Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use my final Member’s statement to thank a lot of people over the last four years.
Firstly, as I entered this building I thanked the citizens of Yellowknife Centre, and I’d like to begin the same way by finishing this term by thanking the constituents of Yellowknife Centre, the many friends and the seniors who constantly provide advice and support through the years. As we all know, we deal with challenging issues and sometimes very emotional and stressful issues, and many of my constituents have provided much needed advice and support through those and have been the guiding light and certainly the compass rose to many of the issues that I’ve had to seek advice, to get direction and make sure I’m responding appropriately.
Mr. Speaker, it’s very important to me to thank my best friend in the world. That would be my wife, Susan. She’s always been there through and through. She is the ear I bend at the end of the day, sometimes explaining what happened at work, and I ask, like, what the heck is going on. And she says the same type of response, but she’s been the pillar of the whole reason why I’ve been here. Without her on the team, I mean, it’s tough to do this job as it is.
To my two children, who I was able to get in their seats sitting attentively today, that would be McKinley and Hudson. You know, being an MLA is a difficult challenge as it is, but I think it goes unspoken many times about how challenging it is on the families and the children. Sometimes we don’t spend enough time together, but I do try to spend as much time as I can with them and I try to be as good a dad as exceptionally possible. It doesn’t mean I can’t spend more time, but I do promise that we do try as much as we can.
Mr. Speaker, some of the most memorable days this term I would say all started here working with some of the people in this Assembly. Ironically, some of the most stressful days have been working with the same people around this room in this Assembly. But to that, I won’t spend a lot of time thanking everyone individually, but I would just say that it’s been challenging; but I would also say, in some respects, it’s also been rewarding working with everyone.
Mr. Speaker, just highlighting a couple things: It’s been a privilege to see what we’ve been able to do on supplementary health benefits, the dementia centre, e-petitions, the downtown clinic, and even
distracted driving, to name a few. But it’s been great that we’ve been able to move so many initiatives forward.
Mr. Speaker, the work needs to continue. There’s a fair bit of work left on the agenda to do, even though our days are short, so I just want to say and end with this, Mr. Speaker, as I see my time coming up, I just want to say thank you to the citizens of Yellowknife Centre and I look forward to seeing you on the doorsteps very shortly, and I appreciate every bit of advice, support and direction you’ve given me to date and in the future.