For the first time ever, the premier of the NWT hails from Hay River.
Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson is now Premier R.J. Simpson after being sworn in as the territory’s top politician on Dec. 7. Simpson was selected by MLAs on the second ballot of voting over Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart and Yellowknife South MLA Caroline Wawzonek.
NNSL Media had the chance to talk with the new premier in his office on Dec. 7 for a wide-ranging interview. The following has been edited for clarity and content.
NNSL: Well, Premier Simpson … how does that sound? Still sinking in?
R.J. Simpson (RS): It’s slowly sinking in. They say it takes a couple of days, but it kind of feels like when you put a frog in cold water, you boil it and it won’t jump out. I’ve been here eight years and they turned the oven on back then, so I think I’m handling it as well as can be expected.
NNSL: Now that everything is in place… what does the first 100 days or so of an R.J. Simpson government look like?
RS: Well, the first order of business will be looking at portfolios, determining who’s the best fit for what, getting to know the ministers and getting them briefed on their portfolios so we can begin work. We also need to work together as an assembly to come up with priorities. The GNWT doesn’t set the priorities, it’s the 19 members of the legislative assembly. That work will happen early in the new year.
From my perspective, one of the things I really want to do is take a look at our negotiating mandates with Indigenous governments. That was delayed for a couple of years because of Covid and I want to get on that as soon as I can so we can start making progress on that.
NNSL: Do you have an idea from the six (MLAs) that were selected of who can do what or who’ll make the best fit (on cabinet)?
RS: Absolutely. I’ve been thinking about it and the members have expressed certain interests in some portfolios. We’ll have further conversations, see where the strengths are and go from there. I feel good about this group and everyone I’ve talked to, the other MLAs, a lot of them feel good about this group. We have a lot of strengths and diversity and there’s a lot of optimism.
(Update: Premier Simpson announced his portfolio assignments on Tuesday afternoon.)
NNSL: One of the things you hinted at during your initial speech to the MLAs (while running for premier) was ministers and MLAs are always accountable to the public, but behind the scenes, you have deputy ministers, assistant deputy ministers, other bureaucrats who may not be accountable to the public. How do you square the decisions that are made by bureaucrats and the minister who has to go in front of the public with those decisions? The public doesn’t always see what’s going on behind the scenes.
RS: Anything that comes out of cabinet, that’s cabinet’s decision. No one else wears that. If there’s a decision made on the front lines, the public servant is making a decision based on a decision from cabinet and a minister. What we need to do is look at legislation and policies that we put in as cabinet and ensure that it allows bureaucrats who make decisions to make good decisions.
A lot of the time, we run into situations where a policy or legislation says this and that bureaucrat is confined to that box and they can’t make a decision outside of that, even if winds up being a ridiculous situation. We need a person-centred approach right from the start where we develop policy right on down to program delivery.
NNSL: A big part of the perceived disconnect between the public and government is that they hear something said by a minister and they’re wondering if it’s really the minister who made the decision or someone behind the scenes is telling them what to say.
RS: If you’re asking me if the bureaucrats are running the show, I would say absolutely not. I was minister of ECE (Education, Culture and Employment) in the last assembly and the decisions that came out were mine. You have to take advice from your officials — a lot of times, they’re the experts on subject matter — and you have to sometimes be confident enough to defy that advice. In the end, I believe that it’s the ministers who are ultimately responsible and should be responsible. That’s how I conducted myself because when you make a decision, you have to own it.
NNSL: You also said during the run-up to the premier’s vote that the GNWT is as big as it’s ever been, but not much has changed. Are we to read something into that? Could there be changes coming to the public service? Will there be streamlining of some sort?
RS: We need to look at the services we’re offering and figure out whether those services are providing value. Are they serving residents the way they’re supposed to? If not, can we take the resources from that and put them somewhere else? It doesn’t mean we’ll be doing less, it means we’ll be doing things differently — focusing on areas where it’s clear we’re delivering results.
NNSL: One of the big things talked about from the last assembly was a review on what happened during the past year with the evacuations. How soon can we see that happen?
RS: I understand that the review is already underway. But it’s clear from the public that they want a very robust review, an enhanced review…
NNSL: What would that look like? Who would you be talking to?
RS: That’s something cabinet and the assembly has to figure out. The end product needs to be something the public looks at and they feel that their concerns have been addressed. This past summer was unbelievable. Two-thirds of the territory were impacted. We owe it to the public to show them that we’re taking it seriously.
NNSL: The carbon tax has been a big thorn to residents, especially when it comes to home heating fuel. Will the GNWT consider removing the applied levy or what can it do?
RS: Well, James, that’s a federal law that we can’t just remove. I look at my propane bill and I’m just shocked every time I see it.
NNSL: I can bring you mine as well.
RS: Exactly (laughs). Everyone is going through that. We did have an exemption on the home heating fuel, but that’s now gone. Not because we wanted it to disappear — we’ve been lobbying and we’ll continue to lobby Ottawa to remove that. The rest of Canada was allowed to build its infrastructure without a carbon tax and we didn’t have that benefit, but now we’re expected to do the same under a different set of rules. That’s just not fair for the North.
NNSL: Economic development is always a big issue, especially now, and I’ll use Yellowknife as an example. There are several small businesses that have gone under or are about to go under for whatever reason. The evacuation certainly didn’t help matters. What do you do to stimulate things? This territory needs a shot in the arm in the worst way.
RS: One of the biggest things we can do is settle land claims and finalize self-government agreements. I don’t know if people realize the amount of money that would bring to the territory. Not just for places such as Yellowknife, but it would enhance the regions. You build capacity in the regions, the settled areas provide assurances around land, which is attractive to investors, and when the regions are strong, Yellowknife is strong. That’s the biggest thing we can do for the long-term health of the territory.