Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, today I rise to put my name forward for Speaker. Sorry, I am a little emotional right now. I didn't get much sleep last night. In doing so, I am withdrawing my name for Premier.

Mr. Chair, this was a difficult decision to make. I appreciated the support, encouragement of my colleagues, constituents, and family in pursuing the leadership role in this 20th Assembly. Over the last few weeks, many have encouraged me to consider the role as Speaker. They've noted that they need for leadership in the House. They've expressed the need for more respectful tone and debate in this chamber. They have said we need to act in a manner that is respectful of each other and respectful to the trust our residents have placed in us.

Mr. Chair, I believe in consensus government. But I also know that there can't be consensus without conflict. As an Assembly, conflict can be productive. It can generate new ideas and new energies. However while we need conflict, we do not need confrontation. Confrontation is not productive; it drains energy, it backs people into a corner. Our constituents deserve better, and our territory deserves better.

In encouraging me to run for the Speaker, people have noted that I have served on both sides of this chamber as a regular Member and as a Minister. I understand what it is like to be on both sides, asked and answer the questions. I have questioned Ministers and responded to questions as a Minister.

I was prepared to continue to stand for Premier. If unsuccessful, I was prepared to stand for Cabinet, and I was prepared to be a Regular MLA. I am here to serve my constituents. However, in discussions with my colleagues, it is clear that it is an important leadership role and this Assembly needs it to be fulfilled. This Assembly needs somebody who is more than a referee, someone who needs -- we need somebody who will be a coach, someone to help Members understand their roles and procedures and help to best work on behalf of their constituents.

With the support of my family, my friends, and my colleagues, I am prepared to fill that role. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the candidates. The collective agreement of the public service expired last March, and negotiations have been paused. How will you prioritize a positive relationship with the public service both in terms of a renewed and fair collective agreement as well as creating a healthy work environment?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Consensus government and governing in the Northwest Territories is all about relationships. We have to have positive relationships if we want to get things done. And the relationships with the union have been rocky at times; we've always managed to come to agreement. I found that across government, across relationships with different governments, with different bodies, there's always a way to find agreement, find common ground, and we just need to be open to doing that. I also think that, you know, in terms of healthy work environments, you know, the public service is an amazing force in the Northwest Territories. We have many, many well educated, well qualified individuals, and everyone wants to work towards a common goal of making the NWT a better place. And so by encouraging that goal, by setting the parameters through which we can work, by getting everyone on the same team and lined up in the same direction, I think that we can achieve success in that way. When people feel like they're part of something, then their attitudes are more positive. They feel more fulfilled. So I think there's plenty that we can do to enhance morale around the territory.

I think that there's also the ability to enhance the flexibility that our employees have to make decisions. Often employees feel stifled by policies or regulations or laws that are in place and so as we go forward, we need to ensure that we are building in to those laws and policies and regulations the flexibility for employees to do what they need to do. You know, as a Minister, things would come across my desk. You know, a constituent was not happy with the way a decision that was made, and often the public servant who had to deliver that information wasn't happy about the decision that was made either. And so there's plenty that we can do to address those situations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Thank you for the question. I think relationships are important and the relationship with the leadership of the UNW, of the PSAC, of all the labour groups in the Northwest Territories are equally important as any other relationship we have, and we need to prioritize those and leadership positions as well so it's not just the negotiating to the bargaining team who are working back and forth. We actually do have some dialogue at the elected official level, and labour plays that very important role and that challenge function to government when it's prioritizing perhaps austerity when there's, you know, a financial crunch but we still need to give workers good wages. And that's a priority for me. It's something I believe in very strongly. It's something that my constituents support. And I know it's something that the public service needs so we can attract the best possible employees to provide really critical services to our public.

And I think as far as morale goes, it could be better. Employees of the GNWT need to feel heard. They need to feel like they are part of the process moving forward. And I think we can do that by establishing some new processes around letting front line workers, especially in fields of like health and teaching, and areas where there's a lot of stress and a lot of nuance, to give them a process where they're allowed to have their voices heard and there's no fear of repercussion. Not full whistle blowing, but just a feedback loop that can be assessed and we can start to work on recommendations that come with that. And that's especially true for the regions as well. We need to give more regional autonomy to segments of the public service and allow them to make decisions that are -- you know, that work for their regions and aren't dictated from the -- from headquarters.

And, you know, finally, we need to take a look at the code of conduct. I think it's far too restrictive. We need to make it easier for our employees to get involved in their communities, to get involved with their democratic rights, and to feel like they're part of this whole process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have been a champion and a defender of the public service for the last four years. It's a role I have taken very seriously. I am also very proud of the fact that the prioritization that's taken place of the relationship between Government of the Northwest Territories and the UNW, which is not to say that bargaining happens outside the bargaining table.

I am also very protective of the fact that that bargaining space must be kept intact and must be respected but that doesn't mean we don't have relationships. And I was very proud during the evacuation process to be able to have a direct line of communication with the president so that we could better serve all of the residents and all of the public servants who are serving those residents themselves.

With respect to outstanding bargaining, the mandate, as I said, is in existence and that table is live so we don't want to speak to it, but I certainly have paid very close attention to all of the outcomes of other negotiations in the last two years.

As far as making our public service better, our workplaces more healthy, this is a priority for us. It will make the GNWT better and that by association will serve every Member of the public better. We already have a lot of the solutions. We have employee satisfaction surveys. We have workplace assessments. We have received communications directly, particularly in the health care sector, with recommendations from the front lines as to what needs to happen. I've personally read a lot of those things, a lot of the EES surveys from every department, from the roundups, every Minister needs to read them for their department. The Premier needs to read them for every department because the action has to start from the top in terms of making healthier workplaces. The roadmap is there about how to connect front line workers better up through management, and there should be a roadmap to make it so that we are less managing and more leading of people. That too has to come from the top down so that we are empowering people to be leaders in their workplaces. And when there's a harassment finding of their being a problem, there should be a ladder of resolution. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Candidates, could you please describe your relationship and experiences with Indigenous governments and how do you plan to leverage these experiences and relationships to advance the agenda of the 20th Assembly, specifically in addressing the issue of settling land claims?

Thank you for the question. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I've worked for the Yellowknives Dene for the last -- for the past two years. And through that experience, living in Yellowknife and working in a small -- very much a small community environment in Dettah, I've learned firsthand the challenges of bing in that environment of being an unsettled claim that has a tremendous amount of responsibility and not enough resources to get those things done. That's given me insight in to how important it is to settle outstanding claims and realize treaty promises that have been made by this government and by the Crown in the past.

My -- as I said in my speech last week, my commitment is to have new negotiating mandates within one year of swearing in of the Cabinet and new offers at every table within two. And I stand by that. That's something that I am committed to doing. I am committed to working diligently to reach those timeframes and to work collaboratively with Indigenous governments. I've had phone calls with leadership and met with leadership since last week as well to learn firsthand from what they would like to see in this next government, what they'd like to see from their -- from a potential Premier, and I think that's also given me insight into how we can make this process work.

And I think the other thing I've heard very strongly is we need to have this conversation about our constitution, about moving forward as the Northwest Territories, into a bold future where Indigenous governments are equal partners and have a role in public government. And the way -- this conversation is long overdue. You know, it started at division in '99 and we haven't really picked it back up so I am committed to picking that back up. I know many of the -- that's an ambitious conversation and I've given ambitious timelines around it, but I think we need to push ourselves hard to solve -- or to build this strong relationship because it's the way forward. It is the future of the Northwest Territories. And I am committed to realizing it together with our Indigenous partners. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, really, as far as the relationships I have with Indigenous governments, I am very proud to say that I've had the opportunity in the last four years to come to know many of the Indigenous leaders in the Northwest Territories. And part of the reason for me waiting before putting my name forward for this role is I wanted to make sure I had made contact with as many of those leaders who I knew personally before taking this step.

I also want to say, Mr. Speaker, with respect to leveraging that, I am not sure I would say I want to leverage it so much as I want to be able to act as a partner hand in hand. There's a number of ways that I'd say I want to start -- I've started as I want to continue, which is to say sometimes pausing what we're doing as a government to go back and make sure that it is aligned with what people around the territory, and particularly Indigenous governments who are within this territory, want to see.

So, for example, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Action Plan, we took a pause to go check in with community contacts who are appointed and engaged with their community leadership. Regional economic development plans, again going back into those regions and asking how they wanted to structure that process. And in particular, the Indigenous procurement policy, taking a pause and not carrying forward as a government but actually going back to leadership and saying, how should we go about this. It's those kinds of pauses that I think make a big difference. It demonstrates our engagement and demonstrates that we are, in fact, partners in the Northwest Territories.

With respect to the land claims, Mr. Speaker, in my view there needs to be more engagement from the Premier's office in terms of what's happening. We've seen significant movement and significant change in the last four years. There have been publications of our mandates. You have seen the UNDRIP legislation being implemented. But this is an opportunity now to have leadership in fact involved at the table. We take too much of a hands-off view and the political will of all of us to see settlement of these claims isn't being translated to what's happening at the table, and it's time for that to change and it can change. And I think with that kind level of leadership and engagement, we will start to see that the GNWT will not be the barrier. Thank you.