Thank you, Madam Chair. There was quite a bit said. What I heard, though, was clearly "people, people, people," and I think that that's reflected in our mandate. I think all of the Cabinet is very people-focused but recognizing still that you have got to have a strong economy and to support social programs. Anyone that's in the social program area field knows that there's got to be money to pay for programs. You have to have a balance.
I heard: if everything's a priority, then nothing's a priority. It's a very wise saying that has been around for centuries, and I think it's true. I think that all of us recognize that, if we were provided a different financial picture at the beginning, before we became elected Ministers and Premiers and this mandate became, we would have had a more condensed list of priorities. We can't take back what's done. It's done. My job as the Premier and with my Cabinet was to actually make the mandate and address the 22 priorities that all of us know are probably a little bit too ambitious, knowing where we are fiscally at this point.
I know that good communication is key. We all have to work on that. Even though I am a social worker and was for many years, I have to work on my own issues. If I'm big enough and old enough to admit that, I think that we all have to work to admit that, and we have to work together. Together doesn't mean only Cabinet. It means all MLAs, all of us as MLAs, working together to advance the priorities of the people. That's what we're here for. We are trying to listen better and trying to work better together. I hope that we've addressed, maybe not every single concern, not every single concern of mine is in here either, but consensus model says that we all have something in here.
Working together, it's not about just working together as ourselves as MLAs. It's working with our Indigenous governments, our municipal governments, our employees, and the residents of the Northwest Territories. I had made a commitment that it will be in mandate letters, and that will be in mandate letters. We're just in the process of doing them now, now that this work is finished.
I know that some people have said that the outcomes and the targets are low; example, the housing is only 100 units. Honestly, I struggled with that because we've talked about think big, and we ended up with 22 priorities that are unrealistic. We talked about be bold. I am willing to be bold, but I also recognize that not all Members are on the same page, so some Members are saying, be bold, and we will look at the mandate and see if it's realistic in a couple of years and see if we can get it. I'm not so sure that all Members will actually only look at the mandate and see if it's realistic because I've heard some Members will be evaluating my Ministers to see if they can achieve every one of those mandates. That made it difficult for me as a Premier. My job is to try to work with everyone and make it bold, but at the same time, I'm not going to set my Ministers up as scapegoats and say we're going to solve world peace in four years and then get crucified and all of us taken out of our seats in two years because we didn't do it. There is not one of us that's here that I believe is naive enough to believe that we can solve world peace in four years. We have to do what's achievable. It was a fine balance between being bold and being realistic so that I could actually try to protect on both sides, hear the Members, protect the Ministers from getting pulled from their seats because they can't do everything that is expected.
Keeping our money here? Absolutely. I am all about keeping our money in the Northwest Territories. I think that we have work to do with the federal government, with the people, in our own policies and procedures. Every dollar that leaves the Northwest Territories is a dollar lost. Every dollar we can keep in the Northwest Territories revolves around and around, and that same dollar might end up going from different hands and end up being $10 for the amount of times that it is actually changed hands.
The other thing I want to say is that people say that we want to get it done and get the mandate done so we can get the work done. I want to reinforce that this mandate is a mandate. It is based on your 22 priorities, but the work has not stopped. The work is still going on. I will use my own department as the Minister of Indigenous Affairs. Since I have been elected, without this mandate document, I have phoned every single Indigenous government and had personal calls with them. I have met with the Intergovernmental Council and told them we are doing business differently. I have had biennials and talked about doing things differently. We are doing things differently. I am scaring them, in all honesty, because we are meeting after. Traditionally, it was: we sat there; we did the issues; they went away; negotiating team did the issues; they went away. I have sat with the chiefs myself after we did our biennials and said, "Tell me what the issues are." We are already doing things, and we are doing things differently. I hope that you recognize that it is not all there.
Going to Ottawa with Indigenous governments, that is something not in the mandate. Not every single action is in this mandate. We have already had discussions with Indigenous governments about making a federal strategy and actually going to Ottawa. That is already in place. It is not here, but we are already having those discussions with Indigenous governments. Not everything is in the mandate.
Again, Madam Chair, I think the biggest thing for me is remembering that the 22 priorities were done by 19 Members of the Legislative Assembly with, in my opinion, not the correct financial information. The money was right, but we weren't told about the forced growth and the unions and the costs that would come out. We all thought there all was more money on the table than there is. I am hoping. I believe that myself and my Ministers are committed to working hard. They all came here for the needs of the people. I do not believe any Minister sitting here has come here just for themselves. I do hope that you will hold us to account with this mandate but that you will also recognize when the time comes to review this mandate. You will step back and say, "Our job is to review the mandate and see if it is accomplishable or not. Is it realistic or not? What can we do in the final terms of this government?" versus saying, "Do we take down every one of those Ministers and the Premier because they did not solve world peace in four years?" Thank you, Madam Chair.