Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the start of the budget I supported it, knowing that for my open-handed approach of working together…. Today I stand here with my colleagues — 11 Regular Members. You know I’d go to war with you any day to support you. Given myself and my constituents of Nunakput, I appreciate it. Members, colleagues across the floor, I thank you as well.
Just looking back at so many things…. For myself, worrying about not sleeping well at night while I’ve been here — like, what I got myself into. You know, for myself, I worry about not sleeping well at night while I’ve been here: like, what have I gotten myself into? You worry about the people the cutbacks are affecting. That’s what bugged me the most.
Mr. Abernethy and Mr. Beaulieu and all of you spoke so well in regard to working together to try to save as many jobs as we possibly could for all of us and the people. I really think we’ve come a long way. I really knew that we could get through this, but I’m not looking forward to the next one.
A lot of good has come out of this. I mean, for myself, my access road 177 is going to get started finally. It’s not lip service; it’s a reality now. For my people of Tuk, you’re going to have gravel, water, a new graveyard, sewage, a dump site, and a back door for the safety of my people. That was one of my key drivers for being here: the safety of my people.
When I was the mayor of Tuk, we had so many problems from global warming. Everybody says so much about global warming, but my people in my community of Tuktoyaktuk live it every day.
I’d like to thank the staff for all the support you’ve given us; the EDI Committee, our Chair, for all the hard work he has done; and our Gov Ops. To P-and-P Chair Mrs. Jane Groenewegen, thank you so much again for the support. To my colleagues across the floor, for the meetings with Mr. Miltenberger and Mr. Yakeleya, and for all the good work every one of you has done. There’s a lot of support. We’ve done our best with what we came out with today. I’d just like to thank you all, my colleagues, again. Mr. Krutko down there is smiling at me. Thank you. Have a good day.