Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, 174 days ago we sat in this Chamber and listened to the pitches of the two men who wanted to become Premier. A week later we elected Mr. McLeod to an unprecedented second term. Today I want to reflect on what the Premier promised during the Territorial Leadership Committee and what he has delivered. The November election highlighted the electorate's desire for change, which Mr. McLeod acknowledged. He said people expect more effective and transparent decision-making and less politics. I agree, but I don't think we're there yet. Mr. McLeod promised a “more cooperative approach with new mechanisms to enable greater input from Regular MLAs, possibly joint committees on critical issues such as climate change and finally family violence.” Mr. Speaker, there are no new mechanisms nor joint committees.
The Premier did make good on his promise to appoint a Minister responsible for transparency and democratic engagement, but his pledge to make the government more visible and accessible has not lived up to expectations. Take the budget consultation process. Residents were invited to send comments by e-mail. Unsurprisingly, few took up this challenge. A second consultation process has been launched but without adequate promotion. On the upside, the Premier has made good a promise to take Cabinet to different regions of the NWT and he's had a couple of open houses as well. Mr. McLeod said that he wanted to address seniors' concerns about the continuum of care, extended health benefits, and the availability of seniors' housing. The government has the long-term care bed study in hand. We are ready to hear how the Premier is going to lead the way to address those needs. People who work with seniors in long-term care tell me that the bed shortage crisis is here already; we can't delay implementing solutions. Mr. Speaker, Mr. McLeod also made a commitment to insulate our communities and residents from the ups and downs of resource industries by supporting local businesses. I agree with this goal wholeheartedly but I have yet to see any action on this point. The long-awaited agriculture strategy promised during Mr. McLeod's first term is still long awaited. Agriculture is a small but fast growing sector of our economy, but it's a poor cousin in terms of the Premier's attention to the resource extraction industry.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the government-to-government relationship with Aboriginal governments. Mr. McLeod spoke about the need to complete land use plans in every region and mine claims where they don't currently exist. I'm not aware of any progress on either of these points. In fact, the Premier promised to meet with the Dehcho First Nations within his first 90 days in office and present a new offer. Neither has happened. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Premier has many issues and portfolios to stay on top of, but 174 days into this 18th Assembly the Premier is less the change agent he promised and instead is delivering more business as usual. Thank you.
