Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulate all Members of this House for being strong voices of their people over what has been a long and often, as other honourable Members have pointed out, arduous session, but the debate in this House and differences of opinion ultimately make us a stronger Assembly and a better government for the people of the Northwest Territories.

We've seen a great deal of success in the passing of the budget that was a compromise between two viewpoints and, again, is a stronger budget because of it. We have new funding for homecare, for mental health support for youth, to address the homelessness crisis in downtown Yellowknife, to support our industry through new subsidies for fishing and the mining industry, and, of course, through sticking together, Regular Members were able to demonstrate a very strong united front and articulate the concerns of their constituents in a cohesive way.

The level of public engagement, I've never seen it before in my life, Mr. Speaker, and I think that level of public interaction is exactly what we were elected to do: to provide a more transparent and accountable Assembly, and the benefits of raising those issues out in public came back into the House and ultimately made for a better Assembly.

We still have a lot of work to do, Mr. Speaker. We still have to come to a conclusion on carbon taxes; we still need to settle land rights agreements and land use plans. We still have to determine how to make best use of post-secondary opportunities in the North with a new strategic plan for Aurora College. I'm thankful that the biggest issues that faced us, the two programs at Aurora College and, of course, junior kindergarten, have been addressed and now we are working collectively to make better programs out of both of those.

I am disappointed that Bill 7 is moving forward and we will see a new increase to our cost of living; however, we have some other great bills that we are working on over the summer and by the next Assembly we will be able to address many issues that are outstanding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.