Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, direct appointments are made in accordance with the Public Service Act and in accordance with guidelines that are established. There are a number of fairly specific parameters under which someone can be direct-appointed into the public service. They would -- and including, you know, for example, internships do go through the direct appointment process and a number of the -- and the other larger category is under the Indigenous recruitment processes. A number of those will come through because they aren't going through the typical competition process. So the building capacity in Indigenous communities, gateway program for example, those would all come through. There are no changes made in the course of an Assembly, or certainly not in the course of this Assembly, or in the last Assembly, because I can't speak, Mr. Speaker, to what might have happened in the past. But there won't be changes to those policies or guidances in the last six week -- or last six months. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my experience there are no protections. And I want to be clear, no protections from senior executive staff being appointed at the last minute as a parachute on the way out the door when there's no veils for accountability. So, Mr. Speaker, my question really is about the direct appointments that raise concerns.

Can the Minister tell this House what assessment the department has done to look at the risks when it comes to direct appointments during a period where there is zero accountability from the legislature and Members when we go to an election and they still operate and do these functions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, Mr. Speaker, I would take some issue with the suggestion that the government has ever zero accountability for any of the positions that it fills at any time. While there will be, of course, a period where there's a blackout, where we're in -- all of us as elected Members aren't present. That is a -- there's some fairly specific parameters -- and I don't have them in front of me here -- around what may or may not happen when there is a blackout period and what the public service at that time can do. And so, similarly -- but, again, the direct appointment process doesn't change in terms of how positions are direct appointed under, again, the Public Service Act and with the parameters here.

So with respect to the positions -- you know, the narrow scope of positions that would go through the Premier's office, so deputy ministers for instance, again that too, Mr. Speaker, the notion that there's no accountability there, there's -- you know, there's still the Premier and then there's an incoming government that comes in. So I -- perhaps we're talking about something different, the two of us, but there's no changes to the guidelines or the rules around direct appointments and there's always some degree of accountability, in my view, in what happens in this place, in this building. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Minister. I am not going to say she's wrong from my perspective; I am going to say I do respect the point. I just want to make sure that that's clear. But I don't think she's missing the concerns I am raising which is functionally that when the government goes off to -- or sorry, when the Assembly goes off to an election, the government's still in function, they make decisions, and the next public service report isn't out for six months and there's no one here to ask questions. So, Mr. Speaker, that's the function of the issue.

So, Mr. Speaker, what transparency and accountability can the Minister provide to ensure that appointments made during these types of periods will meet the test, and they'll certainly meet the smell test not just it's a matter policy in secret? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, again, so just to be very clear, the rules, the Public Service Act, the processes that we go through don't change. You know, they don't change in or out. There are rules around blackout period. I'd be happy to -- again, I don't have them at my fingertips. But there are rules during a blackout period about what is allowed, including for Ministers when we're acting as Ministers. We're -- certainly, my recollection of the last blackout period is we're not -- we're expected to not be making significant decisions. It's -- there is also, further, Mr. Speaker, a process convention on transition between different governments and what is permissible and expected. So all of these things are built in to create some of these processes of accountability.

I think it's probably helpful, Mr. Speaker, that it come to the floor of the House, that people are aware that there are some of these processes in place, transition for the Assembly, as well as around what is permissible. So I am certainly happy to get a bit more detail on what is permissible during these periods. It's -- that would be a -- yeah, happy to do that and can provide it to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Can the Minister explain why transferring a land lease to immediate family members after the leaseholder has passed away requires such a complex and costly legal process? Even when there is wills and estates are in place, that is not helping the process. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Leases are dealt with by the Department of Environment and Climate Change so I'd like to redirect it to that Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Minister of ECC.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of different types of land within the Northwest Territories. We could be speaking of municipal land, private land, Indigenous land, or Commissioner's land, and each one of those designations have a slightly different process; however, the legal registering of those processes require that they are registered through the lands office and that typically requires assistance of counsel or -- yeah, I will leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Given the high legal costs associated with the current lease transfer policy, will the Minister commit to reviewing the process to determine how it can be simplified to reduce the financial burdens on families? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number -- as I said, there are a number of different types of land that fall under different bodies, whether it's a municipality, the territorial government, or Commissioner's land or Indigenous land, and each of these policies, processes require input from the different associated governments. So to stand here and make a commitment to change policy based solely on a commitment in the House is not something I am prepared to do today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister take steps to ensure seniors who pay land lease fees receive the same relief as seniors who receive property tax relief across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the property tax relief program does not fall under my portfolio. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in my Member's statement today I talked about the need to find solutions that can gain their own momentum, that can be replicated and empower people to take more control over their lives, and the need to create housing, in particular, that's long lasting with local capacity to properly maintain and repair the homes. So I see that in the Housing NWT business plan there's mention of an innovative pilot project in Deline involving a hybrid model of housing construction.

So my first question for the housing Minister, what is new and innovative about this project in Deline that could help some of the challenges being encountered by housing construction projects in other communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like the Member mentioned, we're finding that delivering housing across the Northwest Territories is sometimes very difficult considering our remote locations and the low water levels that we've been having over the last number of years. So one thing we're doing with Housing NWT is we're looking at different types of designs and different types of delivery. And with this new innovative design in Deline, what has been introduced is a mechanical core system which is shipped up to Deline, either by winter road or by the barging system, and the community builds around it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.