Thank you, Ms. Wawzonek. It appears we have no further questions for the Executive Council candidates. Ms. Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Many of us talked about building the relationship and working better together as Members of the Legislative Assembly. I have often said, and I've told myself, too, that honesty is a strength and a value that I cherish in myself and I cherish in my Cabinet Ministers. I want to know the commitment from everyone who is putting their name forward for Minister: what will you do, whether you're elected or you're not elected, to help build the relationship between Regular MLAs and Cabinet Ministers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Ms. Cochrane. Let's start off with Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Thank you for the question. I think this is why we're here. You know, we have to put all our differences at the door in regard to when you come into the Assembly and this Chamber, and respecting the Chamber and why we're here. We have to be more open-minded, I guess, in regard to we're here for one reason: to provide service to the people of the Northwest Territories. Checking your ego at the door for the benefit of all the people who you are representing, I think that's the way to be. That's all you have, is your word, trust. If you don't have that, I don't know why you're here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Next, we have Ms. Thom.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Communication is key. You know, we all come here wanting to best represent not only our constituents, but, as Members of the Executive, the whole of the residents of the Northwest Territories. I mentioned last week, we've spent the last three weeks together, and, at the end of it, I said, "No matter what happens Friday at 5:00, or Thursday at 5:00, whatever the date may be, we all need to maintain that communication." It is very important. That's the way you get things done. I will work hard. I am dedicated. I come in with a new lens that could be both positive and negative, but that is my commitment to this Executive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Ms. Thom. Next, we have Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Our Premier-elect is correct. We did talk a lot about this when we were speaking about being Premier because relationships are so important. Some of the basic things are just walking the halls. I get here too early in the morning, but when I get here later, I like to take the long way around. I go by people's offices. I can say hi, and I can just see what's going on.

I think that that is a big thing, and no matter what side you are on, you need to do that more often. I sat with the Premier-elect in her office on a number of occasions discussing issues. We need to implement some of those standing committee procedures in terms of how they interact with the Executive that the Minister helped to pioneer in the last Assembly.

If I am a Regular Member, I am going to do my best to help guide the Regular Members to avoid some of the pitfalls that we ran into in the last Assembly that sort of hindered communication.

There is lots to do. I have lots of ideas, and I look forward to implementing them no matter which side I am on. We are all on the same side; how about no matter which hall I am down? Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I, too, endorse a lot of the recommendations that came out of the Special Committee on Transition Matters. I talked about some of those in my speech earlier today, things like ongoing training of MLAs. We need to more effectively use caucus, which is all of us as Regular MLAs leaving our hats at the door to talk and resolve issues. I think that we can do a better of job at that.

We need to find ways to more frequently visit each other and build working relationships. The Premier-elect knows that I did work with her well in the last Assembly. Standing committees are very, very important. They play a crucial role in how Regular MLAs work with Cabinet Ministers, and we have to make the standing committees work a lot better.

Some of the ideas that I have had from the special committee report: pre-budget consultations; clearer legislative proposals, and if they get changed, bring them back to committee; and have plain language materials ready, so that when committees take bills on the road, they can do a better job at promoting or consulting with communities and stakeholders, as well.

Those are some of the ideas. Most importantly: no surprises. That needs to be a hallmark of this Assembly moving forward. There are conventions that can help with that, but we shouldn't have surprises happening. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Next, we have Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Do what I did for the last four years. It's about walking down the halls. It's not just talking to the Ministers; it's talking to the Regular MLAs to get to know people. It is about understanding people as you move forward, but you have to be honest.

I have gone into the offices of Ministers and told them exactly what I was going to say before I said it on the floor. I am being very honest and upfront. I have had numerous conversations with the Premier-elect over the four years. It is about working together and communicating. Whether it is on committees or individuals, it is about working together. I think it is about team-building and the ability to be able to walk into anybody's office, sit there, and chat, and have a conversation. It doesn't have to be about politics. It could be about anything. It's about getting to know people moving forward. That is what it is about, building this.

We are a family of 19. That is what we have. I have nine sisters and nine brothers. Right? That is what we have here right now. This is what we are. We are going to be a family, and we need to be working together, so we need to communicate together. You need to be honest. If you don't agree with it, don't say you agree with it, and then come out here and say something different. If I tell you what I'm going to tell you, that is what I'm going to be doing.

It is about honesty, and it's about respect, because at the end of the day, if you are honest with somebody, that is showing respect to that individual. That, to me, is the most important part of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Next, we have Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Much of my speech dealt with this issue. I think it's very important to develop relationships with people, obviously, to get to know them as a people, in order to develop trust and mutual respect. I don't need to tell anyone how to do that. I think that we are all here able to develop relationships.

There needs to be open and honest communication, and it needs to be proactive. I want to echo Mr. O'Reilly's comments about there not being any surprises. Some of the most disruptive moments of the 18^th Assembly turned on surprises from Cabinet or from the Premier. We do have a communications protocol as a caucus, and it is something that will soon be introduced to the new Members. It is a very important document, because it lays out how communication should work and really must work in order for us to be able to work consistently and cooperatively together.

As I said in my speech, the standing committees are essential, and there could be a lot more done with consultation with the committees on regular business, such as budgets, policies, and regulations, as well as legislation, to help us work collaboratively. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Next, we have Ms. Wawzonek.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. First of all, as the Member from Nahendeh has already said, I don't see us as separate. I think that we are all here to fulfill a role to govern to the best of our abilities.

I am fairly new to the internal processes. I was surprised that people don't walk up and down the hall and talk to each other in the mornings. That seems like an obvious thing to me. I am surprised that not more time is spent together in caucus. I am surprised that there is not more time spent between a Minister and the Cabinet doing direct communication in terms of trying to make bills and legislation better before it has to hit this floor. Those things seem obvious to me.

I think I talked to somebody who had been in here before about every Minister having, sort of, a non-Cabinet buddy, if you will, someone that they can check in with on a regular basis in a more direct way, and it was suggested that, when that is tried, then the Minister gets burned, but I want to assume the best. I want to assume the best from everybody that is here, so to me, having those relationships where you can check in and say, "Where are we at on this?" and doing a bit of a gut check, I would like to think that we can build that trust based on the communications that we have had over the last three weeks here.

Really, if communication fails, to me, the solution is never to shut it down and walk away. You actually have to double down. When there has been a breakdown down in communication, that is when you actually have to go in and make extra efforts to try really hard to make it better. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Wawzonek. Next, we have Mr. Bonnetrouge.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. I think that communication is a really important trait that everyone should have. As we are breaking down communication barriers, we should be talking to each other, maybe even saying, "Good morning" or "Hi," short chats every day in the mornings. Making time for each other is very important to build that working relationship. Communication is ultimately very important for that. It is also very important as we are working on trying to rebuild a consensus government style. Communication is very important in that aspect there. I would really encourage everyone there to not hole up in your little office and just be walking around and talking to everyone. That is going to be very important. We have to work together for the next four years, and that is very important. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bonnetrouge. Next, we have Ms. Martselos.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. First of all, I want to say that, whether I become a Cabinet Minister or remain an ordinary MLA, either way, I want you to know that I will be the voice for the people. I feel very strongly about the people of the Northwest Territories, all people, and I have a special thing in my heart for the Indigenous people.

I am very honest, and I am very sincere. I am very results-oriented, and I am a great communicator. I don't get my way all the time, but I am able to leave it at the door. I've learned a lot in these last three weeks, and I will learn a lot in the future, and it will be from all of you in this House, including the staff because, you know what, we have great staff here. I respect each and everybody who comes through the door, always did, because that is part of our culture as an Indigenous person. We welcome everybody. We want everybody to be part of what we know and what we have, and we always share. I look forward to sharing those ideas with each and every one of you in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Martselos. Next, we have Ms. Nokleby.

I agree with all the comments made by my colleagues here. I think communication is key to building relationships and trust amongst us. I do like to talk, but I am also a fairly active listener. I know that that was something that was commented to me during the forums, that I was always interested in listening to what others had to say.

My parents were educators. My dad was a principal and my mom was a teacher, the first in their families to go to school. So, for us, I was always taught to be a life-long learner, and one of the things that I realized coming into this process was how little I actually know. In the last, say, two months, even including the campaign, it's been one of the steepest learning curves of my life, and so I already have the mindset to come in here and learn from all of you and every one of you. If I end up in Cabinet as a first-time and there is someone who has been in Cabinet before, I'm going to go to them and ask them, how does this get done, if I have a question or a concern.

So my plan is just to go in and continue to talk to everyone. I was actually really shocked when I came in to realize that the Cabinet offices were in one section of the building and the Regular MLAs were in another; to me, that struck me as really an odd situation for a consensus-style government. I actually think that it would probably do better to have staggered Cabinet-Regular-Cabinet-Regular, and then that would force that interaction. I can guarantee you, I will also be walking the hallway. I will be coming to all of you. I know I'm not an expert; as an engineer, I'm liability-adverse, so I'm not going to say something I don't know. I plan for all of you to teach me those things. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Nokleby. Next, we have Ms. Chinna.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. I was thinking about this question, and I thought that we are all very new to the 19^th Legislative Assembly. The staff is amazing. I've had probably the best three weeks here, and I was really excited to know my colleagues from the Beaufort-Delta, and I'm very familiar with them, coming into the House and just reengaging that relationship again. I also have a lot of respect for the amount of skills that surround this table. I think, looking at this question on how we build the relationships between the MLA and the Cabinet, I just think: it already exists. It's already there, and I think we need to maintain it. We need to follow through with it, whether we're going to be walking up and down those halls 10 times a day; so be it. Those relationships have already been built. I'm very honoured to be working with the number of people who have been elected and the skills that they have brought to the table. I have brought some issues up to some of the MLAs, and I got such an incredible response; very passionate, and a lot of relatable issues that are very similar throughout the Northwest Territories. I think, going forward, I feel very confident in maintaining that relationship.

There are going to be some days where we don't agree with each other, and we're going to be fighting for infrastructure that's needed in one region compared to the other; then, so be it. At the end of the day, we value and we measure our success through the people we serve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.