R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Premier generally has a principal secretary, and so the mandate I was given was when I was elected as Premier to have that position.

Looking at the circumstances, I made the decision that that position would be transitioned into a senior envoy to the Government of Canada to help ensure that we have a voice in Ottawa and to help ensure that our Indigenous government partners also have a voice in Ottawa so we can support them. So the principal secretary is a political position in the Premier's office, and I made the decision to adjust that position. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don't have $200,000 free in EIA's budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to welcome Bronwyn McVale who is joining us in the executive hallway as an executive -- sorry, the executive administrative coordinator for the chief of staff. So I'm happy to have her in the House here in her first week. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 10-20(1), Report on the Review of the 2023-2024 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner; and, Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 12-20(1), Report on the Review of the 2023-2024 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, no, no, I can't do that. We only have so much capacity in this government. You know, there was the bill the Member was referencing that moved through very quickly. Unfortunately, at the Department of Justice we have a limited number of policy staff who work on all of our initiatives, and then we have a limited number of drafters as well. And so to bring forward all of these items in such a short timeframe, it wouldn't be logistically possible if we want to it well. And we also have a public engagement piece we want to do with things, especially like the SCAN...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll have to take that question on notice. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's been a while since I looked at that report, so I was just pulling it up. But from what I recall, there are good recommendations in there, they're solid recommendations. Some of the recommendations relate to a policy that we already have in place but just haven't been following, and if we followed that policy, I think there would be a lot of improvement in our relationships with the NGOs. So from what I can recall, yes, I look forward to following some of those recommendations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The work will be starting in the spring. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Decisions are made about positions across government without going to MLAs for every single decision. We are right now in budget discussions about the budget of the Northwest Territories, and so there's opportunities to discuss how funds are allocated, but this is a an operational decision I made based on the experience that I've had over the past just over a year and how things are functioning in our office and how -- what gaps we need to fill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I remember the good old days when we were able to fund more organizations than we can now. Unfortunately, we don't have that type of process in place. And when it comes right down to it, Cabinet can do a lot of different things, and the financial board can do a lot of different things, you know, creating a new initiative, but there is a process to go through that and it's unlikely that we would have one NGO core funded through that type of process. What we want to do is create a policy and have it in place so it's clear and so that the people of the territory know...