Yukon MP Larry Bagnell is among the top 10 talkers in the House of Commons.

With the end of the past sitting of the first session of the 38th Parliament, Bagnell ranked 10th in regards to the number of words he has spoken since the start of the session on Oct. 4, 2004.

He has spoken 73,066 words on the floor of the House.

'I want to make sure people hear about the Yukon,' the second-term Liberal MP said in an interview today.

With the territory being one of the ridings farthest away from Ottawa, he said, it's important make sure he takes a stand and make Yukoners' concerns and perspectives known.

The statistics come from a website called 'How'd They Vote? MP Debate Statistics' (www.howdtheyvote.ca).

The site was created by Cory Horner, a 24-year-old B.C. man, to help Canadians track what their representatives are doing in government.

The site was launched in May but has recently been getting national media attention.

Bagnell said he has been aware of the site for a while now.

According to the statistics, he is 34,807 words behind No. 1 talker Paul Szabo, the Liberal MP for Mississauga South in Ontario.

But Bagnell's statistics put him high on the list of 308 Members of Parliament who serve in Ottawa.

He is even well above all of Prime Minister Paul Martin's cabinet ministers. The closest cabinet member is Scott Brison, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, who has spoken 65,477 words, or 7,589 fewer than Bagnell has.

Bagnell joked that if some one were to go through Hansard, the official record of parliamentary proceedings, and develop statistics on how often a constituency is mentioned, the phrase 'Yukon constituency' would likely be high on the list too.

'I try to get the Yukon perspective in the House,' said Bagnell. 'I concentrate on things of importance to the Yukon.'

Bagnell has stood to speak 172 times in the House over this session; that places him 37th on the list. Commons Speaker Peter Milliken has stood the most, at 2,164 times.

Bagnell said he often stands to ask a question if an issue being discussed doesn't make sense. He added that it's just another way to make sure Yukoners' concerns are at the table.

'I take my House duties very seriously,' said Bagnell.

He claims to have one of the best attendance records of all the MPs.

He has only been absent from the House for a vote twice. That places him in a third place position with 28 other MPs who have also missed two votes.

There are 49 MPs who have two or fewer absents. Nine have missed just one and 13 members were present for every vote in the House of Commons this past session.

Bagnell said he often tries to take on the House duties of other MPs so he can trade off his own to be able to come back to the Yukon for various important events that sometimes occur while Parliament is still sitting.

Over the course of the parliamentary session, he has broken from Liberal party lines and voted against his own party three times. He voted in support of the elimination of the excise tax on jewelry, medicine patents and the prohibition of replacement workers in labour disputes.

According to the site, Bagnell has not yet brought forth any private member's bills, or otherwise, this session.

Meanwhile, Bagnell said it's good to be back in the Yukon for the summer and not have to do his weekly commute to and from Ottawa.

His summer is almost already fully scheduled, though. It will include volunteering at festivals, attending first nation general assemblies, visiting several of the Yukon's rural communities and attending the Liberals' national caucus in Regina in August.