Merci, Monsieur le President. The 18th Assembly collectively developed a list of priorities that Cabinet then took and turned into a lengthy wish list. That was the first time that a formal mandate was developed. At the end of the 18th Assembly, Cabinet claimed it had completed 202 of 230 mandate commitments. The advice from the Transition Matters Special Committee was that there should be fewer priorities and fewer mandate commitments. I am not convinced that we achieved that with the priorities that were tabled in this House on October 25th. As this sitting presents the first opportunity to speak to these priorities, I wish to offer some observations and comments.
As hard as our facilitators tried, we produced a list of 22 priorities versus the 25 of the 18th Assembly. Hard choices were not made amongst big infrastructure projects or even between those projects and investments in social spending that should include housing, universal childcare, and a guaranteed basic income. While we had a rigorous process, two days was not enough. We ran out of time and energy with an extremely intensive orientation and a looming leadership selection process. With even one more day, we may have been able to produce more refined priorities.
I will find it very difficult to support some of the priorities set by this Assembly. Some may work at cross-purposes with each other, such as increasing economic diversification while trying to increase mineral exploration. I am also of the view that there is very little that we can do to increase mineral exploration beyond settling outstanding Indigenous land rights and changing our messaging and the perception of the state-of-the-art environmental management system. Commodity prices and financial markets are well outside our control.
Some of the priorities provide precise direction, such as improving student outcomes to those achieved elsewhere in Canada or increasing the number of resident healthcare professionals by 20 percent. Other priorities are extremely vague: reduce core housing needs or, for example, advance universal childcare. We have not handed Cabinet an easy task. The priorities provide very little direction for the work of some of the departments' agencies and Ministers.
I will have questions later today for the Premier on how she intends to work with Regular MLAs in developing specific direction for each Minister and department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.