Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like most of my colleagues, I want to say something in respect of International Women's Day. In past years, for International Women's Day, I have spoken about my mother. She was an independent businesswoman, a single mother, and I couldn't imagine there was anything my mother couldn't do. When you grow up in that kind of household, there is no doubting how capable women are.
We are fortunate in the North, Mr. Speaker, that we have plenty of strong examples of women in leadership. I am not just talking about the women in this room or the women who were chosen as mayors and chiefs in elections last fall. Certainly, they are important role models and examples of successful women, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. I am talking about the strong, articulate visions that were presented at the independently organized TEDx conference in Yellowknife just before Christmas. Visions of academic and professional achievement and success, visions of strong balance between roles in family and leadership in the community. I am talking about the strong representation that emerged through the public consultations of our Special Committee on Increasing the Representation of Women. Those hearings identified some of the inherent barriers to increased participation of women in politics, barriers we must all be aware of and commit to confronting. Our role as leaders should be a look forward, Mr. Speaker, and to imagine: what is the best that we can do? What is the best that our family, our community, and our territory can be? Once we have a vision of what that is, Mr. Speaker, it should be on us to design a means to get there. I believe our territory will be stronger, fairer, and more capable if we have more women in positions of leadership and power.
It is an election year, Mr. Speaker, both in our territory and across the country. Maybe that is an opportunity to take some steps forward in representative democracy. Maybe it is a chance to get a little more balance on the ballot.
Mr. Speaker, on this International Women's Day, I would like to encourage more women to get involved, get to the meetings, share your ideas, put your name forward. It is time for every level of government to more accurately reflect all the people we serve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.