Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seem to recall October, February, happened before the January proroguing. I'll check -- let the fact checkers verify that later. So in other words, proroguing of parliament happened after all of this agreement in rush. So is there any way the GNWT can help coordinate and help ensure that this project funding won't be lost given the fact that things may change? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have -- the department and myself have been in regular conversations with Minister Guilbeault's office in regard to this. As well as I said earlier, our partners continue to work forward with the Indigenous governments, the partners at the partner table, and the staff from ECC to advance this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I spoke about the important work the NWT SPCA does in the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, they don't fit into any GNWT box for funding. As an NGO that provides a critical service to communities, they're not unlike NGOs that provide supports to the communities like homelessness, health and well-being. So can the Premier who is responsible for the NGO stabilization through the executive speak to how -- or why the SPCA's not eligible for funding. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there is no -- as the Member said, we don't have a policy that the SPCA fits into. That being said, EIA has recently taken over responsibility for working with NGOs, and so we're in the process of preparing to engage with NGOs as well as Indigenous governments about what constitutes a critical service in the Northwest Territories. And that will help outline our funding programs and policies going forward. So that work is going to begin very soon. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thank you for that response from the Premier. That's exactly what I think the SPCA wants to hear. Mr. Speaker, I said their costs per year or last year were around $700,000. $200,000 of that is now staff. It used to be volunteer-driven. That's the kind of range. Is there room in the Premier's budget to provide $200,000 to the SPCA? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don't have $200,000 free in EIA's budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, former Premier Bob McLeod did provide a one-time payout to the SPCA way back in the day when we were Regular Members together. It was around $40,000. Is there an exception policy that the SPCA can tap into to help them reduce their costs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I remember the good old days when we were able to fund more organizations than we can now. Unfortunately, we don't have that type of process in place. And when it comes right down to it, Cabinet can do a lot of different things, and the financial board can do a lot of different things, you know, creating a new initiative, but there is a process to go through that and it's unlikely that we would have one NGO core funded through that type of process. What we want to do is create a policy and have it in place so it's clear and so that the people of the territory know where their money is going. We need to ensure that we are funding organizations that are providing critical services to the Northwest Territories. And the SPCA has done many great things. I was just reading about the evacuations recently, and I know that they did a lot of work during the evacuations and they do many good things for the territory. So this is not a case of us not valuing the SPCA. It's clear the territory does. You can tell by all of the donations that residents provide. It's just a matter of getting a policy in place to ensure that we are focusing our funds where they're needed most. Thank you.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Premier generally has a principal secretary, and so the mandate I was given was when I was elected as Premier to have that position.

Looking at the circumstances, I made the decision that that position would be transitioned into a senior envoy to the Government of Canada to help ensure that we have a voice in Ottawa and to help ensure that our Indigenous government partners also have a voice in Ottawa so we can support them. So the principal secretary is a political position in the Premier's office, and I made the decision to adjust that position. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it has the appearance of being a political appointment as more of a reward rather than a discussion. Is there any reason the Premier changing significant motions by basically allocating public service resources to an Ottawa position -- why wouldn't he bring it to MLAs through the caucus process to have a discussion and get a mandate from caucus and the Assembly at large? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Decisions are made about positions across government without going to MLAs for every single decision. We are right now in budget discussions about the budget of the Northwest Territories, and so there's opportunities to discuss how funds are allocated, but this is a an operational decision I made based on the experience that I've had over the past just over a year and how things are functioning in our office and how -- what gaps we need to fill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I don't mind the Premier being a Premier, but this is a significant departure from regular business, especially when Members on this side of the House are asking for action, but he does it unilaterally without any type of consultation. Has he spoken to Indigenous governments that he's appointed his principal secretary to be the Ottawa face of our politics, has he spoken to MLAs? Like, who has he spoken to outside of his own principal secretary and himself? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And of course I spoke with my Cabinet colleagues, and I've spoken with Indigenous leaders, and there is a lot of support, a lot of positive feedback about this decision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change following up on my Member's statement on some of the feedback that we have gotten from NWT youth on the climate change action plan. So some of their observations were that most of the actions in the plan are hard to measure, that it might specify we'll continue to do things or have processes. But what is ECC doing to make its actions on climate change more measurable? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start by acknowledging MLA Reid and MLA Morgan and the students and staff at Sir John and St. Pat's high school for the opportunity to go in and have discussions of the climate change action plan with them.

As we've done our engagement as ECC, some of the key comments that we've received, and which have been independently evaluated through a process that we're using, have said that our actions need to be more measurable, and this is certainly something that we feel is a critical path forward for us as a department. So what we've committed to doing is wherever possible is we're going to use a smart goal approach so that to ensure that our goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Also, ensuring that as we reach milestones through these processes that we're relaying that information to the public so that everyone is aware that we've made specific milestones. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.