Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I guess I, too, would like to offer a number of thank yous to the chair of our committee, who I think steered the ship along a course that involved a lot of meetings that were sometimes taking place over weekends, over evenings, and managed to keep us all on course. It's sometimes an unruly mob that he has to deal with. I also want to acknowledge the work of the Minister and his staff because, while we were meeting, they were also meeting, talking about some of the changes and ideas that we had suggested, so I think this was very much a collaborative process. I want to recognize the hard work that everybody put into this bill. We may not agree on a few remaining items, but it is still a bill that I think we can all be very proud of, and I think it is world-class.

I do want to say that we had 26 written submissions. There was obviously a high degree of public interest in this bill. We had some very sophisticated submissions from Indigenous governments, co-management bodies, NGOs, and some individuals, as well, always some very thoughtful ideas, in many cases actually suggested wording changes. I want to recognize all of the hard work that everybody put into their submissions on the bill, as well.

I think another thing I want to recognize is that there were 30 amendments made to this bill. I have been here only for three-and-a-half years. That is more changes to a bill than I have ever seen in any other legislation that has come forward, but I think it's a reflection of the hard work that everybody did to try to make this the best possible legislation.

It is an important piece of legislation. This is the first post-devolution bill that is coming before this Assembly. This represents a new era, a new way of doing things, a new way of us looking after our own resources. I think the value that standing committee brought to this process, and I tried to discuss a little bit about that yesterday in my Member's statement, and I cannot speak on behalf of all of committee, but it certainly, from my perspective, tried to bring a lens of a number of items or criteria that I used in reviewing the bill. I wanted to make sure that co-management was fully recognized and implemented into the bill; that there was strong accountability set up; that there was a greater transparency and opportunities for the public to be involved throughout the various stages of identifying, reviewing, and managing protected areas. Also, access to information was an important thing that I think we have all agreed to improve with this bill.

I am going to reserve any comments that I have on specific sections, Mr. Chair, to when we come to the clause-by-clause, but, as I said, this is a bill that I think we can all be very proud of. Thanks, Mr. Chair.