Good afternoon, everyone. It is once again a pleasure and honour for me to be in your presence and to prorogue this session of the 16th Legislative Assembly.

Using this time for a few personal comments before I begin my formal duties, I would like to acknowledge and offer my sincere condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues who have been impacted by the tragic air crash in Nunavut last weekend.

We have also lost a great Canadian this week. I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Layton in July 2010 during Her Majesty’s royal tour in Canada.

Mr. Layton and I were waiting together in a receiving line to greet Her Majesty on the lawns at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. I introduced myself to him, and we talked about the North and his visits to the Northwest Territories.

I found Mr. Layton -- or Jack, as he was known -- to be very cordial and friendly. He struck me as a person who reached out and who was not afraid to share his dream with people, with everyone.

Mr. Layton was always interested in hearing from people about their thoughts and hopes for their future, and for a better country.

What I will remember most about Mr. Layton is that he portrayed positive change for Canada in everything he did. He will be missed greatly by countless Canadians.

Now to the business at hand, I want to say what a pleasure it has been to watch the important work of this government coming together through your diligence, passion, and hard work.

As Members of this Legislative Assembly, each of you has become an instrument of change and you have acted on the wishes of the people of our vast territory during your elected term. For that, we owe each of you a great deal.

Being in politics is a difficult task not just for the Members, but for their families as well, as your Speaker so eloquently spoke about just a few minutes ago. Without the support of your families, your jobs here would be even more difficult, if not impossible.

To your families we owe a great deal and I extend my admiration and gratitude to them, on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories.

I know now that some of you have already announced your intention to seek re-election. I want to wish you every success in your campaigns.

Some of you have also announced your intention to step down, to pursue other challenges instead. I want to extend our appreciation for your service to your constituents and all people of the Northwest Territories, and I would like also to wish each and every one of you success in your future endeavours. It has been an honour to have served and worked with you.

To conclude my personal comments to the Members, I also want to let you know that I have had the pleasure of visiting most of your ridings during my first 15 months as Commissioner. I always say time really flies when you don’t know what you’re doing.

---Laughter

I look forward to visiting all 33 communities during my tenure, as well, in the next few years.

It has been a pleasure to be in your service during this 16th Assembly and I look forward to working with Members of the 17th Assembly, after the territorial election in October.