Caroline Cochrane

Mr. Speaker, later today, I will be tabling the Mandate of the GNWT 2019-2023. The mandate will guide our actions as a government and serve to hold Cabinet accountable as we work to advance the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly.

The Northwest Territories faces unprecedented challenges. We have been elected in a time of global economic uncertainty, increasingly complex social issues, and multifaceted impacts of climate change.

In the face of these challenges, I truly believe that the only way our Assembly can fulfill its promise to the residents of the Northwest Territories is to work...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "2019-2023 Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I believe it is almost two sets of questions, but I will reply to you on the question. I am not going to stand here and commit that I will have a long-term facility in every single community. I would love to see that, again, just as I would love to have a house for every person. In honesty, I would probably put the house first: Maslow's hierarchy; food, clothing, and shelter. Our seniors are important. Our elders are important. We recognize that. We have a shortage of health professionals; we know that. We need to look at a recruitment program; we know that.

I can't stand here and say that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have heard a number of times from the Member that nothing is going on in this Assembly since we have been elected. I want to remind the Member that this Cabinet has only been elected since November, so it's only a few, it's not six months that I have heard many times. We might have been campaigning six months ago, but the Cabinet has only been around since November. I take offence at saying nothing is going on. We are working on our mandate commitments based on the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly, but I need to say that the priorities are only what is...

Unfortunately, all needs of any social issues, education, housing, legal support, all of them, our needs are greater than our resources. We are not denying that. However, you need to take care of the basic needs. That is Maslow's hierarchy that says food, clothing, and lodging. Take care of those first, and then you look at the higher needs.

This government is committed. We have been going down to Ottawa. I went down when I first was elected. Our Housing Minister just returned from Ottawa talking about housing. We need to keep advocating. I can't guarantee that we will have a house for every...

Absolutely. I have already had conversations with all of our Cabinet, and we are talking about terms of boards. In fairness to all of us here, sometimes our plates are so busy that the easy answer is just to reappoint the person who has been there before, because it's easy. They're already there; we have already gone through the vetting; we know who they are. Is that the best way to appoint boards? That is what I have been challenging my Cabinet with.

I think they are all in agreement. We will actually be looking at terms of boards, because there is a benefit to having corporate knowledge, a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was noted. I mean, we have talked about it a lot. The newspaper, the media, everybody has said this is a changed government, and I have to put it back and say that the last government also was supposed to be a changed government, but I didn't feel that the people felt that it was changed enough, so they spoke out very loudly and said, "We're going to try it again. We're changing up our government."

We made a commitment. There is something wrong with politicians; if we were all doing a great job, the same Members would still be here. I am not saying that any of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am trying to think off the top of my head. Red tape has been identified as an issue for well over four years, I can say. In the last Assembly, we heard it often. Within our priorities, we identified that we need to support northern businesses. In our mandate that will be tabled later, we have some of the policies that we will be reviewing. I am not going to go through the three right now, because we have not tabled our mandate yet.

We recognize as a government that the bigger thing is that we need to support northern businesses and northern residents. Some of the red...

Again, the mandate letters will be coming within this session. All Members will be told to engage as much as possible with stakeholders. That is important. The events that happened yesterday were a little bit unusual in that some things, you can share very openly, Mr. Speaker. If we are looking at doing programs or changing policies or legislation, all open. We should be as transparent and open as possible.

When we are talking about people's lives, individuals, Mr. Speaker, I do think we have to pull back a little bit and make sure that we are cautious, because one is being open and transparent...

Again, none of us believe that red tape that is not necessary should be there, so we will be looking at them all across. The philosophy is, and we have maintained that not only in what will be coming in our tabled mandate, but also in the priorities that we looked at as Cabinet Ministers when we talked about what our priorities are, we identified northern businesses and northern residents taking opportunities versus the South, so that is one of our priorities.

What have we done? We are already starting it. I attended Roundup, for an example. I am a diamond driller's daughter. I am proud of that...