Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry about that. Actually, I have a question, I guess, for the Premier. It is to do with red tape. I am just wondering what this government is planning to do to alleviate the amount of red tape that we have within the departments. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.
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 tape is necessary. We also need to make sure that we protect the environment and we protect all different things that can come up, but we are going to be looking through them all and making sure that what is not necessary is not there. We should not be just developing the pen for the sake of writing. We should be using the pen to make sure that we capture all of the risks, but that it is as comprehensive and appealing to people as possible so that people can access contracts within the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The other and, I guess, last question that I have for the Premier is that we have been here now for roughly five months, I guess, since the writ was dropped. In my community in Hay River and, I guess, in the regions, contractors are looking for work and people are looking for jobs. What is this government's plan, immediately, I guess, to start looking at putting people to work and ensuring that contracts are put out there?
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, and I support the industry whole-heartedly, but I was very adamant in saying that I support the industry, but I also support northern business and northern residents. I will not accept that it is just about industry and it is about how we do whatever we can to get industries into the territories, unless there is a benefit to Northerners. I was pretty blunt; people know me as being very honest. I was pretty blunt in saying, "What's the use of having the mining companies in the North if there are no benefits to our residents?"
That message, I will carry forward with me, as I move forward. I expect that from my Ministers. I expect that from all MLAs. We have an obligation to make sure that the benefits of the Northwest Territories, as many as possible, stay in the Northwest Territories, and that is my commitment.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
