Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and Public Works and Services. So our government has more than doubled the Mining Incentive Program that provides public subsidies for exploration. In contrast, our funding for Arctic Energy Alliance has actually declined. Can the Minister explain this contrasting investment pattern when we have obligations with regard to climate change and investment in energy retrofits creates more jobs per dollar invested than any form of non-renewable resource development? Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Masi. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We put more money into MIP for resource development in the Northwest Territories; that was one of the mandated things that we wanted to do as the 18th Legislative Assembly, was to bring mineral development back to the Northwest Territories, and we continue to do that. Arctic Energy Alliance is a very important part of my portfolios under Infrastructure. This is something that's going to be something very important moving forward around our energy strategy, our climate change strategy moving forward. As I've said in the House, we have lobbied the federal government and the Minister of Infrastructure for some more funding, and I think there are some great opportunities. I think I've been on the record as saying we're going to try to get an extra million dollars for the Arctic Energy Alliance moving forward, and I believe in this agency and the great work that they're doing for the residents of the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work on both of these things and initiatives moving forward for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Masi. Questions for Ministers. Any other questions? Member Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have a question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Chairman, in 2014 the Member for Inuvik-Boot Lake asked the then Minister of Education to put more money into a social work program. As Minister, he cut the social work program. I asked him a question earlier: who made the cuts to the Teacher Education Program and the social work program? I'm looking for a person, here, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask, and I want to be very clear, I'm asking the Minister which person decided to make the cut to TEP and the social work program? Thank you.

Masi. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did look at the programs and did a review of Aurora College programs earlier in this government. My staff and the staff of Aurora College looked at data, looked at success rates coming out of these two programs. As I mentioned earlier during the session, the graduates that were coming out of the programs were very low and a recommendation came to my office. I approved the recommendation to reduce these two programs and continuing to support the students who are in the two programs to completion. So it came to my office and I approved the recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Masi. Questions for Ministers. Any other questions? Member O'Reilly.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I always try to get the last word here, maybe, but I have one more question. It's my last one for my Cabinet friends, and this one is to Minister Sebert. During his candidacy speech to serve in Cabinet, MLA Sebert said, "I don't think this is time for excessive restraint." So what happened? Can the Minister explain his current perspectives on our fiscal strategy and what he sees happening over the remainder of our term? Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Minister Sebert.

Well, there is no excessive restraint. There is reasonable restraint by all of this government. Also, at that point I had never had the honour of sitting here. I'd never gone through the books, I'd never heard the very substantial concerns that have been expressed around Cabinet about budgets. I was looking at our overall financial situation the other day, and we have quite a bit of debt. It's almost per capita the same rate as Ontario, where that seems to be a crisis. Despite that, we still have moved ahead on very many programs, and I think we're all proud of those programs, and in the end I don't think the restraint we've shown is excessive. I think it's proper. Thank you.

Masi. Questions for Ministers. Any other questions from Members? I see none at this point. I believe that we've concluded the Members' questions to Ministers. Before we proceed to the next item, the chair is going to call for a short recess. Masi.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, earlier in our deliberations, we had that question from the Member from Hay River North, asking each of the Cabinet members if they would resign if they were to receive a vote in non-confidence. All the Cabinet members said they would not resign if they received a vote of non-confidence in a secret ballot. I would like to ask the Premier if he would ask the members of Cabinet if any Ministers were to receive a vote of non-confidence, I would like to ask the Premier if he would ask that Minister to resign, or strip that Minister’s portfolios. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Member for his question. For many years, this Legislative Assembly has been in place. This is the 18th Legislative Assembly. We do have policies, procedures, and conventions that we follow, and every instance – in my case, when I became Premier, it was not at the TLC forum. When a motion was passed in the House, if I recall correctly, the motion was moved by Minister Abernethy. That is the convention and those are the rules of the House, and we have always followed them. As Premier, if people have wanted a Minister removed, they would have to move a motion in the House and everybody would vote on it. That is the procedure that I would follow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I find the Premier’s answer is somewhat disingenuous. We elected him with a secret ballot in the TLC, and the motion was confirmation of the TLC work. I don’t follow his reasoning that if the Minister or Ministers lost confidence of the House, that he would not then act on the advice of the House as it were, so I am not appreciating the distinction that the Premier is making there. Why would the Premier want to keep a Minister in whom the House generally doesn’t have confidence? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are in Committee of the Whole. Motions are made on the floor of the Legislative Assembly. In the 17th Assembly, it was the first time in the history of Assembly where we didn’t lose a Minister, so there were no motions in House to remove Ministers. In previous governments, when a Minister was removed, that was done through a motion of the House, and that has been the case and I have not seen the rules change.

The rules committee met many times and those rules were not changed, and it is still the case. In the past, when a government was in session and the Premier and Cabinet, when a Minister was removed by on the floor of the House through a motion, then the Premier would take action. It has always been the Legislative Assembly that approves the Ministers and the Premiers, so if the Legislative Assembly moves to remove a Minister, then I would take the appropriate action if I was still Premier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in this most recent sessional statement, Premier McLeod talked about his vision for a healthy and prosperous Northwest Territories. He talked about people getting a good-paying jobs built on the foundation of responsible resource development. He also talked about residents breaking free of colonialism to achieve self-economic determination. These are powerful words, Mr. Chair, and a powerful vision. Before Christmas, we saw colonialism is still alive in the North when the federal government declared a unilateral moratorium on oil and gas development in the Beaufort Sea. Mr. Chair, I would like to ask the Premier to expand on his vision of the North, and explain what he is doing to ensure that Northerners have real authority to make their own decisions about their economic future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ever since 50 years ago – actually, this is the 50th anniversary of the Government of the Northwest Territories moving to Yellowknife – when the government moved from Ottawa to Yellowknife, that was the first step in achieving decision-making by Northerners. With the devolution in 2014, we further took control through Lands and Resources, and there was also a provision through the devolution agreement where 60 days after implementation. We would begin to negotiate the offshore and co-management of oil and gas, so we were taken aback when the federal government unilaterally imposed a moratorium and it ignored three areas.

One was we had a devolution agreement. There is a land claim with the Inuvialuit that requires a consultation constitutionally protected. Also, we were concerned that Bill 55, where the federal government is looking at – they can take, identify, and establish marine-protected areas without consultation with anybody. We are working with the Aboriginal governments to look at what we can do in terms of dealing with the oil and gas moratorium. It has had negative effects on the other parts of the Northwest Territories. For the first time since 1936, there has been not one drop of oil being produced for the past six months, and it looks like for the foreseeable future. We have to work together and we have to look at resource development as still a very important part of our economy, including mining. Jobs are very important, the Northwest Territories has been the only jurisdiction in the past 15 years whose population has been declining, so we need the good jobs for our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.