Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did the homework for the Minister over the lunch hour. Out of the 27 commitments when you look at the mandate tracker on the executive website, only one has been completed; one out of 27 items. This is a department that cannot get the job done. They are behind in legislation, important wildlife planning, climate change initiatives. I am sorry to say this, but the department is way behind on everything, and it is because of the cuts that continue to be made to this department.

Last year, and again this year, there are cuts of $371,000 to the corporate management function. You have lost four positions in communications, policy, and legislation. That is why things are not getting done.

Legislation is behind schedule. We are behind schedule in terms of getting caribou recovery strategies together. Our climate change work is lagging. It is because the department does not have the capacity to get the work done, and I think there are probably even more cuts coming.

I guess I would like to hear from the Minister how he is going to work to try to get this department back on track again. Can he go to his colleague, the Minister of Finance, to get more money to get the job done? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I could sit here all day and disagree with the Member, and he will disagree with everything I say, but I totally disagree with him, and I take offence to the fact that he says that this department cannot get the work done. That, to me, is not thinking very highly of the capacity of the people that we have there. They obviously feel that they are able to get the work done.

He has mentioned a couple of things, and I appreciate him doing my homework for me. I thank him for that, but the work on the Climate Change Strategic Framework, we are nearing completion on that work, and some things have changed that had us have to go back and look at the work we have done. We have to align it with a couple of the other strategies that are out.

I would be happy to share that information with the Member. I don't think I have briefed him on it yet, but there are some changes that have been made that have had us go back and look at the work that we are doing. It is unfortunate, because our folks put a lot of work into the Climate Change Strategic Framework based on the numbers that we were given. Some things have changed, and I need to have a conversation with the Member about that.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I don't want to turn this into a big debate. I started off my remarks complimenting the hard-working staff in this department; there are just not enough of them to get the job done. That is my point here. I haven't really received much to make me any more confident that anything is going to change in 2018-2019 with this department. Look, I support the work that they are trying to do. They just don't have enough money to get it done.

I don't have any further questions for the Minister on this part, other than to try to encourage him to get his department more resources to actually get the job done, and please stop the cuts to the department. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was reflecting on the business plan review that the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment conducted of the department's business plans, and subsequently, that has fed into this budget review process. One thing that was very clear is that the department is significantly delayed in pursuing its legislative agenda. They are not alone in this. We have not seen a considerable amount of legislation.

Now, I, for one, think that the government, when it is proposing reductions or changes the budget, they are considered in those reductions. I don't always support them, but I believe them when they say we are going to make cuts, and they are not going to affect operations. However, time and time again we have seen this department emerge with business plans that have not been accomplishing a whole lot, and again, we hear that reductions in the appropriations are not the cause of that.

What is the hold-up, in particular with the devolution legislation? This is a long time coming that we have needed this legislation, and we have not made significant progress on it, not at all. What is the department's legislative timelines for its legislative agenda moving forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have a number of pieces of legislation that are coming forward. I think we have amendments to four pieces of existing legislation, and we have one new legislation. We have done a lot of work on these. I think work is proceeding towards the goal of having all five pieces of legislation coming into force on July 1, 2019.

I think I have made a commitment in previous discussions with committee on updating them, and I think we had one update. We are looking at doing all of the amendments, and the LPs are approved. I know five pieces of legislation is a lot to pile on committee in the last two years of the Assembly. We are all going to be busy for the next two years. We do plan on having these legislations coming into force of July 1, 2019. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that is good work, and I look forward to doing it. I just hope that we don't see any further delays with these important pieces of legislation. They are important for the development of the territorial economy, and also in ensuring that we are protecting our environment and managing our environmental liabilities.

The climate change audit that was done by the Auditor General of Canada, who is also the Auditor General of Record for the Northwest Territories, was quite critical of the department's leadership role in climate change as the lead department in government. I think it is appropriate to raise those concerns in this corporate management area.

I know that there is a Climate Change Strategic Framework that the department has developed, but one thing that that document does not contain, and one thing that the department did not commit to, or did not address in the audit review, was how its working relationship with other departments of government. How does the department plan to address its working relationship with all departments of government, in particular on climate change? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Yes, go ahead, Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are working closely with the other departments on our Climate Change Strategic Framework. We want to make sure that all these strategies we are set to release are coordinated, so we work closely with them.

On the leadership, I mean, the Auditor General I think admitted themselves that some of the things that they looked at were done before they realized some of the work that we were doing. Good on them for admitting that.

We're looking at developing a GNWT direct level coordination leadership group. We're also looking at forming a climate change council with GNWT, an external membership, to inform on implementation and then receive input from Indigenous governments and organization, industry, communities, NGOs, and the public. It's a similar approach that was taken in the Water Strategy. We do coordinate with the other departments and make sure that we're all singing from the same song sheet and trying to achieve the same goal and make sure that the work that we are doing is coordinated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Testart.

Is the department considering any memoranda of understanding with other GNWT departments in order to create the authority it needs to form a leadership role over climate change activities in this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The department has had its strategies and frameworks implemented before, such as the greenhouse gas emissions strategy, which is one of the areas the Auditor General addressed, and that was one of the big issues. The framework was in place. There was buy-in across government, but nothing actually happened at the end of the day. I know that in some cases around information sharing, MOUs are entered into between GNWT departments. Is this an approach that the Minister will consider moving forward? It is something that the Auditor General recognized that was lacking, the authorities in place. A strategy or framework is not an authority that gives the department the real ability to take position in that leadership role. Is this something that the Minister will look at? I'm happy to work with him on this. The standing committee, I'm sure, will be happy to address this. It is something the Auditor General has repeatedly mentioned, and it is still unaddressed. Is this an area the Minister can commit to looking into? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister McLeod?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the simple answer to the Member's question is: I will go back and we'll explore it, and have a conversation, and see if it's something that we need to do, or if just a coordinated approach will work. Again, once we gather some information, if it's the wish of committee, we'd be more than happy to update them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. There's time for one more question. Mr. Testart?

Thank you for your indulgence, Mr. Chair, and also for the Minister indulging this line of questioning, which is very much a policy area. It is important to remember that, although he is in the chair right now, he is not always in the chair. It's the officials' level that does a lot of this work, and that's why instruments like MOUs are valuable, because it's not always Cabinet that makes these decisions. I have no further questions on this activity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Any further questions? Mr. Nakimayak.