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, 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.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so the Member asked about our experience working with Indigenous governments. And, of course, on Cabinet, we had plenty of opportunity to sit with Indigenous governments, government to government, and have discussion. So like some of the other former Cabinet Members, I do know that leaders from across the territories. There are many advancements that we have made in the past government that we need to continue with. The Council of Leaders, I think it's an amazing body. Good work is done there; there's general discussions had but it's also led to specific opportunities to deal with issues. So there's the housing forum that came out of that. There's going to be work on our legislative agenda that is going to be informed by the Council of Leaders.

Personally, I had a number of initiatives that I have committed to work with Indigenous governments on. So the Education Act is one of those; it's one of the major initiatives. Initially, you know, we came into government wanting to get the Education Act done. It quickly became clear that this is not something the government can or should do alone and so I committed to working with the Indigenous governments to codevelop this very important piece of legislation, again, the first time that that's happened for a non-random resources piece of legislation. As well, I worked with the Tlicho and the band in Colville Lake to take a unique approach to building their schools so that they have a hand in this and actually have the lead on it.

I think there's a number of things that we can do to work with Indigenous governments more closely. We always talk about going to Ottawa shoulder to shoulder but to do that you we can't just show up in Ottawa, knock on a Minister's door and think you're going to get things done. There needs to be infrastructure in place. We need to have people on the ground working with bureaucrats before we show up with the Indigenous governments. And we need to show up with a plan so that when we get there, we are really capitalizing on the strength of that government to government relationship we have with the Indigenous governments. And I think that is really what's going to lead the territory into the future.

And in terms of land claims, I think it's possible to make more progress on settling land claims and self-government agreements in the next four years than we've done in the past 25. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Given the need for economic stimulus in the territory, and specifically in the regions, would you commit to working, where possible, with local governments, local Indigenous governments, local businesses to ensure that work is done in the regions, creating jobs, building capacity, and keeping that work at home? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's an easy commitment to make. That's the work that we've already begun with respect to the Indigenous -- or with respect to the procurement review that took place and we saw tremendous change in the last four years where money that was previously leaking out of the territories is now being kept within our regions. But we can certainly go much further than that. At this point, we've only just begun the work of the work plan that is going see changes, such as a vendor performance management. And what that's going to do, imagine this, that we actually didn't know if somebody committed to having work kept in the territories, whether that's through procurement dollars or whether it was through their labour that they were going to be hiring, we had no mechanism by which we would actually monitor if our contractors were doing that. That is now in place, and it is important to make sure that we actually implement that and follow through so that if people aren't doing the things that they commit to that we know about it and we take action to respond.

We also need to make it more available to people in regions, to communities in regions, governments in regions, and the businesses there, what projects are coming down the pipes, what size are they, and are we structuring our procurement processes in a way that they are accessible to those who want to be bidding on them. There's already a lot of work that has begun. We've got a one-stop shop for procurement. That was a tremendous change. It's made it much easier. We do a lot of engagement with businesses to help educate them on how to do the procurement applications. But, again, earlier involvement and earlier knowledge as to what's coming allows people to be bidding in a way that is more successful.

That said, there's always going to be room for improvement. We've only just changed the BIP program, and one of the things I noticed when I was looking at the numbers this summer was that there's still an awful lot of companies that are not on BIP. Is there a reason for that? What is it not doing for them? What is it not providing to them? And is there a way to make it more accessible so that they can actually access that preferential treatment opportunity.

And lastly, certainly not least, is an Indigenous Procurement Policy. If we can unlock Indigenous businesses in the Northwest Territories to access our procurement, we will only benefit everybody in regions and in the GNWT as a whole. Thank you.

Thank you. I agree that's an easy commitment to make. That's what we have been doing. When I was a Member in the 18th Assembly, I was quite frustrated at the amount of contract dollars from the GNWT that went south. We can't control a lot of the market forces that determine what the overall economy is like, but we can determine where and how we spend our money. And so at the beginning of this Assembly, I really pushed to keep those dollars in the territory. And being from the South Slave and so close to the Alberta border, I saw it up close and personal what the impact it has when those dollars flow south. Keeping money in the territory creates local employment. In the last Assembly, we started off with, I think, 30 percent of contract -- of the 18th, 30 percent of contract dollars went south. By the end of the 18th, 75 percent of all contract dollars were going south. In this last government, 75 percent of contract dollars now stay in the Northwest Territories. And that's something we need to continue. It also provides opportunities for training, and so we need to look at expanding some of the unique training opportunities we're doing to help people become journey persons and apprentices.

We also need to look at how we source our projects. You know, we need to look at perhaps standardizing some of the things that we do. There was a time when things like windows and what not were standardized for the housing corporation, which would allow a local company to actually tool up and then start producing those. So there's a number of manufacturing opportunities like that as well in the territory. So there's a lot that we can do. We have been doing more but we need to focus on it. And, again, I keep going back to this, when we develop our policies and our legislation we need to focus on the end goal of serving the people of the territory, and that means keeping the money in the territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Thank you for the question. So I think, like the old saying, is whatever job in a small communities -- or every one job in Yellowknife is worth ten in a small community. And I think that speaks to the importance of regional procurement opportunities and making sure money is flowing outwards from the capital. And I think in the 18th Assembly I was a champion for procurement reform. It's something that was passionate to my constituents at the time, and I've been watching closely what this last government has done with it, and I also worked in economic development for a small community. So I know exactly how important that was.

Now there's still a few missing pieces, but I think progress has been made and that progress allows us to move -- to work -- move quickly into something that's even better than we've got now. I know sole sourcing opportunities for Indigenous governments is a really high priority for them. I think it gives certainty around a lot of the projects and resources and revenue that they come to expect. And especially with settled claims, I think there's some expectations that are built into those anyway that we need to make sure we're following and that our policies are following as well. And I think the other thing that I'm committed to doing that would really help in terms of regional -- getting money out to the regions is closing the municipal funding gap. That's not just a Yellowknife problem. That's an everywhere problem. And, you know, my commitment is to make this work within the first operations of maintenance budget or change the formula. But it's going to be more money at the end of the day. Maybe not the full amount if we need to change things and right size it to community needs and community resourcing. But if we just do it now, that's $55 million that's going out the door to every community and that's in the hands of the local authority. That's in the hands of people who are making local decisions for local procurement. They're going to benefit local people and create local jobs. And those are the kind of policies I want to champion. If we're not all building the Northwest Territories together, we're just going to see more of that brain drain to Yellowknife or down south, and we have to keep skilled workers here and we have to keep opportunities here, and we have to build our territory together as one. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Clerk, as a YKDFN member, we've been going on the land for a long time to practice our way of life. We harvest fish, wildlife, etcetera. We've been doing that since time immemorial. And in September of 2022, the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation has gone out to their Timber Bay camp and practiced their way of life for a very long time. And in September of 2022, RWED, now climate -- environment and climate change, is now the new department, has come into the camp and with choppers and wildlife officers and they raided the camp and looking for some illegal activity. But what happened there, though, it brought back a lot of memories of residential school trauma. I am still hearing it even to this day that the community is still in need of healing. And they want to know why the GNWT government has come into the community, in to the raid, why did they come to the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation to talk about this issue. Instead, what they did was they came and they raided the camp. So the chief is very adamant about asking for an apology. I raised it in this House a few times. And in the spirit of reconciliation, again, would the Premier stand up today and apologize to the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation if they become Premier. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's clear that the community and the people in Lutselk'e feel aggrieved, and it's clear that to go forward we need to repair that relationship so -- and I put a lot of thought into this. And this is something that needs to happen early in this next government. And I think what needs to happen is that the Premier needs to go to the community, maybe to the camp, sit with the elders, speak with the elders, and try to come to sort of resolution. An apology in itself is just an apology. I don't know if that shows the type of meaningful work with the people that is needed in this situation.

There are a few things in the territory as close to the people as being on the land as hunting and harvesting. And I recognize that it's of the utmost importance that we right this before it festers and it turns into a worsening relationship. So I've thought a lot about it, and one of the first things that I would do is I would travel to Lutselk'e and I would have those conversations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you for the question. This is a really serious issue. And if this next government is going to move forward on realizing treaty rights and treaty obligations and realizing land claims, then we have to take reconciliation seriously. And this isn't about the actions of one person, one Minister, any one individually, but the actions of the past -- of past governments and how we have to make amends for those and move forward.

I've already committed to an apology. I stand by that commitment. I think it's completely unacceptable how things were conducted. And regardless of the legalities of a potential investigation that are out there, what has happened has been thrown out of court and we deserve -- or sorry, the people of Lutselk'e deserve an apology for that. And I'm committed to doing that. And furthermore identifying compensation, even if it's just providing care for trauma that has been caused by this event, being present in the community from the Premier and the Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change to actually speak to people, speak to elders, speak to the leadership, and make sure that they understand it's not just words, it's action, and put our money where our mouth is and actually, you know, pay the price of reconciliation, which is a high price. But it's worth paying if it allows us to move forward.

And, again, if we are serious about committing to finalizing the Akaitcho process, we have to start with that and we have to start with realizing some other historical issues that need to be addressed, right, and that's what the responsibilities that are placed on the Office of Premier, are to speak for the government and to speak to First Nation partners as well. And for me, this is not controversial. This is something that needs to get done. And there can be no equivocation. It needs to be clear and come with compensation attached, and I've committed to doing that for the Lutselk'e Dene. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, like my colleagues, this is a situation that can't be allowed to continue. It is marring the relationship between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the government in Lutselk'e and more importantly the people of Lutselk'e. I share my colleague's view that there is a path forward if we can come together. And when we all attended and listened to leadership speak to us about what they're looking for from this government, I took particular note when Chief Marlowe mentioned the need to come to the community, for the Premier to come to the community, and mentioning whether we can sit and have a drum song. And I know that he's looking for an apology, Mr. Chair, but I've took note that there's a window there by which there may be a way to sit down together in the spirit of reconciliation. I had it suggested to me that this could be in the form of an elders' council. That sounds very similar to what my colleague from Hay River was describing, that a path by which we can sit, explain exactly, as was asked, as to why the officers were there, what was it that led them to be there, what was the motivation for their being there, what has happened since then, and why are they pursuing this. And in the name of conservation, what is it that we can do to work together to ensure that we maintain conservation of the caribou but importantly maintain and preserve the rights of Indigenous peoples on their lands to engage in traditional pursuits.

So having that opportunity as, again I think already said, early in the administration of this government to go, to sit down, to discuss in the spirit of reconciliation, through a process that is driven and designed not by Premier's office, not necessarily even by the Government of the Northwest Territories, but by those with whom we need to sit down and have that opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you. As an MLA, we all have a responsibility to our constituents. As nominee for Premier, how are you going to advocate for the priorities and needs of Indigenous government throughout the territory and not just in your own riding? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you for the question to the Member. I think we start with -- we start here in caucus at first and then talk to the MLAs who are representing those regions. And that's a process that we're all committed to, and I think we need to continue moving forward on and building shared priorities that are, you know, that guide the public government forward that are informed by the needs and realities of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people throughout the Northwest Territories as part of their representatives here. And then going forward, we need to make sure that there's a check on our progress as a government. And that comes from maintaining strong relationships through bodies like the Council of Leaders, continuing co-drafting work through the Intergovernmental Council. And as I said before, moving forward into the future hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, with First Nations in a constitutional convention where we can actually identify substantive roles that are integrated into our public government. So it's not just at the whim of the Premier or the whim of any given Assembly but it's built into our constitution and how we do -- how we build a public Government of the Northwest Territories that has a place for sovereign First Nations. And that's something that's going to take time, but we have to get the ball rolling on that.

I'm also very -- I was thinking of how the Government of Canada did trade missions back in the '90s, and they called it Team Canada. Jean Chretien took people to all sorts of destinations and brought, you know, luminaries and Cabinet Ministers and all sorts of people to open up these opportunities. That's when I said in my speech we need a Team NWT approach, that's exactly what I'm talking about, is to bring Indigenous governments into that process of lobbying Ottawa and other governments so we can open up those. And I think we should be even talking to sovereign First Nations in southern Canada as well, not just the federal government but many different relationships that we can build together. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, obviously we do have our own priority setting process that we are only just beginning to embark on, and I think all of us, every one of us, all 19 of us, have spoken of the importance of recognizing what we heard from Indigenous leadership from across the Northwest Territories. Once that's done, it is also very clear, and it was made clear to all of us, that Indigenous governments too have their own priority documents, their own strategic documents that they are putting forward for on behalf of their people. I suspect, based on what we heard over those two days, that there's quite a lot of alignment between us. It is time to start using that alignment and that overlap strategically, taking that alignment, going to Ottawa together, aligning our asks, making sure that we are speaking with one voice on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories where those voices are overlapping, and not going at cross purposes and not failing to utilize this opportunity of a shared voice from the North.

We have also already some forums that I think are beginning to come into their own but which can also be used in a much more dramatic way. One prime example of that is the Council of Leaders where governments from around the Northwest Territories, including the GNWT, come forward and sit together. They've begun to find their voice and begun to find their legs, and we have met with federal Ministers as a table, as a council of leadership table, but that table could speak more loudly directly to Ottawa, can speak more loudly on a national stage, and can really put forward priorities, as I've said, that I believe are aligned and shared for the whole of the Northwest Territories, whether it's major infrastructure projects like the Mackenzie Valley, whether it's better alignment of our energy alternative, whether it's Taltson or micro grids. These are all priorities that can impact all of the Northwest Territories, and we can begin as leaders to speak with a better and clearer singular voice where appropriate through forums such as the Council of Leaders and, as I've indicated, by going together when we go to Ottawa to speak about our strategic priorities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And as I've stated a number of times, working with Indigenous governments to advance the needs of the entire territory is the cornerstone of my approach to -- would be my approach to Premier. We do need to work together. You know, we have issues across the territory. The best to address those issues is to work with the Indigenous governments in their regions. We can't dictate what's going to happen across the territory from here in Yellowknife. We need to work with the regions. We need to work on advancing and settling and implementing land and self-governments and that will build the capacity in the regions. That will bring the power and the money into the regions. I've spoken about the infrastructure we need to ensure that we can go to Ottawa with Indigenous governments, whether it is as an entire territory through the Council of Leaders, one on one with an Indigenous government who may have more capacity and desire to advance a certain project, or with regional Indigenous governments. So there's a lot of opportunities. We need to be flexible. And we cannot dictate how we are going to work with Indigenous governments. We need to work with Indigenous governments and co-develop our approach and utilize what we have in the GNWT to everyone's benefit. And so when I talk about infrastructure and Ottawa, I mean offices in Ottawa where we are in constant contact with the key players at the bureaucratic level. And that involves the GNWT and Indigenous governments. And so then we can go shoulder to shoulder to Ottawa. We can speak to Ministers. And they're not just going to say, you know, that was a great conversation and then call it a day. They always go back to their officials and they say tell me more about this project or these governments. And if that official has been briefed up, they know what's going on in the regions, they've been prepped by our people, that's when things start to move. And so, you know, we can talk about doing it, but we actually -- there's mechanisms we can put in place, and I commit to putting those in place, to make sure that we actually advance them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So during the wildfire-related emergencies this past summer, it wasn't clear certainly to the public what was the role of Premier and Cabinet. So in the case of a public emergency, do you believe the role of Premier and Cabinet is to get out of the way or to take a more active role in managing the EMO or the CPHO, as the case may be, and in leading the public service?

And secondly, what do you think the Premier's role would be in terms of an independent third party review of the emergencies this past year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the EMO structure right now is fairly well defined in that it is the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs who does take over as the lead. In my view, Mr. Speaker, let me start at the end of the question with respect to a third party review.

There is always going to be an after-action review after events like this but it is clear that this review, given the magnitude and scale is something -- of the events, the review itself should be something distinct and unique from the standard after-action review. That is going to take some time to do properly. That is going to take more time than what we probably have before this spring season, which is when we are likely to face some renewed form of emergency whether in the form of a flood or a wildfire. And so some of the questions about who is managing the EMO and who is managing and connecting as between communities, Indigenous governments, and the GNWT, those questions need to be answered immediately. In my view, one of the things that should be happening -- well, two things as I'm looking at the clock; firstly, is a better understanding of the connections and contact points between our territorial emergency services, Indigenous governments, and communities. Communities are responsible each for their own emergency plans in response to an event, but then the EMO also steps in. But of concern to me is when we reach a certain level of emergency, for example a state of emergency gets declared, where are people gathering who have those roles, is there a command centre, and should they, in fact, be all placed in the same place. That does not seem to be uniform across the territory, and I would suggest that it should be.

And then, secondarily, is with respect to communication to the public. The kind of confusion that I sense emerging from a question like this is arising because of an incomplete and unclear communication strategy rolling out from government on behalf of EMO in terms of what's happening and who is in charge and who is responsible and where are they. So if we can do a better job of communicating what has occurred and how it's happening, we'll do a better job of supporting the public through an emergency. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So after the past couple of years, the past few years, it's clear that we need to prepare and plan for emergencies. You know, we've had unprecedented -- everything that's happened in the past few years has been off the charts. We've never seen floods like this. We've never seen fires like this. And so we cannot go into another season without putting our mind to preparation. And that is where I see the role of the Premier and Cabinet in ensuring that that happens. We need to make sure that there is a plan, there are plans in place. You know, when something is happening, they're happening quickly on the ground. And the people on the ground are often in the best position to make decisions. But what needs to happen at the Premier and Cabinet level is ensuring that those people have the tools to make decisions, that the lines of communications are appropriate, that the appropriate governments know their roles and have roles. There's -- you know, in Hay River during the flood, there was a lot of discussion about the role of the GNWT versus the municipality. Hay River, they were used to potential floods on the island, a small part of town, not for the entire town flooding. And so we need to be prepared for things like that. There needs to be preparation in terms of knowing who's staying and who's going. The Department of Infrastructure has a role to play in a community even if it's evacuated. They need to know who's staying and who's going. The same with the health authorities. And that -- from my experience, that didn't happen. There wasn't a plan. So we need to ensure that a plan is in place and that the rules on the ground are well defined. And we also need to take a role in public communication prior to an emergency. We need to make sure that everybody knows their role. We need to make sure that the public knows if there's an evacuation, this is what's happened, this is what is happening, this is what you need to take with you, this is how you need to prepare. So preparation is going to be key. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And thank you for the question. This one's very near and dear to my heart. I was here on the ground in Yellowknife during the evacuation supporting the emergency management operation in N'dilo and Dettah. And I know many of my colleagues also worked on the front line as firefighters or working in emergency management systems either through the GNWT or with the local authority. So we have a lot of experience here. And I think when it comes to solving these challenges, there's actually a way forward that's well established in emergency management principles. There's an instant command system that we can roll out here in the Northwest Territories. And I think we need to do that by establishing a dedicated department of public safety and emergency preparedness. I agree with my -- the former speakers, this is something that needs to be a priority, but we don't need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to give it the right resource and the right leadership.

To the question itself, however, I do think Premier and Cabinet need to trust in the process that's been established. If there's an emergency management plan, then that plan needs to be followed. And the people who are identified in that plan need to follow the chain of command. That's really important in an emergency so there's consistency. Premier and Cabinet still play an important role by being trusted broadcasters to the public and giving a sense of comfort and leadership when there's a lot of confusion. And the evacuation there was a lot of confusion and people were very scared, and I think a lot of the Members, including returning Members to this House, did a fantastic job in providing comfort to the people of the Northwest Territories during a very desperate time.

As for the independent review, I think -- the afteraction reports have -- are underway, and they should be done. That's standard operating procedure. But what the public's asking for is a public process that they can participate in. We need to give the public some healing, some accountability, and some truth. And I think the best way to do that is to support an independent commission that can come through by way of motion of this House. And if I'm Premier, I'll be directing the Cabinet to support that. So they're -- and opening the doors of the GNWT to fully resource and cooperate with that commission. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the things that I've always thought that was very important was having a feedback loop so that we as decision-makers know what's happening on the ground. And to do that, we need to listen to the people on the front line, the bureaucracy, because they oft -- more often than not, they want to do a good job. They want to work with the people. They want to provide services. And they know better than anyone what's working, what's not working. And so by listening to them, we can make the changes that we need to make. When we made changes to our income assistance program, which should be implemented in the new year, I put a heavy focus on ensuring that the public service, who is interacting with the public, would have the time and ability to work with clients because that's important. The residents of the territory don't want to feel like they're being brushed off. They want to feel like the people who are serving them actually care. And they do, they do care and so we just need to give them that opportunity. And, again, that goes towards the really client-centered person-centered approach that I want to take with all aspects of government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question. This is a really important one because this is often what -- I think there's a lot of people, especially the farther removed you get from the capital, that feel disconnected from the public -- from the public servants and the public service at large. I think the public servants care, but I think that we need to do a better job of getting front line services out to the people. And we have great -- these great officers, government service officers, who are present in many of our communities, especially the small communities, who provide single point of access for government service. And that's a model that we should be applying across the Northwest Territories, including in Yellowknife so you have a very clear way to get access to services you need and you don't have to, you know, hunt down information or call your MLA. You know, we still have important jobs to do but the government should make itself more accessible through things like that.

I would like to see the next Premier appoint regional directors who can be the executive's eyes and ears in certain regions and get a sense of what's happening, how things are going, and changes that need to be made so the Premier can direct that directly to the deputy ministers and to the Ministers' offices themselves. And I think we need to regionalize our policies as well. We heard a great example in Fort Liard where they would like to access an agreement with the government of British Columbia over medical service because it's easier for them to get there than it is to go to Yellowknife. That's currently not being done and that's the example of a regionalized policy that just makes sense and better serves the people of that community. So that's the kind of thing I want to support and work with representatives of the region to build those -- that policy environment that really serves the people of that particular place.

And, you know, I think finally deputy ministers can't just stay in Yellowknife, you know, they need to come out on tours, just like Ministers, come with the Minister, and really meet the people that are part of their departments. And that's something I believe there's no substitute for face to face, and we need to get out there and meet people across this territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd like to hopefully get through three things in my response, and the first one is about having representation in every region so that there is a strong regional director, that that position is filled, and that we ensure that we are engaging in succession planning so that we don't have any gaps or absences in those regional positions. Those regional positions should be reporting -- obviously there's an administrative reporting role, but they should be reporting also into the Premier's office.

I've met with my departments on a biweekly basis throughout the last four years. It has been an extremely important way for me to maintain my engagement on what's happening and was a critical way that I was able to actually action things and see that things were getting done and adhering to timelines. And so in addition to having our directors reporting to the Premier's offices, I would think that departmental superintendents should also have a line to be meeting regularly with the Minister's offices so that Minister's offices are politically aware of what is happening within the regions and that are impacting on their departments.

Part and parcel of that, when we find we do meet with our superintendents tends to be when we're travelling into those regions. So while I do think that engagement and connection should be more regular and more consistent, I think there should also be an expectation on the Premier's office and on every Minister's office that they are attending in regions throughout the year with an expectation that they are doing those tours and not necessarily waiting but that we set up a schedule to make sure that we are in those regions and having a presence on a regular basis.

And last but not least, Mr. Chair, is integrated service delivery. There was an MOU signed between departments early in the last government to try to advance integrated case management integrated into being integrated service delivery across all regions. That hasn't advanced. It needs to advance. It's referenced in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Action Plan. It was then referenced in the homelessness strategy. Everyone seems to be saying that it works. And so now we need to make sure that it's rolling out for the front lines across the regions so that everyone gets the benefit of that program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to talk today about addictions and how it's affecting the entire Northwest Territories. It's become an absolute crisis, and we have a question today to prospective Premier candidates about addictions and having a clinical treatment centre in the Northwest Territories, something that we need, and we need in every region, and also holistic aftercare and on the land programming. Many come home from treatment and they don't have proper aftercare facilities, and they go back to the same situation that they're in. So my question to the candidates is what would they do over their term, if elected as Premier, to lead the Northwest Territories to have a proper addiction facility in this territory? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk, and thank you to the Member for the question. This is an addictions crisis in the Northwest Territories, and it has been for quite some time. And previous governments have kind of committed to or previous MLAs have committed to treatments, brick and mortar treatment centres, and then uncommitted as the operational challenges become aware. And I think we need to be bold and ambitious in meeting those challenges and recognize that we can't do it alone, especially if we're going to have regionalized models. So I'd like to establish a working group that brings together all relevant levels of government to really find the path forward, to eliminate the barriers to why clinical models haven't worked in the past, and to reinforce the holistic models that are working. You know, we have wellness camps. We have on the land programming. We have things that have been very successful in treating people, especially Indigenous people, with the respect they deserve and being culturally appropriate to get them well, to get them healed, and to return them to their community in a good way. And we need to build on those models of success and find ways to integrate them back into clinical models. But we do still need clinical supports.

We have a lot -- we have a wealth of knowledge in the Northwest Territories on people who provide care for addictions. So let's bring them in and understand how we can make this work, because it can work. It can work. I believe in that. And I believe we can make it work. But we have to work together to succeed, and we have to go to Ottawa and get them to pay for it in a significant way. I think this is as much a part of reconciliation and their commitment to building security in the Northwest Territories. We need to solve this crisis, and we need to make this a part of a national conversation, so the Northwest Territories is no longer being left behind. We have some of the worst statistics for social ills and those need to stop, and we need to be bold and bright and full throated in how we pursue this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I said this in my speech seeking the Premiership last week, that we are in a crisis with respect to addictions across the Northwest Territories. That has been true for some time. I think we want to look firstly at what is our goal, and it is trauma recovery and it is full recovery and it is helping youth so that they are not in a situation where they need to be facing recovery from whether it's trauma or addictions. So with that, I would suggest three things in terms of what I could do in the next four years, one of which is to ensure that we are properly engaging and pooling resources with Indigenous governments. There's a lot going on in the territory right now. There is the wellness centre here in Yellowknife, the wellness centre that's going to be built in Yellowknife, as well as the Arctic Indigenous Wellness C,entre. There's community groups that are hosting on-the-land camps. I know the Gwich'in has the wellness camp. There's a lot happening. Are we adequately pooling our resources to maximize what's happening, and what do we need more of? What is working and what do we need more of? In this sense, some of these are opportunities because the concern, of course, too is we are struggling to staff some of the positions that we have, whether it's in counsellors, whether it's psychiatrists. But if we can be more flexible, if we can look to people with lived experience and if we can look to communities and Indigenous communities and Indigenous governments for the people that they know in their communities who can be leaders, elders, what can we do to maximize that and make sure that they're being compensated for their skills and then maximize that lived experience.

Aftercare is a crisis and has been for some time. People can't be well if they don't have housing. So it's not that I can solve housing in the next 20 seconds here, but I can certainly say that finding a better path to save housing is critical, and it's a critical part of solving our addictions crisis. The accelerator fund from the federal government is for municipalities and Indigenous governments. We need to make sure that municipalities and Indigenous governments can access those funds and not be a barrier by the GNWT. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Premier carries out the wills of -- will of the Assembly. And so if this Assembly prioritizes addictions recovery, which I hope it does, I have a feeling it will -- then that's something we can work towards. We have limited resources here in the territory. We've tried clinical treatment centres a number of times. We have not been successful. We do have -- there is access to treatment right now, as imperfect as it is, so people can go out but when they come back, then what? I think that, right now, is as far as the GNWT is concerned the missing piece that we need to address. It's aftercare. I can't -- it makes no sense to send someone out and expect that when they come home and they're homeless or they're couch surfing that they're going to remain sober. So we need to deal with aftercare. If we're going to put our limited resources anywhere, I want to put it in aftercare. That said, a number of Indigenous governments have come forward with ideas for treatment centres and that's something that we can pursue together. The territory alone, I don't think that we are well positioned to create a territorial clinical treatment centre but with Indigenous governments, with their resources, with our resources and our ability together to go to Ottawa and get more resources, then that is something that I believe is achievable. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Premier candidates, considering the unprecedented wildfire events this summer and the impact to Hay River and Enterprise, with the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and so that no other community in the Northwest Territories has to go what we went through, would you support a third party independent of this government review on the wildfires?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as one of the earlier questions I had the opportunity to take note that given the unprecedented nature of what's occurred that a rather unprecedented response and including an unprecedented style of review is likely in order. As to the design and structure of it, Mr. Speaker, an independent is being called for but also an opportunity for the public to be more engaged and to be better engaged with what's happening and their experiences of it as well as ensuring that what we are doing aligns with interests from Indigenous governments who also have suggested that there needed to be a different way of responding to what happened this summer, both in terms of the communities that were directly affected, such as Enterprise and Hay River, but also when they were facing indirect effects. When Yellowknife was evacuated, many communities faced immediate impacts to their food supply chain. So certainly in that sense, the answer in some ways is easy but I do want to emphasize, Mr. Chair, with this opportunity I am concerned looking forward to the spring. We are likely to face emergencies in the matter of a few months, and that will be happening. Perhaps we can get as far as an interim response. My fear is that we wouldn't be. And I do want to make sure that we have an opportunity to make any changes right now so that the lines of communications that are clear so that there's no question as to where people can get their information and so it is clear as to what the chains of command are and where they will be situated in the event that there is a call of an emergency and particularly if there's a state of emergency so that there is both the bigger picture in long term but also in that of the shorter term responses. If, in fact, this is to be another wildfire season, one thing I would ask if there are wildfire plans across the Northwest Territories, they are now becoming somewhat dated. I would like to look at where our highest risk zones are and look at whether or not those plans for those higher risk zones can be prioritized to be reviewed in advance of this wildfire season. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I am in support of an independent review of the wildfire season and the response. I don't think there's any question that that's what needs to happen. It can't be a run-of-the-mill review. It needs to be an enhanced review. I think we're all still coming to terms with what happened, the fact that two-thirds of the territory was evacuated. The level of trauma that was involved and then the Member who asked the question is probably more aware of that than I am. There was trauma in this territory. There's trauma in Hay River about what happened. I'm sure there's trauma in Yellowknife, in Behchoko, and the other communities. And so the public needs to feel as though that the review is being taken seriously and that it's going to make a change. I think it's very important that, you know, as the public government we listen to the public when they ask for this and that we deliver it. We need to help the territory heal. We also need obviously to learn from what happened so that it doesn't happen again. You know, there's a number of things I could go into, many of the details, but yes, I'm fully in support of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Member for the question. It took days in some cases for some communities to be notified of what was going on with the emergency management -- or the territorial emergency management effort while they had to be left to their own devices to figure out to do things, you know, and that shouldn't be a case for any of our communities in the Northwest Territories. And I think we all understand the real human impact this whole -- this incident and how it was managed had on communities, had on people. And that's why this independent review is so important. And I firmly believe it needs to be driven by this House and not by a government, not by an external contractor, but be in the hands of this House and this House sets the terms of reference, and this House ensures that all 19 Members are the ones who are driving the process forward and it reports back here, and it is not a GNWT process, it is not a local process. It is a process that belongs to the people through the Legislative Assembly. And as I said, as Premier I would fully direct the GNWT to cooperate with that process and provide any kind of support that can be provided to make sure clear answers are being given to why decisions were made. I don't think anyone -- I don't think we should be in a position to second guess why the big decisions were made, right, but we should know why they were made, but we should know what systems need to change, what worked, what didn't, because clearly some things didn't. And there are experts out there who know how these things can be managed, who knows how these systems work, and they need to be heard and they need to be put into places where they can actually change the system from top to bottom so we don't run into this problem again, and I support that, which is why I support the creation of a new department of public safety and emergency preparedness. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Clerk, my question today is about leadership. The Premier of the NWT does not have the same formal powers as our federal and provincial counterparts. NWT premiers don't drive the government's political platform, control the majority of Members in the House, select their own Cabinet, and determine the timing of elections or schedule the Legislative Assembly. Despite these constraints, both MLAs and the public expect that the Premier's role brings something special to the effective functioning of Cabinet. What are you bringing to distinguish your role and given that, how would you exercise leadership? Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, you know, I've often given that same preamble when I talked about the Premiership and the powers of the Premier. The Premier is not like, in other jurisdictions in Canada, you know, Danielle Smith can say what she wants done and it gets done. That is not the situation here in the territory. So we are forced to work together. And I think that's a good thing. And so my style, as I've said many times, would be to bring people together. That is the only way forward. The Premier does write mandate letters for the Ministers and for the deputy ministers and in those mandate letters, I would ensure that what is expected of the Ministers and the deputy ministers is included so that there are parameters for the decisions that are made, for the types of initiatives that are undertaken, and for how we deliver and develop policies and services for our residents.

It's also important that the Cabinet and the Regular Members work together. You know, if there's an issue on Cabinet, there's a Cabinet Minister who needs to be removed, the Premier can't remove them. They can take away portfolios, but they need the support of the House to remove that Minister. And so you can't just remove portfolios and have a Minister sitting there with no -- nothing to do. And so that means that if you do that, the House has to know, they have to have faith that that was done for a reason and they have to support it. So working together is of the utmost importance. I believe I've done that as a Minister to the greatest extent possible. As Premier, I've given thought to how I would implement that across all departments to ensure that all Ministers are working in the same way and serving the Regular Members and the public in that type of fashion as well. And so there are structural changes we can make to how we operate upstairs in our offices. So working together is the bottom line, and I believe that I can bring people together. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question. My approach is to empower Members to succeed and not only Members of the Cabinet but Members of the Legislative Assembly as well. I've spent the last two weeks chatting with my colleagues here, learning what opportunities and challenges exist in their regions, what kind of roles they want to play in the Assembly and the kind of priorities that they want to see in the next Cabinet. And I did that not to horse trade or curry favour but to understand what the next -- what the options and -- what the available options are out there, what people actually want us to -- want to succeed in. And everyone needs a win, everyone needs to be a leader in their own community, and everyone needs to be front and center representing their constituents. And, you know, I believe I really enjoyed those conversations. I've learned a lot from all of you. And I've, you know, tailored my speech and my approach to this whole thing to be about listening, listening to your concerns, listening to how we can work together effectively. And that's what empowerment means to me. It's not sitting back and, you know, opening the door and forming good relations. We can always do that. But it's about giving back to every Member of this Assembly so we can all share in the success of this Assembly and all shoulder the challenges together. And that's why I propose associate Ministers to be a fundamental change to how this Assembly works and give Regular Members who are chairs of standing committee more profile as associate Ministers and more access to Cabinet so they're not just sitting in a room waiting for the government to come and drop a briefing on them, whether it's ahead of time or after, or in public or in camera, but actually being part of the process every step of the way so they know what's going on and they can help drive that progress. For me, it's about everyone in this Assembly being able to come together and be proud at the end of the day that we've worked together effectively and get the things that you got elected to do done in your ridings. And I'm committed to do that if I'm successful as Premier. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think what I'd like to bring and what I do bring is an empathy driven approach to action and delivery. I care very deeply. That is why I went to law school in the first place. That is why I ran for office. And that is ultimately why I did, after discussing and connecting with colleagues here, after talking to Indigenous leaders that I know, made the decision to put my name forward for Premier. I'd like to continue as I have started, which is through dialogue and communication which provides, in my view, transparency, but also with shared vision. And I have said before the vision is not singularly that of Premier, but the Premier is responsible for delivering a vision on behalf of this Assembly and on the government. We are only just at the point of setting our priorities but it is clear that we have shared vision, in my view, for the Northwest Territories to be healthier, to be better educated, and to be able to maximize who we are for every single region.

And so with that, as far as being a leader is concerned, I believe I can help motivate the team - the team of Cabinet, the team of government, through a shared vision, by acting out myself as a leader as I would like others to act, and I believe we can deliver on all of our actions through the structures within government. Having simple things, regular meetings between the Premier and every Ministers' office, including their deputies; regular meetings with our regional directors and superintendents as I described earlier; ensuring that our meetings are driven by priorities, driven by priorities which are driven by action lines which are actions and timelines; that we check back on them so that we know that if there is a barrier to undertaking something, any action in a region, in a community, that we remove that barrier, and we do it before there's a delay. And that provides accountability and that's fundamentally where I would like to end. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. My question is in regards to the youth and the recreation infrastructure that's available and/or lack of infrastructure that's available within the smaller communities.

With the high volume of drugs and alcohol in our communities, we have to find alternative measures to keep our youth occupied. There's climate change. It's becoming a shorter period of time for our youth to engage in hockey tournaments or in hockey within our communities. We've struggled with this for a long time, and we've tried other alternatives like cultural activities. We have a dance group that's from Fort McPherson, the Tetlit Gwich'in dancers that travel throughout Canada to perform, and this brings them -- they're really proud of their -- what they're doing, and it makes them happy. So we need more culturally based and recreation programs within our community. My question is what are you going to do to improve the infrastructure within the communities to help our youth stay away from the use of alcohol and drugs?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question. I think this touches on the real issue around many of the public safety concerns we have in communities, that there are root causes that are creating many of the challenges we face and, in this case, not having -- having any adequate facilities to provide activities and engagement for youth often allows them to be led astray. And this is something that we can -- that the Member clearly pointed out and that I think we've heard around the Northwest Territories. So I think it is time to carefully look at what funding sources are available for all arts and culture programs in the Northwest Territories, can we contribute to local infrastructure that's going to make a difference as well, and leverage this strength of self-governments and regional governments as well, to work with them, to build these facilities. I'm committed to closing the municipal funding gap. That's going to provide more resources for operations and maintenance to municipalities that would allow them to maintain those kinds of facilities that the Member was asking for. And I think that's the key piece here. Even if we put a new school in or a new rec centre, there needs to be funding attached so it stays open and stays in good repair. So we need to look at all those things. And I think the best way to do that, again, is a regional approach, where we listen to what the communities want, we empower communities by giving them the resources they need, and we kind of get out of the way and we let the GNWT provide support where they need support, like in engineering plans and things like that. But listen to the needs of the community and be there for them when they need our help to ensure that they have success, that they are empowered, and that especially the next generation of Northerners are given access to the facilities that they need to stay healthy and safe in their own communities and embrace the culture that's so important to First Peoples in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think the idea that some of the youth, who are in some of the most vulnerable communities and most at risk, are not having access to services, I find that to be something that we need to take a moment and connect in to the other priorities we're talking about around addictions and wellness and recovery. So tackling this from the perspective of a whole-of-government priority, looking again at what is our response to addictions, where do the youth and youth activities and sports fit into that, mental wellness, is it in our educational funding formulas? Is it in health and social services funds? I think there's an opportunity here to look at better integrating this issue into some of the bigger issues that are right now seeing increases in funding and where there are calls for increases in funding.

One of the other areas, though, that I want to touch on here is in the non-profit sector. There are non-profits across -- and NGOs, sports organizations, cultural organizations, across the Northwest Territories working to deliver this kind of opportunity to youth, to adults, to everyone in their communities. And without much fanfare, there was a review done, independent, strengthening the non-profit and charitable sector. It was tabled here in the fall. It was done by people from within this area, from within the non-profits, and they landed on something, that I had also found, which is way back in 2014 we put out something called the Government of the Northwest Territories Program Managers Guide to Funding for NGOs. It is meant to help increase the capacity of our non-profit sector, better empower them to deliver what they do and to do what they do well, and it is time that we stop having to review these things and actually get this implemented so we have more opportunities across Northwest Territories in this sector for those delivering on those programs and services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Youth will find something to do. You know, we can't say don't do drugs, don't get into trouble; they'll find something to do. So what we need to do is give them an alternative to those things. We need to give them activities that they can engage in that are safe and that are healthy. And, you know, I grew up in the Northwest Territories. I know what it's like. In Hay River, there was a time there was no youth centre. You'd just walk around town. I mean, that's not necessarily the safest thing to do, especially these days with what we're seeing happening in the communities. So one of the changes that was made in the last government, I brought forward changes to our capital standards for schools. It used to be that if you had less than a certain number of students, you got no gym if you got a new school. Or if you had a certain small number of students, you might get a gym but it would be small. You wouldn't be able to really practice even half-court basketball in it. And so changes were made so that every new school in every community that is built will get a gym. The size of the gyms has also increased for the smaller communities. Because I've been to a number of the communities with the small gyms, and those just aren't adequate. They're not going to prepare students to -- you know, to go on to the Arctic Winter Games and things like that. So that's one major thing that we've already done.

There's been efforts to work with the DEAs in communities to ensure access to those gyms as well. Because it's the DEAs who do control the access, and so we want to work with them to ensure that those gyms can stay open after hours, on weekends if necessary.

A number of years ago, we also made change -- the 18th Assembly made changes to how funding is distributed to sports organizations. It's been a number of years now. I think it might be time to relook at that and ensure that that money is being used in the way we want it to be used and it is supporting the types of organizations you want it to support. There could perhaps be some more local and regional funding available. And this goes to our support for NGOs as well. We need to ensure that funding we do have, whether it's arts or sports, is accessible to NGOs and that it is stable as well, so we have multi-year funding. So there's a number of changes that we can and should make. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. My question today is with respect to the cost of living raised by countless families through the North, and they're struggling to get through yet another year and even are confronted by the challenge of should they need to or can they even stay. I put forward ideas about immediately, effectively, and positively creating better ways to move forward such as eliminating the payroll tax or even eliminating certain fees. Some of them are meaningful ideas that will have positive effects and some are good and, of course, some are less good in some cases. But it's about eliminating micro costs that are hurting families day to day.

My question for the Premier candidates is this: What specifically can you suggest that will directly and effectively eliminate some costs and fees which will immediately have a positive impact on families that are trying to get by? Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I want to look at the perspective of costs of living on two sides. This issue came up to me as well throughout the campaign process but it's been one that's been coming up, really, for as long as certainly I've lived in the North. And firstly, what is it that's keeping our costs so high. Two big ones come to mind immediately. First is our lack of transportation infrastructure and second is our lack of energy infrastructure. So we have large scale projects, Mackenzie Valley Highway. That certainly isn't a short-term thing that's going to change the high cost of living. There are shorter term projects, smaller scale connections directly into communities that are now isolated with all-season roads and sometimes even without winter roads. There's been some success on projects like that. There was awards for the Tlicho All-Season Road. What can we do to have more success like that, more awards on a national scale for the good work that's happening in the Northwest Territories? Still that's a fairly large scale. But then I get back to energy infrastructure. Both electricity and heat, this is an area where we face significantly higher costs than everywhere else. I know myself and other Ministers in the last government raised the alarm bells with the federal government. And one of the last things I was able to share with city administrators and municipal government administrators and Indigenous governments was a long list of funding opportunities to help them remove the need to rely on diesel and to bring in alternative sources of power or to reduce their costs of electricity through other means. So I'd like to look back at that immediately and see what we are doing to capitalize on the availability of those funds to change the reliance that we have right now on the high types of fuel. And then, of course, there is the longer term question of what are we going to do for micro grids for small communities that are not connected, better transmission lines to ensure that they are and the larger scale projects of renewables, and then ensuring that we actually have the infrastructure to adapt to renewables so that we see actual meaningful long-term change to bring our costs of living down. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, you know, I've often given that same preamble when I talk about the Premiership and the powers of the Premier. The Premier is not like in other jurisdictions in Canada. You know, Danielle Smith can say what she wants done, and it gets done. That is not the situation here in the territory. So we are forced to work together. And I think that's a good thing. And so my style, as I've said many times, would be to bring people together. That is the only way forward.

The Premier does write mandate letters for the Ministers and for the deputy ministers, and in those mandate letters I would ensure that what is expected of the Ministers and the deputy ministers is included so that there are parameters for the decisions that are made, for the types of initiatives that are undertaken, and for how we deliver and develop policies and services for our residents. It's also important that the Cabinet and the Regular Members work together. You know, if there's an issue on Cabinet, there's a Cabinet Minister who needs to be removed, the Premier can't remove them. They can take away portfolios, but they need the support of the House to remove that Minister. And so you can't just remove portfolios and have a Minister sitting there with no -- nothing to do. And so that means that if you do that, the House has to know, they have to have faith that that was done for a reason and they have to support it.

So working together is of the utmost importance. I believe I've done that as a Minister to the greatest extent possible. As Premier, I've given thought to how I would implement that across all departments to ensure that all Ministers are working in the same way and serving the Regular Members and the public in that type of fashion as well. And so there are structural changes we can make to how we operate upstairs in our offices. So working together is the bottom line, and I believe that I can bring people together. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question. My approach is to empower Members to succeed, and not only Members of the Cabinet but Members of the Legislative Assembly as well. I've spent the last two weeks chatting with my colleagues here, learning what opportunities and challenges exist in their regions, what kind of roles they want to play in the Assembly, and the kind of priorities that they want to see in the next Cabinet. And I did that not to horse trade or curry favour but to understand what the next -- what the options -- what the available options are out there, what people actually want us to -- want to succeed in. And everyone needs a win, everyone needs to be a leader in their own community, and everyone needs to be front and center representing their constituents. And, you know, I believe I really enjoyed those conversations. I've learned a lot from all of you. And I've, you know, tailored my speech and my approach to this whole thing to be about listening, listening to your concerns, listening to how we can work together effectively. And that's what empowerment means to me. It's not sitting back and, you know, opening the door and forming good relations. We can always do that. But it's about giving back to every Member of this Assembly so we can all share in the success of this Assembly and all shoulder the challenges together. And that's why I propose associate Ministers to be a fundamental change to how this Assembly works and give Regular Members who are chairs of standing committee more profile as associate Ministers and more access to Cabinet so they're not just sitting in a room waiting for the government to come and drop a briefing on them, whether it's ahead of time or after or in public or in camera, but actually being part of the process every step of the way so they know what's going on and they can help drive that progress. For me, it's about everyone in this Assembly being able to come together and be proud at the end of the day that we've worked together effectively and get the things that you got elected to do done in your ridings. And I'm committed to do that if I'm successful as Premier. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think what I'd like to bring and what I do bring is an empathy driven approach to action and delivery. I care very deeply. That is why I went to law school in the first place. That is why I ran for office. And that is ultimately why I did, after discussing and connecting with colleagues here, after talking to Indigenous leaders that I know, made the decision to put my name forward for Premier. I'd like to continue as I have started, which is through dialogue and communication which provides, in my view, transparency, but also with shared vision. And I have said before the vision is not singularly that of Premier, but the Premier is responsible for delivering a vision on behalf of this Assembly and on the government. We are only just at the point of setting our priorities but it is clear that we have shared vision, in my view, for the Northwest Territories to be healthier, to be better educated, and to be able to maximize who we are for every single region. And so with that, as far as being a leader is concerned, I believe I can help motivate the team - the team of Cabinet, the team of government - through a shared vision by acting out myself as a leader as I would like others to act, and I believe we can deliver on all of our actions through the structures within government. Having simple things, regular meetings between the Premier and every Ministers' office, including their deputies; regular meetings with our regional directors and superintendents as I described earlier; ensuring that our meetings are driven by priorities, driven by priorities which are driven by action lines which are actions and timelines that we check back on them so that we know that if there is a barrier to undertaking something, any action in a region, in a community, that we remove that barrier and we do it before there's a delay. And that provides accountability, and that's fundamentally where I would like to end. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. My question is in regards to the youth and the recreation infrastructure that's available and/or lack of infrastructure that's available within the smaller communities. With the high volume of drugs and alcohol in our communities, we have to find alternative measures to keep our youth occupied. There's climate change. It's becoming a shorter period of time for our youth to engage in hockey tournaments or in hockey within our communities. We've struggled with this for a long time and we've tried other alternatives, like cultural activities. We have a dance group that's from Fort McPherson, the Tetlit Gwich'in dancers that travel throughout Canada to perform, and this brings them -- they're really proud of their -- what they're doing, and it makes them happy. So we need more culturally-based and recreation programs within our community.

My question is what are you going to do to improve the infrastructure within the communities to help our youth stay away from the use of alcohol and drugs?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question. I think this touches on the real issue around many of the public safety concerns we have in communities, that there are root causes that are creating many of the challenges we face and in this case, not having -- having any adequate facilities to provide activities and engagement for youth often allows them to be led astray. And this is something that we can -- that the Member clearly pointed out and that I think I believe we've heard around the Northwest Territories. So I think it is time to carefully look at what funding sources are available for all arts and culture programs in the Northwest Territories, can we contribute to local infrastructure that's going to make a difference as well, and leverage this strength of self-governments and regional governments as well to work with them to build these facilities. I'm committed to closing the municipal funding gap. That's going to provide more resources for operations and maintenance to municipalities that would allow them to maintain those kinds of facilities that the Member was asking for. And I think that's the key piece here. Even if we put a new school in or a new rec centre, there needs to be funding attached so it stays open and stays in good repair. So we need to look at all those things. And I think the best way to do that, again, is a regional approach where we listen to what the communities want, we empower communities by giving them the resources they need, and we kind of get out of the way, and we let the GNWT provide support where they need support, like in engineering plans and things like that. But listen to the needs of the community and be there for them when they need our help to ensure that they have success, that they are empowered, and that especially the next generation of Northerners are given access to the facilities that they need to stay healthy and safe in their own communities and embrace the culture that's so important to First Peoples in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think the idea that some of the youth who are in some of the most vulnerable communities and most at risk are not having access to services. I find that to be something that we need to take a moment and connect in to the other priorities we're talking about around addictions and wellness and recovery. So tackling this from the perspective of a whole-of-government priority, looking, again, at what is our response to addictions, where do the youth and youth activities and sports fit into that, mental wellness. Is it in our educational funding formulas? Is it in health and social services funds? I think there's an opportunity here to look at better integrating this issue into some of the bigger issues that are right now seeing increases in funding and where there are calls for increases in funding.

One of the other areas, though, that I want to touch on here is in the nonprofit sector. There are nonprofits across -- and NGOs, sports organizations, cultural organizations across the Northwest Territories, working to deliver this kind of opportunity to youth, to adults, to everyone in their communities. And without much fanfare, there was a review done, independent, strengthening the nonprofit and charitable sector. It was tabled here in the fall. It was done by people from within this area, from within the nonprofits, and they landed on something that I had also found, which is way back in 2014, we put out something called the Government of the Northwest Territories Program Managers Guide for Funding to NGOs. It is meant to help increase the capacity of our nonprofit sector, better empower them to deliver what they do and to do what they do well. And it is time that we stop having to review these things and actually get this implemented so we have more opportunities across Northwest Territories in this sector for those delivering on those programs and services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Youth will find something to do. You know, we can't say don't do drugs, don't get into trouble. They'll find something to do. So what we need to do is give them an alternative to those things. We need to give them activities that they can engage in that are safe and that are healthy. And, you know, I grew up in the Northwest Territories. I know what it's like. In Hay River, there was a time there was no youth centre; you'd just walk around town. I mean, that's not necessarily the safest thing to do, especially these days with what we're seeing happening in the communities. So one of the changes that was made in the last government, I brought forward changes to our capital standards for schools. It used to be that if you had less than a certain number of students, you got no gym if you got a new school. Or if you had a certain small number of students, you might get a gym, but it would be small. You wouldn't be able to really practice even half-court basketball in it. And so changes were made so that every new school in every community that is built will get a gym. The size of the gyms has also increased for the smaller communities. Because I've been to a number of the communities with the small gyms, and those just aren't adequate. They're not going to prepare students to -- you know, to go on to the Arctic Winter Games and things like that. So that's one major thing that we've already done.

There's been efforts to work with the DEAs in communities to ensure access to those gyms as well. Because it's the DEAs who do control the access, and so we want to work with them to ensure that those gyms can stay open after hours, on weekends if necessary.

A number of years ago, we also made change -- the 18th Assembly made changes to how funding is distributed to sports organizations. It's been a number of years now. I think it might be time to relook at that and ensure that money is being used in the way we want it to be used, and it is supporting the types of organizations we want it to support. There could perhaps be some more local and regional funding available. And this goes to our support for NGOs as well. We need to ensure that funding we do have, whether it's arts or sports, is accessible to NGOs and that it is stable as well, so we have multiyear funding. So there's a number of changes that we can and should make. Thank you.