Question.

Question is being called. All those in favour please signify. All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

The next item of business is the mid-term review. The time is now 12:14 and I believe the Nunavut Caucus is meeting at 12:30, so we will break for dinner and come back at 1:30 p.m. Have a good dinner.

---LUNCH RECESS

The committee will come back to order. The chair recognizes a quorum and we are on item 8, mid-term review. Do we have any general comments on the mid-term review? Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to say that I support the principle of a mid-term review. I think it's important that all of our colleagues get an opportunity to assess the performance of the Ministers in a civilized and professional manner . I would also like to say that in the past, perhaps the mid-term review as it was perceived in the last Assembly was perhaps not done in as professional a manner as it should have been and it was, I think, more of an excuse for some who hadn't gotten into Cabinet to find a way to punish those who had.

So I think it's important that everybody have an opportunity to assess those successful candidates on Cabinet, that they get an opportunity half-way through the term to evaluate and to redirect the Cabinet, so I would support a mid-term review at this time, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Enuaraq.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to be talking in Inuktitut.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to say to the points that were just made by my colleague that I would support a mid-term review concerning the Cabinet and to see how well of a job they are doing. I think we would need to do a thorough evaluation after a certain amount of time. We might evaluate how well their leadership has been. I think that would be something good for us to do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also support the mid- term review. I believe that it gives the entire Caucus the opportunity to review the performance of the Ministers, and I don't think we have to look back too long ago to realize that there is a need for this type of review and I would support it very strongly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. To the item, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Dent, to the item.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. To the item, Mr. Ningark.

Qujannamiik. I'll speak Inuktitut.

(translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the 12th Assembly, we did a mid-term review of the Cabinet following a two-year period. At the time it was stated -- I can't remember which of the colleagues it was, but the question was how do we deal with the mid-term review and exactly who will do the actual reviewing. This was a question that was posed at the time.

The Cabinet is run by our direction as we were part of picking them. If we give them too much work to do, they can get overloaded. On the other hand, if we don't give them enough responsibility then they're not as accountable and this would cause a rundown of the system. For those of us who won't be running for the Cabinet, we can give them direction. Providing our support to them would encourage a better support system all around. As I said, if we cause too much hardship for them, it could cause a breakdown. On the other hand, if we don't allocate enough responsibility there is no accountability. The mid-term review is a good way of ensuring that the Ministers are doing the work that they should do and what they plan to do in the coming years. I agree with the mid-term review as well. Thank you.

Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, support the notion of a mid-term review for the Premier and all Cabinet Members. I think it's a mechanism we can use to see what progress has been made by the government in initiating things directed by

Assembly Members. It's a good forum to do that. My concern would be first of all, that there be no automatic resignations of the Cabinet and the Premier before going into this review because I believe that will create an environment of instability in the government. It will be an unproductive environment which will be operating for people that want to be taking the place of some of those Cabinet Members or the Premier leading up to that review. I think that's clearly indicated in what happened in the last Assembly. Prior to the mid-term review, it seemed like there was a lot of jockeying for position and the perception that some of the ordinary Members were picking or preying on some of the weaker Members of the Cabinet in trying to bring them down.

I would support the mechanism of a mid-term review provided that it's used in a constructive and positive way to outline some of the areas that the government needs improvement in to go forward with their initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Ng. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also agree with the mid- term review. I think it allows for a system of checks and balances on the Cabinet and the Premier. However, because of the short term I would like to have it specified exactly what the mid-term terms of reference would be. Would it be 1.6 years? Would it be two years? As we know, April 1, 1999 brings division and I would like to have clarification on the exact time of the mid- term review.

Just for clarification, we are serving four years so we are under the assumption that the mid-term review would be in two years. To the item. Mr. Antoine and then Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Based on last term's mid- term review, when this agenda item came up, I did not want to see a mid-term review happen again. I say this because although I was an ordinary Member and did pose questions to the Cabinet Members, I did not see anything really come out of that whole process except for the fact that Members really raked the Ministers over the coals a few times over. It was a very unpleasant experience from where I was sitting as an ordinary Member. I had really serious concerns about it. We have to really look at the purpose of this mid-term review. Is it to take out Ministers? It is used to take a close look at what Cabinet is doing, what direction it's going? The last time around, I think it was an attempt to try to take some Ministers out. It was a very unpleasant experience.

Last week, during the first meetings of the new Legislative Assembly Members, there was a lot of discussion about the spirit of cooperation, working together and not doing what the last Assembly did. One of my concerns was this mid-term review. What I'm hearing here today is that the Members are supporting this mid-term review but under certain conditions. Originally, I was totally against the mid-term review but after listening to some of the views here, I feel that if this mid-term review is done to strengthen this Legislative Assembly, to improve upon the workings after two years of Cabinet, I would support a mid-term review. However, what some of the Members are saying is to do it under the Territorial Leadership Committee rather than in the Legislative Assembly itself.

I would like to add to what one of the honourable Members said here and that is there is a proposed new committee structure here that will hopefully be designed to have a closer working relationship between the Cabinet Members and ordinary Members in trying to address some of the serious problems that we face here today and over the next four years. Perhaps with the new proposed committee structure there may not be a real need to have a mid-term review.

Further, another honourable Member mentioned that every day that the House sits the Ministers are under review and that Members have the opportunity to question any Cabinet Members on any topic that they feel they have concerns about. The Premier's job would be to make sure that the Cabinet runs cohesively and as a collective unit to try to do the best they can. In this light, there is a review process every day that this House sits.

My view now is that the mid-term review, if it's handled under certain conditions and for a specific purpose other than trying to take Members out, I would be inclined to support such a motion. Mahsi, Mr. Chairman.