Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Lands has engaged with other departments and has completed an initial review of the project assessment policy. With the announcement of the merger of Lands and ENR, further work of the policy will continue under the Department of Environment and Climate Change. And I expect some -- to share some of the information on the project assessment policy with committee in upcoming months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The clock is running out. In response to the written questions I submitted in March 2022, the Minister said that there would not be any public engagement or work with Indigenous governments on the review of the project assessment policy. We have these public engagements on such mundane matters as renaming the old Stanton Hospital and a product survey for liquor and cannabis, but we're not going to ask the public about how GNWT should be involved in environmental assessment major projects? Can the Minister explain why the department does not want to seek public input into revising the project assessment policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the project assessment policy's an internal policy that defines how the GNWT works internally amongst departments for project assessments. So at such time, we will not be or planning to have public engagement on this policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Although it may be an internal policy, it's a public interest. That's why I keep raising it in the House. A key feature of the devolution agreement was the establishment of an Intergovernmental Council to allow the public and Indigenous governments to cooperate and collaborate on matters related to lands and resources management. The goal of the Intergovernmental Council is to work together to explore ways to coordinate the respective lands and resource management practices, share capacity, and avoid duplication.

Mr. Speaker, those two sentences are directly from an IGC website. So can the Minister explain why his department does not intend to work with Intergovernmental Council in reviewing the project assessment policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the policy's not solely focused on land and resource management issues as defined in the intergovernmental agreement as the Member talked about. As I stated earlier, the policy defines how the GNWT works internally among departments for project assessments. As such, there is no requirements or plans to work with IGC on this policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final short supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'll try my best here. You know, the Minister talks about this not being part of the work that the Intergovernmental Council does but I think he probably needs to check with them. But, you know, this project assessment policy is not about an evidence-based make -- or evidence-based process. It's about preventing presentation of evidence and expert opinion that is not consistent with Cabinet's views.

So can the Minister tell us whether this government is really committed to evidence-based decisions and how that will be implemented in the context of GNWT sponsored projects and related decision-making? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, government is committed to evidence-based decisions, and as I've said previously, the project assessment policy will continue to support the representation of the GNWT's evidence and expert's opinions. Currently the Department of Lands and, on April 1st, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, is working to define how the GNWT can be more transparent in environmental assessments, including decision-making of the GNWT's project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke about the importance of decentralization of government jobs and services. Can the Premier confirm if it's a priority of the executive and of Cabinet to promote and support the decentralization of public jobs -- public service jobs away from the capital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within the priorities that were developed by the Legislative Assembly, there wasn't a decentralization; there was a priority around regional decision-making however -- and we're working towards that. However, in saying that, Mr. Speaker, decentralization has been a priority of the previous governments, and it's a priority of our government. It always should be a priority. Many of the Members from the Cabinet are outside of Yellowknife. They're constantly reminding us all the time that -- and I recognize that myself, that we need jobs in every single community, and we're doing the best we can to make sure that that happens. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier provide some concrete examples on what efforts the executive has done throughout the 19th Assembly to support the decentralization of public service jobs away from the capital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a couple of things that are examples that have actually carried on into this Assembly that have been from previous Assemblies, though, such as the priority hires. It's still a priority. Every position that comes across the Cabinet table is always scrutinized. Are they a priority hire? If not, why not. So that's one example. The other is, again, from previous governments that we continue, secondment so that -- both ways so that if, for example, Indigenous governments need a worker in their community, we will second from the GNWT and vice versa. That helps in actually building the skills that I think people need. One of the best ones that I do have to give credit for Minister Wawzonek from finance is the remote work policy that was just brought in. After COVID, I mean, we realized that we could use the internet more. So the remote work policy, my recollection is correct, is that you can -- if you have a job that's offered in the headquarters in Yellowknife, you can talk to your supervisor and if you can do it remotely, you can do that in a community. It only goes one. That cannot happen for jobs in communities that that person can come to Yellowknife. So that's a great example of work that were done in this government to make sure that we have jobs in the communities and decentralize positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if she believes her government has been successful with decentralizing jobs and services into the communities and regional centres? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, I'd like to say yes but the reality is is that it's work that's always going to have to happen. Like I said, it's a concern for all of us, and it should be a concern. We need to make sure that all communities actually have the economic opportunities, including jobs, which is economic opportunities, to be able to support their residents. Like I said before, Mr. Speaker, I think that the biggest achievement to this government has been the remote work policy. I think it's a little bit too early to actually give stats on that, though, because it's only been a few months. But I am looking forward to actually seeing the stats on that and actually seeing if it works. And it'll take a little bit of time. Things take time in government to change the culture. But I'm a big advocate of it. I think -- I do thank the Minister for actually bringing that forward and I am thinking that hopefully within a year or two, you'll see huge results because of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.

Mr. Speaker, could the Premier tell us if she considers the centralization of government services and jobs as a problem, and does she consider it as a threat to small communities or regional centres? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I -- again, I think that it's always a concern when the majority of problems are in one community and we have many communities that we have to take care of. I know that we do try to make sure that we have regional positions for all departments within the communities. But I do think that there's more work to be done. And I don't think that it's only this government. I think that it's going to have to be work done for many governments to come. We need to look at the jobs. We need to look at the departments. We need to look at positions. So it's ongoing work. Our commitment as Cabinet has been to try to get as many jobs in the communities as possible, and I'm hoping that the next Assembly will continue that work and try to get as many jobs into the communities as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm trying to figure out the question in that. I think there might be a couple in that one.

I do thank the Member. I do kind of wish he would have given me a heads up because I was trying to rush and read what the Cosmos 954 was. It was in 1970 something -- '78. I was 18 years old. I wasn't looking at what the sky was doing in all honesty. But I do think that I would be more than willing to actually sit down with the Member and actually find out more about this because I'm not sure if it's a public inquiry, what work has been done, what's out there. So more than willing to sit down with the Member and get more educated on this Cosmos 954 and the results after. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.