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Premier has 'a lot of confidence' in cabinet

Premier Bob McLeod says evening out the workload among his ministers was a primary reason for shuffling his cabinet.

Premier Bob McLeod praised his ministers after shuffling his cabinet last week.

“In some areas workloads are increasing and I felt that I wanted to have the best possible team in place to get as much done in the next 18 months, so I made a few changes to help us accomplish that,” McLeod said in an interview Thursday.

The premier announced the day before that Minister Caroline Cochrane would be taking over the department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE), while ECE Minister Alfred Moses would assume responsibility for Cochrane's Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Moses also took on the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Homelessness and the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission of the NWT and Nunavut, which were all previously within Cochrane's purview.

In addition, Minister Louis Sebert's responsibility for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation was transferred to Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod.

“Obviously they all want more responsibilities,” said McLeod, who sat down with each minister after the end of the winter session. He said wanted to determine which portfolios would benefit from “new energy and new perspectives.”

Moses was subjected to intense questioning in the legislative assembly this winter about the future of Aurora College, and specifically, the decision to halt enrollment to the social work and bachelor of education programs. The Inuvik Boot Lake representative was moved off the education file just days after an external review of the college's governance, operations and programming was set to be delivered to the ECE minister.

The premier spoke in broad terms about his decision to replace Moses with Cochrane at ECE.

“It's important to continue to build on the good work and heavy lifting that was done in the first half of this term by minister Moses,” he said. “We're very well-positioned to continue to fulfill the objectives in the area of education.”

Moses, who took over the housing corporation and responsibility for homelessness last week, will be met with recent adjustments to the way the federal government funds housing for Indigenous people.

These changes could create more work on the housing front, said the premier, “so it was important to have someone who can continue the energy and work that was start by Minister Cochrane in those areas.”

The Northwest Territories Association of Communities, which works closely with MACA, stated in an email Friday that it “has a strong working partnership with MACA and expect that will continue.

“We have enjoyed working with Minister Cochrane and look forward to working with Minister Moses given his many years of working with NWT communities.”

Sebert, who oversees Justice, Lands and Engagement and Transparency, was the only minister to lose a confidence vote after the legislative assembly's midterm review in October.

The midterm review had ministers defend their performance during the first half of the 18th legislative assembly, and gave members the chance to vote on whether they still had confidence in each minister, as well as cabinet as a whole.

Before ballots were cast, the ministers unanimously stated they would not step down from their positions in the event of a non-confidence vote.

But Sebert was the only one who actually had to make the choice.

Ultimately, MLAs voted 11-to-seven to allow Sebert to stay in cabinet.

When asked whether he considered moving Sebert off of Lands or Justice, the premier said he believed the minister had worked hard and “still had the confidence of the legislative assembly.”

“If he had lost confidence, he would have been removed,” said McLeod.

McLeod said Sebert will continue working on the “big job” of legalizing cannabis in the territory.

The premier said he shifted responsibility over the power corporation away from Sebert and to the minister of Finance and Environment and Natural Resources because having the same minister in charge of both the power corporation and finance worked well in the past.

“I have a lot of confidence in every member of my cabinet,” said the premier.

“I'm not afraid of change, change is what makes government grow and succeed.”