R.J. Simpson

Member Hay River North

Premier
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs
Minister of Justice
Government House Leader

R.J. Simpson was elected to the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, representing the constituency of Hay River North. On December 7th, 2023, Mr. Simpson was elected Premier of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Simpson was formerly acclaimed to the 19th Legislative Assembly and first elected into the 18th Assembly in 2015.

Mr. Simpson was Deputy Speaker of the 18th Assembly, Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, and the Chair of the Special Committee on Transition Matters. Mr. Simpson was also a member of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning and the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment.

Mr. Simpson is a lifelong resident of Hay River After graduating from Diamond Jenness Secondary School in 1998 Mr. Simpson went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts from MacEwan University and a law degree from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law.

Mr. Simpson has previously worked with the Government of Canada, Northern Transportation Company Ltd, Métis Nation Local 51, and Maskwa Engineering.

While at law school, Mr. Simpson was the President of the Aboriginal Law Students’ Association. He has also served on the board of the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre in Hay River and volunteered with the Canada-Ghana Education Project.

Hay River North Electoral District

Committees

Hay River North
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

62, promenade Woodland, bureau 104
Hay River Nord NT X0E 1G1
Canada

Phone
Minister
Email
Premier of the Northwest Territories, Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Minister of Justice, Government House Leader

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

No, I'm not aware of current staffing levels at the rental office. I know that a few years back quite a few years back now, I was still an MLA at that point, though it was difficult staffing those positions and it was significantly impacting landlords, especially with small landlords, but my constituents, the ones I deal with, and we were seeing quite long delays in dealing with issues. But I don't believe there's any staffing issues at this point. And I just appointed a few people, actually, in that office. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you. So this is this funding was recently introduced. That's why we don't see anything for the 20222023 Actuals. It is part of the therapeutic community model. And to the Member's comments about the measures, I've said this when I was in front of the Members before, I am happy to take feedback on the measures. I have some that I brought to the department's attention myself, and so I know that in the next iteration of the business plans we will have measures that are a bit more that will allow us to really quantify how we're doing. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's enthusiasm over oil and gas. I'm a child of oil and gas myself. I wouldn't be here if not for oil and gas in the Beaufort Delta. But it is not my place to actually sort of advocate to the regulator or make recommendation to the regulator. That being said, they're happy to receive a reach out and the Member himself could make those connections. I'm just not the reason it is in here in Justice is because Justice is removed from that industry, and it is it's for the independence of the organization. And so for that reason I do stay out of those...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you. All options were looked at. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you. I'm not sure if we're fully staffed in that area. I think we're often down a drafter and so more positions wouldn't necessarily solve the issue. We just need the people, I think. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Yes.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you. The Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas is arm's length from government, and so I have very little to I have no involvement in the daily operations. What we are responsible for is to, A, not meddle in their operations; and, B, to ensure that they are funded appropriately. Through our conversations, this was the appropriate level of funding that was determined. I'm happy to go back and look at next year's main estimates with an eye to adjusting as necessary. And I will note that we did go through an exercise in the last Assembly to adjust their budget based on the level of...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you. So the Fort Smith facility has been for the last little while, there's been no offenders there. Previously, it was around half full, give or take. Our entire capacity across the system, we're about 44 percent capacity across the system. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you. I don't think we have any metrics on that. I'm not sure if the Member's looking for if I can get some explanation of what's meant by metrics. Is it pages per drafter or pages produced per year or things like that? Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 19)

Thank you. And I'm not sure what the Member was listening to, but I never said that the Members are here to set us up to make us look good. There is an expectation that Ministers do know their portfolios. Here in the Northwest Territories, we have a relatively small Cabinet yet we still are expected to deliver all of the programs and services in all of the same areas that they do in other places in Canada where they might have 10, 20, or 30 Cabinet Ministers. I personally, in the last government, I think I had 14 or 15 different FPT tables that I sat at that's federal, provincial, and...