Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin my remarks I want to state clearly and for the record that I believe wholeheartedly in the principles of accountability. Cabinet shares that belief with me and that is why on December 17, 2015, all Members in this House supported unanimously for Motion 17-18(1) which was to establish a mid-term accountability review.
I'd also like to point out in case anybody has forgotten, that the Premier, prior to his selection as Premier, was the mover of that motion which established with the unanimous agreement of all 19 Members that prior to the fall 2017 in this Chamber this Assembly would conduct a mid-term accountability review of its adopted mandate, including the performance of the Executive Council and standing committees. Mr. McLeod would not have moved that motion if Members did not believe that each one of us on both sides of this House has a fundamental duty to be accountable to the people of the Northwest Territories.
Accountability and democracy are inseparable. The people who elect us exercise power on their behalf and place enormous faith in each one of us. Collectively and individually we must earn and maintain that trust by submitting our decisions and actions to the judgment of the people that we serve openly and transparently. Every four years the people of the Northwest Territories have the opportunity to directly convey their judgment about our actions in the territorial election. This is direct accountability. There is nothing like facing a voter on a campaign trail to remind us who's boss and how we must work and maintain the trust of our constituents. Accountability between elections is no less direct and no less real.
As a government we are accountable to the people of the Northwest Territories through their elected representatives in this House. Every time we are asked a question we are being asked to account for our decisions and our actions. Every time our budgets and plans for implementing them are examined and debated in committee of this House we are being asked to account for our decisions and actions.
Every time government legislation is introduced for debate and disposition in this House, we are being asked to account for our decisions and our actions. At almost any moment on every day this House sits, Members have ample opportunity and tools to hold Ministers to account for living up to the expectations of the Assembly as outlined in the mandate and to the people that have elected us.
This includes the ability to remove any Cabinet Member from Cabinet at any time. That this business is conducted primarily in public is an important aspect of the accountability that contributes to the openness and transparency that the public demands and expects of all 19 Members. But accountability needs to be about more than personality, Mr. Speaker. Accountability is about keeping our promises, and for the 18th Assembly our mandate is our promise to the people of this territory.
Our decision to adopt the process convention of priority setting and reporting that was first established by the 17th Assembly is a significant evolution in consensus government and a major step towards accountability. Past Assemblies had priorities but had never made specific commitments about how they would advance those priorities like the 18th Assembly did when it adopted unanimously its mandate. In the past there was no clear way for the people or for the Assembly itself to determine how successful it was. The mandate is now a measure of our success and the progress we could make by everybody in this House working together. Ours is the first Assembly to formally develop and adopt a mandate specifically created to advance the priorities we all identified together. Unlike past Assemblies, Mr. Speaker, the mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly is a clear statement of our intent as a government and a clear yardstick against which our successes as an Assembly can be judged.
Mr. Speaker, Cabinet is not afraid of being judged. We believe that we are already making progress and will have made even more progress by next fall. We are confident that we could stand on our record collectively as well as individually. But we do want to make sure that we are being judged on the basis of whether or not we have done the things that we said we would do, specifically, the commitments all MLAs agreed to within our mandate. Of course, our mandate cannot be written in stone.
Circumstances change, Mr. Speaker. Priorities evolve and new tasks emerge as we check items off our to-do list. Pausing mid-way through our term to take stock of the mandate and whether or not it continues to be aligned with the Assembly's priorities, frankly, it only makes sense, Mr. Speaker.
The provisions of the process convention that outlined the structured process for reporting on and reviewing the relevance and adequacy of the mandate are both necessary and sensible. We should welcome that opportunity as a whole Assembly to formally review our mandate and ask ourselves if it continues to serve the needs of the people and the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. Cabinet was unanimous in its support for that review last December, and we continue to support the need for the review.
While I and my Cabinet colleagues absolutely support the principle of accountability that is at the heart of our democratic system and are more than prepared to be judged on our records, we feel that the report on the establishment of the mid-term review process is flawed. These flaws were clearly outlined by Mr. Sebert in his dissenting opinion filed with the committee report and which expressed Cabinet's shared views on the proposed process.
I'm not going to recite all the concerns that Minister Sebert expressed so well, but I do want to highlight a very significant concern Cabinet has with the proposed process, specifically that is a decision to cast votes on Cabinet performance in secret. Cabinet believes that this recommendation is fundamentally inconsistent with the commitment we have made as Members to openness and transparency. Even the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures recognized and, in one of its principles, outlined in its own report that processes for assessing Cabinet's performance, among others, "must be fair, transparent, and evidence-based." Anonymous assessment surveys, the report continues, "are not consistent with a fair and transparent process."
The process recommended here today doesn't seem to align with that principle, and that is a serious concern, Mr. Speaker. Consensus only works, Mr. Speaker, when all 19 Members work together in the spirit of collaboration and trust to play their respective roles, which can all be evaluated. This was the spirit that guided our discussions and priorities and mandate and the spirit that we have seen in places like Fort Providence, where we met as Caucus. The spirit appears to be lacking in this motion, Mr. Speaker. This is not just a concern for Cabinet; it should be a concern for all of us who are committed to working together to make the lives of the people of the Northwest Territories better, as I know all Members are.
The original motion called on Ministers and Regular Members to work together to evaluate our shared progress on implementing the Assembly's priorities. A review like that would be a clear demonstration of our accountability as a Legislative Assembly to the people of the Northwest Territories. The proposal before us has departed from that vision and now seems focused on a review of Cabinet and its performance alone. Cabinet does not feel it can support a motion that has strayed from what was originally intended.
At the same time, Cabinet remains absolutely committed to transparency and accountability and continues to support, without reservation, the need for a mid-term review of its progress on mandate. The goalposts have moved, Mr. Speaker, but we are confident that we are making good progress on the mandate and will each welcome any kind of mid-term review. We think the process being proposed could be fairer and more open, but we will not challenge the decision of this Assembly to establish whatever process it sees fit, even one that includes a secret ballot.
Out of respect to this House, and for the will of its Members, Cabinet will abstain from voting on the motion and look forward to meeting with you again next fall to review this government's progress on the mandate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.