Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present the 2019-2023 mandate for the Government of the Northwest Territories. This mandate is built on the priorities we set together as newly elected Members of the 19th Legislative Assembly in October 2019. Under the current process conventions, Members of the Executive Council discussed how we might implement these priorities in the best interest of all Northerners and in our current operating environment. I sat down with the standing committee in November and heard from each Member about the needs of our regions and communities, and the actions we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We already have a mandate commitment that we will implement the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous governments. I'm not sure if an AIP will strengthen that or not. What I do want to bring it back to is, the summer of 2020, the working group of Indigenous governments will sit around the table and talk about: what does this look like; what do we need to do?

It's not about divide and conquer. We can't even get 19 people in this room to agree on --- well, maybe, if we tried. We haven't fought on adjourning yet, but this is huge. This is so huge. To have...

No, it has been quite a while, actually, since we updated our core principles and objectives. They actually arose from an obligation from the Tlicho agreement, is where they came from. They are actually very simple. They are very simple principles, and our issue is that there has to be some kind of standard of care or principles that go across. It's not as easy as just changing them to meet the whim. We also have to take Canada's legislation, as well. For example, the Canada Health Act has principles that need to be taken into account. The new Canada legislation that is coming out with Child...

During the Member's opening speech, I heard him say -- and I might misquote him, so correct me if I do -- that there are two kinds of workers; one that works for the government, government workers who get a lot of CCs. Now that I'm Premier, I get a lot of CCs, in all honesty. I wish I didn't get as many. Then there's ones who work for the goals of the government.

I came in here four years ago to actually make change, and it shows that I make changes. These wrinkles that I have on my face did not come honestly; they came from hard work at this table. I have already met with Indigenous...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mandate direction on negotiating tables change quite often. They are based on what we think will happen. Anything that has a change, if it is going to impact finances or land or anything, it has to come through Cabinet. It's not a decision that negotiators can make at the table. I know that a lot of people think that it should be, but the reality is that, if it costs money, it has to come through Cabinet table. They are constantly being updated on a regular basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I have not broken the law. There is a clear separation between employment contracts and statutory appointments. The Minister did say in this House and publicly, that there were discussions, and there were discussions. The decision of how that came about, the Minister was not part of; that was mine, but there were discussions. Nothing was done in isolation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to offer to maybe sit with the Member after and look at the interpretation because my interpretation of the Aurora College Act does not say that the Minister is responsible for hiring and firing. My interpretation of the Aurora College Act says that the Minister is responsible for "appointing" a president, different terminology. It does not say "firing," at all, or "terminating."

As I stated earlier, there are many positions. The employment contract of an associate deputy minister or a deputy minister remain with the Premier. There are many departments...

I need clarification. Was the appropriate notice given to the associate deputy minister? Is that the question?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Miss Nadine Yousif, who is with Maclean's magazine and is up here doing an interview on women in politics. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, discussions were had. This wasn't made on my own. It was a decision that I made. I hire. I terminate. That is done on my authority, but there is consultation that happened within that. I must also point out when people are appointed into positions such as boards, presidents, et cetera, that the Minister doesn't hire for but appoints, the Minister also has a time after that. There is usually a 60-day period that you can actually revoke those board appointments or presidents, et cetera. The termination of an employee or board member, et cetera, does not necessarily...