Thank you, Mr. Speaker Today I would like to congratulate the leaders that were elected as mayors and councillors of local communities. A community is defined as all the people living in a specific locality, a body of people having an interest in common. While I understand we have public and Aboriginal governments, we all work together on common interests, issues and concerns. Taking a leadership role is a big responsibility, especially in small communities where you have to work 24/7 and be everything to everybody. For these reasons I applaud the people who have taken this step forward to take on these roles.

A leader is often defined to have certain qualities about them, including vision, consensus-maker, communicator, organizer, planner, coordinator, monitor, but most of all being a figurehead for groups and organizations in communities. Lao Tzu, a Chinese Taoist philosopher, defined leadership in this quote: “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”

At this time we face major challenges and most prominent is the fiscal limitations of this government. This is a time that all leaders need to work together to unite and ensure our communities remain strong and vibrant and move us forward into the future.