Julian Morse

It's not a dig. It's just a commentary on the state of the world in 2026.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on February 6th in Committee of the Whole, the health Minister's staff clarified that health system investment funding was being repurposed to explore traditional birth works. Can the Minister expand on that for the Assembly and help us better understand the planned use of this funding? Will it be used to help expand midwifery services in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And the reason I am sticking so hard to these points is this, and that is that we have no shortage of reports that have recommendations that have failed to be implemented over the years. And I am not just talking about health. I am just talking about government in general. Implementation seems to be a much bigger and more difficult problem than getting recommendations for what can be done to improve things, and so I think it's something that we should be considering.

With the very little amount of time I have left, the last point I wanted to make is knowing that the unit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker A number of weeks ago in January, GNWT staff hosted the Following the North Star: Reimagining Primary and Community Health Care in the North summit, and MLAs were invited to attend an art exhibit developed by the community culture and innovation team inviting leaders to learn and reimagine health care in the North to better focus on the people it's serving. I appreciated the opportunity to broaden my understanding of Indigenous experiences of health care and to see the vision that is forming around primary healthcare reform: A patient-centered, culturally appropriate and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So please forgive me here but, I mean, it sounds like what we're doing is there's a huge amount of analysis and there's a large number of decisions that are going to come out of this, and the way it's being framed to me in this conversation is that this is all going to kind of hit Cabinet in one big meeting. I am sure it's not going to be exactly like that. But I am just wondering, you know, with the MMP report -- I mean, that one's now several years old -- what's stopping us from just going ahead with some of the recommendations in there? I mean, I would imagine that...

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. So, yeah, I am going to continue on a very similar thread to what my colleague was just asking. And I guess a few questions I've had about the unit.

One is that, you know, the unit has been established now for a while, and they've staffed up and it sounds like gotten well into their work with some results coming to us in the near future. I am just wondering, you know, was there ever -- and I do apologize if I've missed a report or an update somewhere. That is easy to do in this job. But were there any short-term changes that have been identified? I mean, the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate those answers and do always appreciate chatting with the deputy minister about these kinds of things, because he gives very thoughtful answers to these kinds of questions. And I appreciate that we're thinking this kind of thing through. And I would just put a plug in there that, you know, when I raised this issue and identified this unit as a great example for the issue that I was identifying with persons with disabilities, I would like to put a plug in there that I think that that's an area that that could be looked at next.

And that was going to be one of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The first question I wanted to ask is, given the role of governance and service integration, have there been any lessons learned on structural or governance changes needed in order to enhance the way that the GNWT operates across departments and agencies?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what I am interested in understanding here is what kind of ongoing leadership and professional development support we're providing to our Cabinet Ministers. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And as part of the review, will it be considered whether the work of the IGCS could be made more publicly accountable? So something that the public has access to. Because right now it's all being done behind closed doors. I am sure there are reasons for that, which may or may not be justified, but it is a concern that's been raised by constituents of mine.