Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be going to the Premier about the culture of Cabinet, not specific to any one department because this crosses multiple departments. So specifically to the Premier, Mr. Speaker, my question is about cost of living and what type of direction is he providing to the Ministers at the Cabinet table to find ways to do business either more efficient or smarter, I guess could be the same way of looking at it, but what direction is he providing his Cabinet colleagues to provide the efficiency culture at the Cabinet table when it comes to cost of living? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when we talk about efficiencies, that is one of the things that I wanted to focus on coming into this role, ensuring that we are doing what we need to do as a government, not doing things that we don't need to be doing. So ensuring that we spend every dollar, every public dollar, in the best possible way which would allow us to support residents where they need it the most. And so by saving money on unnecessary expenditures, we can then go to addressing issues like the cost of living. Of course, we've been working as a Cabinet on our fiscal sustainability strategy, and that is to ensure that we are fiscally sustainable and can best support residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I welcome that answer because that now leads -- or I should say dovetails into the next one is part of that efficiency in revisiting the work that they do and examining the overall cost of government, we also have to think about the burden on the taxpayer hence the question is are they looking at eliminating the fees of particular services where it costs more to provide the service than it actually does in the sense of the process of what the fee is worth? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we are -- you know, we're a new Assembly. We just released the fiscal strategy. We just set our priorities as an Assembly. And we are now working on the mandate. And so we are looking at all of those -- all of the fees that we charge, services for which we don't charge fees where fees are charged in other jurisdictions. So everything is currently on the table. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't want to drill down too deep because, of course, the Premier did say it's early, but is the Premier open to some examples? And the simple examples I would provide in a simple statement would be is there is costs to running the driver's license renewal, the license plate renewal. Is the Premier -- I'm giving him time. Is the Premier able to look at those services and examine them and maybe make them free given the consideration that it probably costs more to run those services than we actually charge for them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm happy to look into that. If we are doing something and it's costing us more than it's worth, then we need to look at why we are spending that much money. Oftentimes there are practical reasons why we have to do something, even if it does cost us more than it's worth, or there could be legal requirements. But I'm happy to look at any fees that we're charging and determine whether or not they are appropriate for that service. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A pragmatic and practical answer was exactly what I was looking for. Mr. Speaker, how could the Premier report this information back in the context of what they're looking at, how they're developing it, and how are they considering it so the public could hear how the government is examining how it's doing business and how it could make it more affordable for Northerners? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so once we are done this sitting, we are going to go right into developing a mandate which will then inform the upcoming budget and so it's through that process that Members will see what is being considered. It is where we will get that input back from Members. I won't speak too much to the budgeting process. That is, of course, the Minister of Finance's department, but I know that she is keen on getting feedback as well from the Members and from the public. Thank you.

Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Municipal and Community Affairs distributes approximately $120 million through the community government funding policies throughout all our municipalities and our communities. MACA is always willing to work to try to advocate for more funding to close off these gaps. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for that information. We have 33 communities. Can the Minister commit to tracking the value of the municipal funding gap publicly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe we already do that, but I will commit to doing that. Thank you.

Thank you. Can the Minister explain what is known about the funding gap for community operations and maintenance? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funds that are distributed throughout all the communities are just like our funds. We get those set funds, and we try to stretch them out as much as we can. What I would do is encourage local community governments to make hard decisions like us also and try to find a way to stretch out those community dollars. At the end of the day, we're trying to prioritize what our priorities are in spending those funds as I would think communities would also do and what their goals are within their communities and how they want to strategically spend those funds that they receive. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Okay, I want to ask the last one. What supports are in place to ensure community workers are provided competitive salaries, especially for the residents who want to live and work in their home communities? The mine is not an option anymore because they will be closing in the near future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I was saying, the funds are distributed as per the community government funding policy. Once those funds are received by the community governments, it's up to them to operate those funds and how they pay their employees would be up to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions around the pharmacists' scope of work here in the Northwest Territories. And right now as I understand it, pharmacists in the Northwest Territories cannot prescribe drugs, cannot prescribe vaccines -- sorry, give vaccines that is, or other types of shots. So, Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister of health in the context of familiarity aware of the scope of practice and what is she able to address moving forward in this Assembly? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.