Fair enough. I'll be polite about it. I'll say how many senior level staff has he added to his office through the EIA process that are new? So I can think of at least one. This is at least two. If we have a senior envoy person that never existed before, I'm curious on how many additional people he's added to this department. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you. So the senior envoy is not a new person. It's the same person who is in a different role. We have an associate deputy minister with Housing NWT and an society deputy minister with the health care system sustainability unit. And those are the senior positions that have been recently added. Although I'll note that the associate deputy minister position already existed in Housing NWT. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

So if we consider this just shuffling of positions, the senior envoy would not be a new position but if he staffs it, when would we define it as a new position? Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you. So there was the principle secretary moved into a new role, so the role is new. I'm not sure if there's a technical definition I can provide about when a position is new, but the position did not exist before it was created so in that sense it's a new position, but it's not a new person in the position. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, yeah, I mean, we can play semantics around names. But I mean, if he wants to give it another name, it's still a different pay -- it's still the same pay, same whatever. So I'm going to allow him to call it whatever he wants; I don't care. But if he backfills the principle secretary, then it's a new body and a new pay line. That's the issue I'm really drawing at to clarify.

So my understanding is there's more staff being added to that office to support the Premier and the executive. So how many new, outside of what was previously there at the start of this government, have been added to this office? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

There's as many people in the executive hallway now as there were when we started. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

I am trying to avoid to name names out of respect for the individuals. It's not the individuals at issue. I'm really getting at the fact that we've had quite a bit of spending at the executive level, especially when we talk about fiscal responsibility, realigning and whatnot, and I'm just curious on how much more this section will grow, and I'm not sure that there's any benefit or value.

So with respect to the senior envoy, how often will this individual be in Ottawa in comparison to their current position being in Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you. So that's still to be determined. We -- you know, we're in the middle of a leadership race right now. It is prior to, you know, potentially an election period. The House is not sitting. And so there's different times in Ottawa. Sometimes there's a lot of people around. Sometimes there's not a lot of people around. Sometimes there's transitions when you want to have a voice there. Sometimes there's not. So it's dependent, and it's hard to really say with the current situation in Ottawa what that split of time will be. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you. So this is a two-part question. The first part is what evidence-based decision-making was designed to show that this position of an envoy is justified; and, what type of political credentials does this person bring to the table through evidence that shows that they are the right person for this envoy position?

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you. So we've been working, you know, now for a year trying to work with Ottawa and, you know, experiencing success in some areas, less success in other areas, and it was clear that there was a need for, you know, a different approach or augmenting the current approach, so not even going to say necessarily different. I don't want to get into an individual public servant's resume on the floor of the House, but the individual in the position has significant experience working in Government of Canada, in various departments at various levels in the Government of the Northwest Territories, with Indigenous governments directly, and I mean those are the kind of qualifications I would expect for someone in that role. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you. Well, as we all know, a principle secretary doesn't have to bring any credentials to the job other than being the political whisperer of the Premier where they do what they do, and I don't have a problem with that specifically. But, you know, if we're sending them fully armed financially with special titles, maybe even red carpet and cherubs -- I'm not sure what it'll end up looking like -- I'm curious -- you know, I'm curious about what they will bring to their table and their ability. That said, can the Premier, or I guess in this case Minister, highlight how many other provinces or territories who have a envoy -- special envoy in Ottawa to do this job. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you. So other jurisdictions have a lot more political staff that can make those connections. I don't have a breakdown of other jurisdictions. I do have our main estimates and our business plans in front of us, and so I can discuss those, but I can't provide a list right now to the Member of positions that might be comparable in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and so on. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.