Please be seated. Colleagues, it's now my turn to talk. I listened to 12 replies to the budget, so I got my binder ready to go. So we got until about 10 o'clock so.

I'd like to thank the Commissioner, the Honourable Gerald Kisoun, for being here today to assent to our legislation. It was an honour having him join us in this chamber. Thank you, Mr. Commissioner.

Colleagues, before we adjourn, I want to say a few words. I'll be quick, because I know we all have things to do, people to see, and many of us are preparing to travel home to our constituents, friends and family.

Colleagues, please join me in thanking everyone that makes it possible to do our jobs here. We have and we rely on a wonderful team, and I want to let them know we appreciate all they do for us.

Our staff do everything from keeping the building open and operating safely, to ensuring we are seen and heard on television, computers, and radios across the territory, to providing research and procedural advice.

Our contractors ensure the Assembly building is clean, snow is cleared, and the meals are delicious and nutritious. Please join me in thanking them.

I also want to say a special thank you to our interpreters and our pages. February was Indigenous Languages Month, and it was wonderful to see our interpreters and hear our Indigenous languages spoken each day.

We honour our cultures when we use our languages, and our interpreters make it possible for us to do that. Please join me in thanking our interpreters for their hard work and dedication to our language as well as the beautiful potluck we had at lunchtime, and it was all traditional food.

Colleagues, I love that we are able to bring youth from across the territory to join us in this House as pages. The youth are our future, and I believe our page program invests in that future by teaching our youth about our form of consensus government. it is amazing to watch their confidence grow throughout their time here, and I want to let them know that they do a great job and we appreciate their efforts.

These young people are our future leaders, our future teachers, doctors and tradespeople. No matter what path they take, I know they will be working for a better future.

I know some of our pages really love the time they spend here. In fact, some of them love it so much they come back to us. Two of our current table officers are former pages, so maybe we'll see some of you again the future. I didn't say the people's names, I'd just like to thank them.

Colleagues, please join me in thanking all of our pages for being here with us this whole sitting, so.

I also want to take a moment to talk about another great program we offer for our young people - our youth parliament program. From April 29^th to May 1^st of this year, we will host 19 grade nine and ten students from across the territory to learn about our style of consensus government and participate in a model session in this chamber.

Colleagues, I cannot stress how much I enjoy our youth parliament program. It is both inspiring and humbling to work with and hear our youth when they speak to the issues impacting them, their peers, and their communities. I plan on being here to participate in the program again this year, and I want to encourage each of you to do the same. If possible, take the time to meet with your youth representatives. Also, our team will be looking for Members to volunteer as pages during the model session. Please consider giving a few hours of your time to serve our youth parliamentarians. It's a great experience for both Members and the youth.

Finally, colleagues, I want to congratulate you on getting through what I believe is our most challenging sitting of the year - maybe not -- when we consider our main estimates and operations budget. I've sat as both a Regular Member and Cabinet Member and now as a Speaker. I know these discussions and negotiations can pull at our heartstrings. We want to do what we think is best for our residents and our territory, but we do not always agree. It takes a lot of work, communication and compromise to get through a budget. We make difficult decisions, work together, and we move forward together. this is consensus government in action. I know personally you don't always get what you're looking for, but that is part of the process.

Colleagues, this House is not scheduled to sit again until May, but I know we will all be busy with the ongoing work of government and committees. I look forward to seeing all of you back in this chamber in May for our next sitting.

Thank you, colleagues. Let's wrap this up so we can get home to our friends and family. Don't forget to let them know how much their support and encouragement matters to you.

Mr. Clerk, orders of the day.