Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a difference between the appointing of statutory appointments and employment contracts; totally different. There are actually a number of statutory appointments across the Government of the Northwest Territories. The appointment process appoints the individual to a position in the public service; statutory appointments are made by the Minister and assigns responsibility under the legislation. In some cases, a position may have more than one statutory appointment. For example, the territory executive director, who is not hired by the Minister, for Child and Family Services, in addition to their employment contract, is conferred through appointment by the Minister of Health and Social Services. The statutory appointment of director, Child and Family Services, is under the Child and Family Services Act and the director of adoptions under the Adoptions Act, so that Minister appoints the statutory positions but is not responsible for hiring.
While the associate deputy minister may be statutory-appointed to the position of a president under the Aurora College Act, the employment relationship of deputy ministers and associate deputy ministers is clearly with me as the Premier, and it remains in my sole purview to terminate the employment of an associate deputy minister across departments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.