Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think that this is an odd Minister or department to kind of look at because it's very much a political department, and it houses the Premier and Cabinet Minister offices, and then a bunch of kind of not really statutory but, like, things that don't really fit in anywhere else. So I appreciate -- and Indigenous relations, which, of course, is crucial to how things operate. So it's very much -- it is an executive department.

But one thing I think is missing is more of a focus on that executive function. The business plans and the budget as well and how the department's structured set Executive and Indigenous Affairs up to be a coordinating body. And I think it needs to be more than that. I think it needs to be the central body that sends direction throughout the public service and to other departments as well. And although that is -- you know, that is -- it's somewhat of a function, I still feel that it's more of an emphasis on coordination than direction. And one thing we're missing is to have a dedicated unit within this department to ensure results and delivery.

And I've spoken about this before. I still feel quite strongly that this is -- this would be an innovative function of executive that would greatly improve how we get the mandate and business plans implemented, completed, and developed in a meaningful and timely way and give support to that function as well to ensure we're not just collating departmental actions into one document but we're producing a plan with one vision with unity, with purpose, and that that's getting -- and that departments are on track to deliver on that, because at the end of the day, if we are setting political goals here we want to be -- we want to ensure that they get delivered on the ground and in our communities in particular, and we don't really have a mechanism to do that other than the individual Ministers who are then kind of working collaboratively. And that's fine, but as I've said before, we don't have that much time to be successful. Four years goes by very quickly. So the more tools we can give to the Cabinet to be successful, I think we'll get better results. And I think centralizing more of that authority within the Premier's office, in Executive and Indigenous Affairs, is the right step to take. And honestly, I think we could even consider moving the financial management board here as well and for them to play more of a centralized corporate function under the direction and supervision of the Secretariat to Cabinet and the Premier as well. Finance can still set fiscal policy but those kind of corporate controls, guidance around stat -- like, Crown corporations and divisions and contribution policies and ensuring, most importantly, that departments are sticking to their budgets and being audited correctly and all the things we look at in public accounts as being conducted.

So, yeah, I -- none of that's in here beyond what they already do. I just think there could be more strength put towards these kind of core functions and give the Premier more of an ability to be the Premier. Because regardless of how the position actually functions, the expectations from, I think, this House and the public, is that the Premier has more of a leadership role to play than just chair meetings and being a spokesperson for government. So I would very much like to see that in budgets going forward as things are refined.

I also think the homelessness should probably be handed off to the housing minister rather than stay here. I appreciate that there's many facets to this, but there's many facets to lots of areas of public policy. You know, like, if we're talking about crime reduction and -- crime reduction, we have to talk about drugs and addiction, especially in the Northwest Territories. Like, you can't -- you know, we wouldn't say let's move to the Premier's office because it's multi-facetted. We could do that for everything and only have one Minister because everything touches on everything. So I think homelessness -- I appreciate the Premier's predecessor took a vested interest in being hands on on this file and that's, I think, why the move was made, but I think we have a Minister of housing who's very -- could be very competently take on this responsibility and provide more focus and dedication to implementing it because, of course, the Premier has a lot on his plate. So I would recommend moving that function elsewhere.

And, yeah, I think -- and I think the focus on Indigenous -- working with Indigenous governments, we heard today from the Member for Monfwi that that is bearing fruit, from her perspective, and we've heard that from others as well. And that's good that we're on the right foot and we're moving forward in that direction. But I think the other big piece is land rights agreements and implementing modern treaties. And that means shaking up how we do business in the negotiation sections -- or negotiation divisions of Indigenous Affairs. We waited a very long time. People are still waiting. And all that uncertainty and doubt that is created from not having stability with respect to Indigenous rights in the Northwest Territories is something that really needs to be corrected. So I hope that this is more than just keeping the negotiation tables -- the lights on in the negotiation rooms but actually bringing forward new innovative ideas and mandates to see success at those tables and to work effectively with the federal and Indigenous partners to complete modern treaties and land claim negotiations by the end of this term. Thank you.