Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s good to be back in the House today. I don’t often miss a sitting of the Legislative Assembly, but the last three days have been like Groundhog Day for me. It’s the same thing: get up, get ready, get stuck in the driveway, go to the airport, find out that the plane is cancelled, and go home.

It’s unbelievable for you up here in Yellowknife to even think about the condition of the South Slave right now in terms of the snowfall. I, in my 38 years in Hay River, have never seen anything like that. We heard reports of it coming in from north, south, east and west on Saturday, but it was just overcast and very windy, and the lake had the moderating effect of it not turning into anything serious. Monday we had sleet, all day and on top of six inches of slush we got six inches of snow. Of course, it’s a mess and it goes from there.

I would like to recognize and thank all the people who are doing their hardest to keep up with it and keep ahead of it. There have been many, many power bumps and power outages because the lines are all coated with ice and heavy, heavy snow. The people at the runways and airports, the town streets, I mean, everybody is doing their utmost and working around the clock to try and stay ahead of it. When I checked the forecast this morning, it was heavy snowfall warning again for today. It is indeed an unusual circumstance.

I thought since we were talking about fire and flood, I’d tell you about the snow in the South Slave. It hasn’t been in the media so I know you people probably find it really, really hard to believe that it’s that bad, but it is. I hope everybody has it all cleaned up and the planes are flying. I’ll be home tomorrow night.