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

Masi, Mr. Speaker-elect. The interaction with the GNWT as a government and Indigenous leaders, I think it is very crucial that we hear from them. We have heard clearly just last week, NWT Indigenous leaders, that these three areas they have raised over and over. They want us to do something about it. In the past, obviously, this has been a barrier, an obstacle, for community members, contractors, business, and it hasn't really benefited our communities. The BIP process obviously is a challenge right now. We hear from our community members that a lot of contracts have been awarded outside of the NWT, no benefits to the communities. That needs to put a stop to it.

Affirmative Action. We have had 32 percent. Now it is 29. It is going down. Our GNWT affirmative action is not working for our people, for our staff, so it is a concern to me. The Housing Corporation, that alone we can speak all day in this House. We need to be proactive, Mr. Speaker-elect. We always seem to be reacting to certain things that are coming up. Let's be proactive. The policies are there as guidance for our senior staff to start implementing with the communities. We, standing here as Premier and Cabinet Ministers, are supposed to take that lead to get direction to our staff. I don't see that happening, and I, for one, would like to push that forward and make it happen. We need to lead these Northwest Territories, and these three critical areas need some revamp of the policies. Policies can be amended. It is not legislating, so, Mr. Speaker-elect, let's move forward on making positive changes in these areas so it benefits our communities, our businesspeople, and the Northwest Territories as a whole. Masi, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Next, we have Ms. Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. My first instinct was to say food, clothing, and shelter, housing is important. If your business is failing, how are you going to pay your rent? If you don't have a job, how are you going to pay your rent? However, in honesty, Mr. Speaker-elect, neither of those are the most important in my opinion. They are all huge priorities. The most important thing is give the power back to the people. Let the people. It is not for the government to determine.

I had over 20 years' experience working with homeless people, and when I look over Housing, I did not stand here and say that I had all the answers, because I was old enough and smart enough to know that I didn't have all of the answers, but the people did.

The first thing that I did with the Housing portfolio was that I sent a survey across to every residence in the NWT, and I asked the people. From the people's voice, we divided that up into short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals, and then every time I stood in this House, I was able to say, "We did this, we did that, we did this, we did that," but it wasn't my work. It was the people's direction. You know what? I never got slaughtered in the House, because I listened to the people. All of the Regular MLAs couldn't fight that, because they knew that it was the people's voice.

Then I got Education and income support, and it was a huge file with not enough time and a lot of things coming at once, but I wanted to get to income support. I never got enough done, but the first thing I did was income support. For the first time in history, I gathered all of the NGOs that I could and the clientele on income support together. "Nothing about us without us." We did the same process. I said that you can give me a basketful of problems, and then I have a basketful of problems, or you can give me the solutions. We spent a day. It was so powerful, Mr. Speaker-elect. They had flip charts all over the room, and they wrote solutions that were incredible, and we did the same thing. We did short-term, mid-term, and long-term. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker-elect, I never had enough time in the last Assembly, so we only got a few things ticked off of the short-term goals.

My direction, if elected to be your Premier, to every single Cabinet Minister is: you work. You engage. You don't just consult. You do not know it all. You engage the stakeholders applicable to your files. You are here to serve the people. Serving the people does not mean telling the people that you are the boss, you know all. Serving the people means asking the people and listening to them and making your decisions based off of the direction of the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Ms. Cochrane. Colleagues, members of the public, I would like to take this time to recognized our newly re-elected Member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories, Mr. Michael McLeod. I would also like to recognize former Premier Joe Handley and former MLA Kieron Testart.

At this time, we will take a 15-minute break. Thank you.

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I now call the Territorial Leadership Committee back to order. Ladies and gentlemen, next we have on our list, Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect, and congratulations on becoming the Speaker tomorrow. It is my understanding that the Dehcho is taking a different approach now with their negotiations. They want to focus on taking the responsibility of education, housing, and potentially language to start with. This is a unique approach, which I support.

As the Premier moving forward, how are you going to be able to work with the Dehcho leadership on this new direction? Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. First on our list, we have Ms. Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. This is actually really exciting news. I am really glad to hear this, actually. It is one of my passions.

When I actually took over as the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, I have to say that it was a pretty easy file because the first thing that I said to them was, "Community development, are we giving the say to the community and the Aboriginal organizations?" and MACA said, "We're there." That was great. That's all about giving power to the people. That's what I have said.

I actually, also, was working with a chief in one of the communities, and I won't say which, who unfortunately lost his seat. At that time, we were talking about bringing down Housing. I was the Housing Minister at that time. The election changed, and so we need to rebuild that relationship.

I am really excited that governments are looking at this. My opinion, to work with them, it is not about telling them, "This is how we do it. This is our system." We need to give them the money for our system. "This is our system. This is how we spend our money." Community development is really about listening to them and providing support.

As the GNWT, our role isn't to say, "We know best, and we will tell you how to do it," but it's to say, "We are supporting you. What do you want from us?" and "We are there to support you in actualizing your own community self-government," because self-determination is the answer.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect, and thank you to the Member for bringing it forward. This is probably the most exciting news -- well, potentially the second-most exciting news, potentially, of the day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. This is a unique case, obviously. It is one of the claims that has been ongoing for many, many years, and I believe, from my understanding, the reason that Dehcho is at this point is because there has been such a roadblock to getting a deal regarding lands and resources, which is generally how things are done. You get the land and the resource base, and then you start doing the other things, the service delivery.

Instead of just accepting the fact that there is this problem with land and resources, and negotiations have broken down, can we look at moving that forward? That is the first thing that I would do, is figure out what those issues are, but like I said, nothing is off the table. We need to keep an open-minded approach and move forward for the benefit of the people. What is going to benefit the people on the ground, the people receiving these services, the most? Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

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

Being at the main table with Grand Chief Norwegian was an inspiration. She's a great thinker, and if there has been a change of direction in their land claim, it was always the position from Salt River that we supported the Dehcho claim. If it takes a different direction, the support will always be there.

I think that calling her and asking her for clarification of the direction that they are taking is important, and I am willing to do that. I think that the Dehcho claim has got to be settled so that the region prospers with that whole region. It is good not only for the region but for the whole Northwest Territories, and I support the completion of the Dehcho claim.

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

Masi, Mr. Speaker-elect. I believe that we are all on the same page with this file. Obviously, we have to respect their approach if it's a different direction. As we have heard just last week from the grand chief, we have to be open-minded. As the GNWT going forward with the two outstanding land claims and self-government negotiation, if there is a will to negotiate education and housing and potentially language, let's be there with them. Let's support them. If they need space from us, then let's respect that, as well. They want to get their claims settled, and we feel the same way, too. Both parties, along with the federal government, I believe we can go a long way, but we have to be open-minded and respect their direction and their approach, as well. Mr. Speaker-elect, at the end of the day, we are empowering the communities to have the full authority to deliver these core programs, education, housing, and language. Others can follow eventually, but they want to settle on those three terms, and I fully support that, as well, going forward. Any opportunity that comes to our table, if it is going to be achieved within the next four years, by all means, let's pursue it and let's get it done. Masi, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. I would like to take this time to recognize Mr. Henry Zoe, former Minister, former MLA. Thank you.

Next on our list, we have Ms. Wawzonek.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect, and congratulations again.

For the last three weeks or so, we have all, I believe, every one of us, at some point said how important consensus is, the value of it, the value of making decisions together as a group, where we do that by listening to every voice as equals. The role of Premier sets itself aside and sets itself apart from that. My question is actually quite simple, but sometimes those are the most difficult. I would like to know why it is that you are seeking this office. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Wawzonek. First, we have Mr. Lafferty.

Masi, Mr. Speaker-elect. [Translation begins] The consensus style government is one that works together. Well, the reason I am running for Premier is because I want to see some changes. The previous government had difficulty working together, but, now that we have a new government, we all want to work together. Not only us as a government here but all the northern Aboriginal governments want to work together, but we also have to work with the federal government at the same time. We just had an election for federal government, which is Michael McLeod. I am very happy that he is re-elected. I know that he is there to support the people of the North. That is one of the reasons we run for office, because we want to see some changes, the way the people live in the North. People in the North have given us what they want us to do. We know that there are policies that we don't really like. There are lots of people who are in poverty who we have to help and listen and take care of them, so we have to have good communication. That is the only way to work together.

We also have to listen to our elders from the past. We have to listen to each other and speak as one voice. Here, we are sitting here as a government. We have to hold each other and support one another. Well, one of the important things is we have to listen to the northern people and support whatever it is that they want to have done either in their government or their regions. We have to support them for the next four years. That is one of the reasons I have put my name forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect [translation ends].

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Next, we have Ms. Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. The question of why I am seeking this office was a question I had to ask myself many times. In fact, it was a question I asked myself four years ago when I ran to be an MLA. For most of my life, I have heard the saying, "You can make changes from the outside in. You can make changes from the inside out." I tried that. I spent over 20 years working with low-income people saying, "Help us, help us, help us," and no one helped us. For over 20 years, we never got an increase: $30,000 a year of core funding to support homeless women. I spoke on that before. I talked to people who worked in the bureaucracy, people who worked for the government, and I heard their frustrations, and I thought, "Well, even from the inside out, you are struggling to make change" because often, they said, "This is your job description. If you don't like it, you can leave."

Then one day, an epiphany came across, and I thought, "Why do we always talk the inside out and the outside in? Why don't we talk about being the top?" At that time, I decided to put my name forward, and it wasn't power and control. In all honesty, Mr. Speaker-elect, this is not an easy job. I came from the NGO world, where people love me, and the only people who fought against me were the government. Then I came into a place where half the people love me and half the people, most of them don't even know me, hate me with such passion.

I believe the reason that I am here is because we can do better. I came in here hearing about consensus government and hearing it was based on an Aboriginal policy, a place of doing business where each person has a say and each person is valued for their input, and I haven't seen that. See, it is different, being a Premier is totally different, than being a Minister or a Regular MLA. The job as an MLA is to fight for your people, to keep us accountable. The job as a Minister is to make sure your departments work hard and get the changes done. The job of a Premier, Mr. Speaker-elect, is to bring together the Members of the Assembly. We won't always agree, but, Mr. Speaker-elect, my experience, my background, and my heart, my heart is why I am here, and I will work hard, as hard as I can, all of us together, to make sure that every Member's voice is heard and that they have a say, and that the people, more importantly, have a say. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. I am running for this role because I see that there are things we can do to improve our system of government and improve the way the government functions and serves the people of the territory. Consensus government is still very young. It is a very young form of government, and there is room for improvement. Things that have changed: I saw some improvements in the last four years, but there is much more room for improvement. We need to start doing those things, and we need to understand that we need to improve. It needs to be ongoing. It is not something where you get in the office and you make changes the first week and that is it. No, we have to have a culture where we are always looking at how we govern and always looking to make improvements. I want to change the expectations in consensus government. I want someone to take accountability. As I have stated, it is all Members' responsibility to hold Ministers and the Premier accountable, but, when it is everybody's responsibility, it seems like it is no one's responsibility, and we need a Premier who is going to say, "I am going to take that responsibility. The buck is going to stop here." I want that expectation to continue forward into future Assemblies.

There is the customer service aspect that I spoke about earlier. The government needs to be re-oriented so that it has a focus on service delivery and not defaulting to "no." The default answer has to be, "Okay, maybe this doesn't work, but we'll see how we can help you. How can we get to 'yes'?"

I have seen governments overreach, the government getting into areas where maybe they shouldn't be, the government competing with the private sector in certain ways, not in all ways. I mean there are some enterprises that they have to get into, but there is a notion that the government is the authority and it is somehow superior to the private businesses, to Indigenous governments. That mentality needs to change as well. The economy needs to be addressed. I was standing up in this House for four years. My very first speech was about the economy in the South Slave, and I rarely see mention of that anywhere, in the media, and other than myself in this House, rarely from anyone else. I won't say that. I won't say that about my colleague from the Nahendeh. However, we need to have a focus on that because that has been lacking, as well.

The other thing I wanted to do in this role is help advance some of these things that should have been done 50, 60, 70 years ago to help make the territory self-sufficient. You know, we always say, "Oh, I wish this Mackenzie Valley Highway was built 50 years ago, but we can't do it now." Well, if we don't do it now, they are going to be saying the same thing in 50 years later, so we have to do that, as well. The main thing I wanted to do was give the power back to the people, Mr. Speaker-elect. That is through things like ensuring everyone has access to the amazing wealth of this territory and ensuring everyone has quality education. Thank you for the extra couple of seconds.

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