okanagan wishing Myles the best in his retirement from his former staff.

With the return to Yellowknife of the Arctic Winter Games in March, I look forward to joining many of you at some of the competitions and those special events that have been set out. As many of you know, Stuart Hodgson, the ninth Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, will be attending the opening ceremonies of the Games, along with his son and grandson. It will be a personal honour to welcome Mr.

Hodgson back to the Northwest

Territories for what I am sure is to be a most enjoyable week.

A personal honour, because when I graduated from the University of Calgary in 1977, Mr. Hodgson was there giving the keynote speech. And in his address he said to the Northern students, “Now that you’ve completed your education here, I hope that some of you will come back to the Northwest Territories and help develop what is the future of Canada and the future of the North.” And some of us did.

During the Arctic Winter Games, I am delighted to be hosting a meeting with the other two Territorial Commissioners, Mrs. Geraldine Van Bibber from the Yukon and Mrs. Ann Hanson from Nunavut. They will be visiting Yellowknife to attend the opening ceremony of the Games and some of the sporting activities as well as the cultural activities.

I am so honoured and excited to be a volunteer with the Arctic Winter Games. I will be a driver and a “raconteur” to the VIP venue lounges. Maybe someone here, after hearing all my stories again and again, won’t want to come back. But I’m sure they will, because of the hospitality.