Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to also celebrate Tim today in his retirement. Not only have most of the things I was going to speak about -- even my jokes have been stolen by the other side in that Mr. Mercer was always providing us with advice; I just probably didn't take it very often. So as one of the Members that definitely has had one of the more tumultuous rides here in the Assembly, I first would like to apologize to Mr. Mercer for making his last few years here at the Assembly a very interesting and unpredictable one. I too did not have many interactions with the clerk's office as a Minister, and it was actually -- and I'm going to try to say this without tearing up too much. But it was upon the passing of Haylee Carlson here in the Assembly, who I know was very close to everyone, the staff, and Mr. Mercer himself, and at the same time I had lost my mother one week earlier and it was -- I never had an opportunity with everything that was going on, my siblings, to say good bye to my mom. We didn't do the service at the time. And it was attending Haylee's service and listening to Mr. Mercer speak to that where I was able to actually have some closure myself in what I was going through, and that, I think, was the first moment where I started my friendship with Tim.

Over the years, Tim did try to -- or that first year try to help me smooth over the things that were happening and unfortunately that did not pan out that way. But having moved on to this side, I then got to see the other side of it and have that unique experience of being not only a Minister but also having been a Regular Member and seeing exactly what the clerk's office did and what they brought to the table. And I can't even imagine -- you know, the expression of herding cats, I think if you take that to the millionth degree that's probably what Mr. Mercer had to do with the 19th Assembly. We were all in with a lot of new ideas and probably not so receptive to listening to what might seem to be the old way of doing things, and I want to say that I think that Tim navigated that really well with us, encouraging us to make change and to follow our hearts, but also trying to get us to recognize that there are procedures and things that need to take place.

I believe Tim is a true parliamentarian. He truly believes in the system and that would lead to some interesting debates at times, as I am quite the opposite. However, I have come to really appreciate the level of expertise and knowledge that Tim has brought to the table because I come from no background like that. So I had no guidance. And I really have appreciated the clerk's office. And not only Tim himself, but the people underneath him that you can see are clearly benefitting from his amazing mentorship.

And one of the things that I've always come and struck to is when I look at some of our -- and I don't want to speak for them but they're not Members, and they don't get this opportunity, some of our Indigenous staff in the Assembly have always told me that Tim has been a strong supporter of theirs and that they feel he welcomes them, he encourages them, and he wants them all to succeed. And for that, I think that's the biggest kudos that we could give him in saying thank you for that. Thank you.