Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, quite simply, I can’t say I have known a better man. Mr. Whitford is truly an honour to know and a blessing to get to know. I’ve had the good fortune, like many Members, colleagues and friends of this House, to know Mr. Whitford and I look forward to knowing more about him as the years go on.

I’ve known him for awhile and one thing seems to be clear everywhere I go is the fact that he’s certainly a man of the people. And if not one more step I could take and say he truly is a man of the people and the people love him. Anywhere I go I see him as such a natural. He could be anywhere. He could be talking to students. He could be talking to elders, like it was mentioned before. He could be talking to somebody at the hospital. He could be

talking to somebody who just stops him on the street. I’ve heard stories about how he bumps into somebody who’s just moved to Yellowknife and he walks over and he says, “Hey, how ya doin’? My name’s Tony Whitford.” And sure enough, they get talking about something and he goes, oh, I know a story about that. And that’s who he is. Not many people can do that. He’s one of those special characters that is such a gentle character. You know, he can talk to anybody and they always feel warm and special that after they’re done that conversation that he took the time and you can always feel the heart-to-heart connection this man has for people.

I’ve had the awful occasion of following this man on speeches, because he throws such a great speech and he gets the crowd roaring and excited. He’s a tough man to follow, I’ll tell ya. But I’ve also had the pleasure of following his bad jokes with my bad jokes in Rotary. He used to be known as the king of bad jokes in Rotary until I came along and joined Rotary years and years ago. But his gentle character always came up to me when I’d tell a bad joke and I’d be fined in Rotary. He wouldn’t let me share that crown alone and I’m very thankful for that.

Again, his character is always reaching out to people and that’s something that really touches both me and I can tell you it’s also very important to my wife, because she thinks extremely highly of him as well.

Mr. Speaker, the last number of years Mr. Whitford has lived across from my house on Matonabee Street. We all know Mr. Whitford likes to walk around, walks all throughout the city and stuff, and I always liked it when he’d walk by and go, “Good morning, Hawk. How ya doin today?” And he’d always wanted to know what’s happening and he genuinely would stop and reach out and ask what’s happening in the government, what are people saying. Then my usual assumption was right: he was either walking to work or he was walking to Tim Horton’s, and that’s probably where we’ll see him quite often after this.

Mr. Speaker, in the summertime at my house I hold a community pig roast. Again, the unusual character that we just don’t see often enough is he’d come to my house while we were having a community pig roast, he’d roll up his sleeves and he’d get right in there and he goes, “Can I cut the pig with ya?” And he’d take over and he’d push me out of the way and he’d be hacking away and be feeding the kids the little pieces of pig and all excited and people would be coming around. It was such a great thing. I want to make clear that you’re certainly always welcome at my house, always.

Mr. Speaker, he’s certainly a man of great distinction and I can’t say it clearer than that. His character is a raw commodity that I wish we saw

more often. I know this motion states that he will be our honorary table officer and the funny thing is he’s probably the only guy that I know who will take the Assembly up on that offer. So I would encourage the Clerk’s office and certainly the Speaker’s office to start thinking about getting him ready for a robe and, who knows, before long we’ll be hearing orders of the day and hearing Mr. Whitford’s voice calling out the orders of the following day.

So, Mr. Speaker, in closing, again, he’s a great friend. He will always be the Commish to me and my family, especially myself. I have been truly blessed by knowing this man and I consider it an honour. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause