Why should people planning to leave the NWT give your new government time? What does success look like four years from now? How will you prepare for diamond mines closing? Did you like any of Kieron Testart’s proposed changes?
Those are a handful of the questions we peppered at the new premier after you sent them in. Listen to our interview here, or you can read the transcript on Cabin Radio’s website later this weekend.
Note: We skipped questions that asked how his government will change a certain thing, or whether he will prioritize one thing or another. He doesn’t get to make those calls alone. All 19 MLAs collectively make the list of priorities in consensus government, so until they make that list (which might not be till February), we can’t really ask him about the future of something where he still has only 1/19th of the input.
We’ll come back to all those questions once there’s a priority list to which we can hold the government accountable.
Instead, the questions we can ask are about practical changes he can make in the days ahead, how he’ll approach things as premier, and what he’s thinking right now.
Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. If yours wasn’t selected, rest assured we’ll be reminding ourselves of every one of them in the months ahead – and going back for answers where we can.
One last thing: my microphone failed, so you’ll hear the backup audio of my voice. The premier’s audio is loud and clear.
Nine minutes with the NWT's new premier