(March 8, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, International Women's Day honours women's advancement towards equality and reminds us of the vigilance required to ensure that equality is maintained in every aspect of society.

(March 7, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, we know that impaired driving leads to injuries, death, and millions of dollars in property damage across Canada every year.   Statistics Canada recently reported the NWT and Yukon had the highest rates of impaired driving across the country in 2012.   Ninety four NWT residents were convicted for impaired driving last year.

(March 7, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, a lack of affordable, adequate, and suitable housing creates challenges in recruiting staff for the GNWT, Aboriginal governments and for community governments. Staff need homes to live in if they are going to continue delivering the programs and services the people of the NWT rely on their governments for.

(March 7, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, to live in poverty in Canada is to live with insufficient and often poor quality food. It is to sleep in poor quality and/or unaffordable housing, in homeless shelters, or on city streets and parks. It means making difficult and painful decisions on a daily basis involving trade-offs, whether to pay the rent or feed the kids, pay the electric bill or go to the dentist, buy a new bus pass or forego socializing with friends.

(March 5, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment continues to improve its Income Security programs to ensure that residents of the Northwest Territories receive the support they need to tackle barriers they face to enter the workforce and meet their financial needs.

(March 5, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, the universal skills required to lead people, champion innovation and manage change are becoming even more important, given the GNWT’s complex and ever-changing work context. These skills combine with our staff’s technical skills and knowledge to make them strong, capable leaders. I am pleased to announce that our new Senior Management Competency Model will guide the development of management expertise within the public service as we work to achieve the 17^th Assembly’s vision and goals.

(March 5, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, few social issues are more visible in a community than those that stem from addictions.

(March 4, 2013) - Ladies and gentlemen, Parliamentary Secretary Rickford, , leaders, honoured friends…

I am pleased to be here today to speak to you about the bright future the Northwest Territories looks forward to and how we can all benefit together, as a territory and as a nation.

There is no better place than this room to address the intersection of two of the most important  issues for Canadian governments today, Canadian companies, and Canadian communities.

(March 4, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, March is National Nutrition Month.  Nutrition Month has been celebrated worldwide since 1980 and it focuses on the importance of healthy eating and the positive impact it has on our health and well-being.

(March 4, 2013) - Mr. Speaker, Aboriginal languages are important pillars of our Northwest Territories society – they create a strong sense of identity and belonging, and we must actively work with our language communities to ensure our youth identify themselves as language and cultural ambassadors.