(YELLOWKNIFE)  Thursday, February 25, 2016 – Members of the 18th Legislative Assembly have voted unanimously to adopt the revised mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories following a section-by-section review this week.

Members adopted twenty-five amendments, which clarified and expanded points made in the original document. The revised mandate establishes the vision and priorities of the 18th Assembly and will be tabled next week.

“This is consensus government at work, where all MLAs participated in a constructive debate about the changes. Now we have a plan that will guide us over the next four years,” stated Ms. Julie Green, Caucus Chair.

“MLAs took a new approach to developing the mandate for this Assembly. Caucus developed and discussed the mandate before debating it as Committee of the Whole this week. This process enabled public discussion of the mandate for the first time,” Green said.

Now that it has been adopted by the Assembly, the mandate forms the basis for developing departmental business plans and establishing the budgets of individual government departments for the 2016-2017 fiscal year and beyond.

The departmental plans, which include the initiatives, performance measures, and the human and financial resources needed to achieve the mandated objectives of the Legislative Assembly, will be shared with the Standing Committees of the Legislative Assembly for review in late April, with the Main Estimates based on these business plans being introduced into the legislature during the May-June budget Session.

At least once per year, the Executive Council will present a progress report to the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning to update Members on progress made towards implementing the mandate. The progress reports will be made available to the public.

A review of the mandate will occur at the mid-point of the legislative term in 2017, when the Legislative Assembly will be prorogued. At that time, the full Caucus will meet to review the priorities and progress made towards implementing the mandated commitments.

For more information, please contact:

Julie Green, Caucus Chair
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
P: 867-767-9143 ext. 12180 or 1-800-661-0784
E: Julie_Green@gov.nt.ca

Barbara Abramchuk,
Public Affairs and Communications Advisor
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
P: 867-767-9130 ext. 12017 or 1-800-661-0784
E: Barbara_Abramchuk@gov.nt.ca