Good morning, Members. [Translation] First I would like to say thank you very much for the position of Speaker that I am chosen for the next four years. Today there are a lot of things that are happening in the House. There is going to be a lot of selections of Ministers. I would just like to say thank you. [Translation ends]

Thank you to each and every one of you who elected me as your Speaker-elect. I will have more to say tomorrow during the official opening of our 18^th Assembly session. I would just like to say mahsi to all of you.

We have a big day ahead of us. The next item on the agenda is the election of our Premier. As we agreed upon the procedures, it will call for a series of questions of the two previously nominated candidates. As we all know, the candidates for the Premier position are Mr. Glen Abernethy and Mr. Bob McLeod.

Members are now permitted to ask two questions to be directed to both the Premier candidates. I will open the floor up for questions now for Members. Member for Yellowknife North, Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Through you, my question to both of you is as follows: Many of the issues with the 17^th Assembly fell under the us versus them mentality between Cabinet and Regular Members. Many feel that this was a result of Cabinet's lack of collaboration and communication. That is the purview of the Premier, as I see it, to be a leader in communication.

Can you provide comments to the Members today on what you will do specifically to break down the us versus them mentality and, more specifically, how you will develop and strengthen a unified approach between Cabinet and Regular Members? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Vanthuyne. Now I will turn it over to Premier candidate Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne, for the question. In my speech I indicated that past predicts future, and if you look at the way I have done business in the past, I have been very collaborative with committee. As a Minister, I ensured they had information on the projects we were working on, and we worked collaboratively together on a number of bills: the Mental Health Act, the Child and Family Services legislation, as well as the Hospital Insurance legislation that allowed us to move to one authority.

In my speech I also indicated that, moving forward, I would like to have mandate letters come out to all the Members to have discussions on. But in those mandate letters I want to be very clear on what the role of Ministers are, how they will work with committee, how they will be required to travel to communities throughout the Northwest Territories and engage in public discussions with residents across the Northwest Territories.

In this House it is about relationships; it is about working together; it is about being willing to come down the hall and have conversations with Members and having your door open so that Members can come into your office and have discussions as well. I have already started to do that in this Legislative Assembly. I have tried to engage in dialogue with all the Members in this House and I will continue to do that. This is about a partnership; this is about working together; and I am committed to that action. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Abernethy. Further questions? Continuing on to Premier candidate Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Thank you for the question. During this election it was clear that people were tired of adversarial politics and what was perceived as petty infighting. The Northwest Territories residents deserve a government that is focused on making good public policy, not scoring political points.

I believe all of us here share the view, and I am committed to working with them to establish a new, more cooperative approach. I will address past complaints that MLAs are not in the loop, by setting up internal systems to ensure information is being shared with MLAs in a timely manner and track how we are doing. I will look for more opportunities to work with MLAs on specific initiatives and files.

I also indicated in my speech that we would look at setting up joint committees of Cabinet and Regular MLAs and we would work with MLAs to make committee meetings and briefings more open to the public. These are just ideas, and I would work with all of the MLAs to come up with more.

Also, more cooperation includes sharing responsibility. There are some very difficult issues ahead and we will need input from Regular MLAs. We also need them to take responsibility for decisions we make together and explain them to the public. We made the mandate letters for Ministers public four years ago and again will make them public this year. In those letters we will require all Ministers to work very closely with MLAs and to make as many committee meetings public as possible.

Also, I will name a Minister responsible for transparency and democratic engagement and ask him or her to begin work on an open government policy. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. At this time I would like to recognize some of the members here. Henry Zoe, former Member of the Legislative Assembly, welcome. We also have here with us the grand chief of the Tlicho Government, Mr. Eddie Erasmus. Welcome.

---Applause

Questions to our Premier candidates, I have next on the list, Mr. Moses, Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. As we see, going into this year and this government, we do have the downturn in the economy, and I want to ask both Premier candidates, and on top of that I want to congratulate both of you for having the courage to put your name forward to represent this government during some hard times ahead, I think, in making some tough decisions. As mentioned, we do have a downturn in the economy. I just want to ask both Premiers, especially in some of the regions, such as the Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu, we are seeing less work happening, I want to ask both Premiers, what opportunities do you see for economic diversification and how do we look at creating a new revenue generation, seeing that some of our big businesses are leaving the Northwest Territories? We just passed a $1.6 billion budget earlier this year. This government can't sustain those types of programs and operations.

What are your plans to get in some different types of revenue and create jobs in other regions? Thank you, Speaker-elect.

Mahsi, Mr. Moses. Now I turn it over to Premier candidate Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Speaker-elect. Economic diversification is critical to the future success of the Northwest Territories. Obviously, we will build on what we have now, which we've been surviving on mining, which is the largest part of our economy - 40 percent of our economy - and we would like to see that continue and maximize those benefits.

In the past when we've been in a situation where there have been downturns in the economy in different parts of the territory, we have relied more on the traditional economy. That's part of it as well. In every region we would have to look at developing some economic development opportunities, whether it's having some strategic infrastructure or working with the Government of Canada, which has announced that they are doubling their infrastructure funding. I think there are opportunities to apply for and get our share of the infrastructure funding. I think there are opportunities in tourism, agriculture, fisheries. I think we should work that every community would have some economic development projects or opportunities. We will work to make communities more self-sufficient, to find employment for local people so that they can have jobs and, obviously, education and training for our students I think is very important, so that they have the skills and opportunities to take advantage of benefits to them. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. I'll turn it over to Premier candidate Mr. Abernethy.