Merci, Monsieur le President. It is time for another statement on "What I Did for My Summer Holidays," or "Yellowknife Rocks."

Committee work began almost immediately after the last sitting ended on June 2nd. I also travelled to Inuvik for the Alternative Energy and Emerging Technologies conference, June 14th to the 16th, and I attended the Dehcho and Tlicho assemblies. The never-ending work on the Rules and Procedures Committee on our review of several reports of election matters continued over the summer.

In August, my wife and I travelled to the Yukon and Alaska, where tourism is really booming. We share a lot in common, but the Yukon government really takes tourism seriously. Later in August, we had our Caucus retreat at Reindeer Station in Inuvik. A sincere thank you to the Inuvik Community Corporation for our use of Reindeer Station. It was my first time back since 1988, and probably the first time that the MLAs have been there at the same time. Later in August, Regular MLAs began our review of the 2018-2019 capital budget.

Harvesting of our home gardens has begun, with about 40 pounds of Alaskan Bloom potatoes. Carrot harvesting is also under way, and if the MLAs and Ministers perform well, there will be carrots and not sticks in this sitting.

In late August and early September I personally delivered a summer newsletter to about 900 households in my riding and engaged residents wherever possible. I also held a constituency meeting last week. The top issues were the state of Yellowknife's downtown area, support for a carbon tax if it includes revenue recycling to further reduce fossil fuel dependency, concern over the state of the Bathurst caribou herd, and distress over the future of visitor services in Yellowknife. I will be working on these issues in this sitting and the remainder of our term.

As we head into budget season, I will be pushing for more investments into social infrastructure, including housing, a made-in-the-NWT carbon tax regime that protects low-income Northerners and remote communities but invests revenues in renewable energy and energy efficiency while creating local jobs. I will be after a real investment in visitor services and tourism in Yellowknife and better protection of the Bathurst caribou herd. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.