Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to join my colleagues of the Assembly today to recognize and honour the Honourable Anthony W.J. Whitford as he moves into the next chapter of what has been one extraordinary life. I know he will embark on his next chapter with as much joy, enthusiasm, love of life, love of people and a strong sense of public service.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t think we could measure how much it means to him to be designated as an honourary table officer of this Legislature, as no one loves and can love this Assembly as much as he does and he has done over the years. One only
has to see the smile and the twinkle in his eyes from the moment he walks into the House to the minute he leaves, whether it is as a Sergeant-at-Arms, a Member, a Minister, a Speaker, or the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.
It has been a singular honour for me to have worked for and worked with Anthony W.J. Whitford and to be able to witness the twinkles firsthand. I have also witnessed him at his most angry and distressed firsthand within this Legislature. In those moments, he also speaks with his eyes and his twinkle. To know Tony Whitford is to know the different languages the twinkle in his eyes speak.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t remember the first time exactly when I met Mr. Whitford, but every encounter, every hug, every phone call, every lunch, every meeting and every trip I have had with him over the years have enriched my life personally and professionally. I worked for him and other MLAs as a researcher at the Legislature back in 1989 to 1991. I still remember when he offered me the job of being his EA when he became the Minister of Health and Social Services. I was so excited and scared when he offered me the job, when I was 27 at a celebrity auction at the basement of Yellowknife Inn I spent $3,500 that night, the money I didn’t have. He was the first Minister of Health from Yellowknife. I am honoured to share in his company as another Minister of Health from Yellowknife. Health and Social Services portfolio back then was as hot as it is now. Eleven months as an EA to the Minister of Health then I am sure has prepared me for my current job.
I was also his EA when he served as the Minister of Transportation. I don’t know if it is the same now. I must ask Minister McLeod, because when he changed the portfolio to Transportation, everything got more richer and lucrative.
I still remember the occasion when we got to go to the communities of Chesterfield Inlet, Repulse Bay and Coral Harbour to open their community airports. On the way to the airports, the deputy minister of Transportation handed him three big cheques that he was going to hand out in each community. We opened the community airports at every stop and there was a huge feast and celebration. I don’t remember doing much of that as the Minister of Health.
Mr. Speaker, there were some dark moments too. I remember when he was the Minister responsible for mine safety, when I had to relay the message that there was a major blast under the ground of Giant Mine on that dreadful day on September 18th .
I don’t know if Mr. Whitford is responsible for me going into a political life. I won’t saddle him with that, but, Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that he taught me well.
Mr. Speaker, I had the joy of serving as his colleague when I became an MLA in 1999. Everyone knows and everyone said that he is a great storyteller. I am not, but I am a great rememberer of stories told by other great storytellers. So every story he has told me over the years, I have remembered them. I have retold them. Thanks to his great stories, I almost sound wise and interesting to some very innocent people.
It is true, Mr. Speaker, he has done everything good and worthy in the Territories; the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes is right. I have been to the smallest community in the Northwest Territories, across the country, even to meet the Queen with Mr. Whitford.
Mr. Speaker, he’s been a carpenter, a social worker, he worked for NTCL, he worked as a coroner, he’s a mayor, he’s Commissioner, he’s built the Highway No. 3, he built the utilidors in Inuvik. I think the man has had at least nine lives and there’s nothing good that he hasn’t done and no one I think he has not met in the Territories. All across the NWT, throughout Canada and around the world, anybody who has ever met him loves him and remembers him and talks of him.
I know it’s been said that he loves everyone and loves politics, but I think there’s a caveat to that. I know he doesn’t love everything about politics. He entered and left politics always being positive, even when I thought, as his EA, he could get more into the attack mode, but he wanted to do things differently. I know that people think that he loves everybody, but I think there is a caveat to that. Yes, he loves almost everyone, but he doesn’t like chronic complainers or people who are negative, because I have seen him say it like it is when he’s at Tim Horton’s. So we know Mr. Whitford as a man of integrity, a man who loves this Legislature. He loves people of the North, and I know that he’s going to open a very exciting chapter as he moves on.
I am grateful for all of the experiences I have had, and that I will continue to have, and I join the Members of this Legislature in congratulating him on his extraordinary life and all the work that he has done for this Legislature, and we wish him well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause