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Following a massive public outcry against the territorial government's proposed changes to health benefits, ongoing objections to merging 70 regional boards and complaints from MLAs about the government's poor communication, Premier Floyd Roland's administration has reacted by making one simple change to its staffing.

The tenure of cabinet press secretary Julia Mott, who served for five years, came to an end Feb. 11. Circumstances of her departure are unknown.

If Mott's departure was supposed to send a signal that cabinet would improve its communication with the public and other MLAs, that message is vague at best. Press secretaries follow instructions from their bosses in government, not vice-versa. For example, former premier Joe Handley, who employed Mott as his press secretary, was usually quite accessible and willing to comment on issues.

Any stonewalling Mott dealt this newspaper over the past 16 months would have been delivered on the instructions of evasive cabinet members and Roland himself.

Will Mott's departure improve Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger's ability to communicate the need for board mergers?

Will it improve Health Minister Sandy Lee's ability to fine-tune health care coverage in the territory? Will it help the public get clearer answers on overall policy direction and goals from Roland? We shall see in the weeks to come.

Rest assured, it will take more than simply replacing a press secretary who was tasked with the difficult job of informing the public about a government that has kept its cards way too close to its chest.

The cover of last Friday's Yellowknifer, which featured a photo of the pop band Girlicious, caused some readers to react with discomfort and anger.

The under-dressed members of Girlicious, all of whom are 19 or older, whether they make readers uncomfortable or not, are coming to Yellowknife for a concert on March 12.

It's no secret young minds are influenced by unrealistic, cellulite-free images of panty-clad girls so airbrushed they look like preteens. This image, far from limited to Girlicious photos, reinforces the false standards young women are up against and the superficial ideals many people have adopted.

Take that and add the lyrics to songs such as Stupid Shit - "Oh yeah I'm vicious, so delicious, all the boys wanna eat" - and the idea of a teenage girl bopping up and down in the crowd is enough to make any parent uncomfortable.

But let's be realistic for a moment. This is not some new phenomenon sweeping the nation. Sex sells and it has been selling onstage since the days of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. Attempting to shelter our youth is futile.

We should communicate to our children that standards set by glossy magazines and Photoshop are false and largely unattainable. Outside of that, we should let the concert-goers have a good time.

For a region that is understandably concerned about costs of living, the proposed territorial budget will draw some mixed reactions. By and large, residents in the Deh Cho - like most other people in the NWT - have watched their electricity bills creep steadily upwards. These bills, piled on top of others such as heating fuel costs, are leaving many feeling the pinch in their wallets.

As one way to address the cost of living, the current government has promised to look for new ways to reduce the price of electricity in communities, particularly those that rely on diesel generation. Some of these promised initiatives are outlined in the 2009-2010 budget, and at least five related directly to Deh Cho communities.

Although five sounds like a promising number, reading through the brief descriptions of each project provided in the budget documents doesn't immediately inspire confidence. The scope of the projects and their timelines are what create the dampening effect.

Residents are probably hoping the budget includes measures to provide immediate relief for their bank accounts. The effect of the proposed projects for the Deh Cho, however, won't be felt right away.

As Doug Nightingale, the director of energy planning for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment explains, the projects are about fundamentally changing the territory's energy supply in the long term. The key words in that sentence are "long term."

Take, for example, the $200,000 in the budget earmarked for a feasibility study on converting four communities, including Fort Simpson, to natural gas in connection with the Mackenzie Gas Project. Desktop studies on the conversion of the communities have shown it's economical, said Nightingale. The study is, however, just that - the beginning of the process. Moreover, the whole project hinges on the pipeline being built.

Another item in the budget, the plan to test a hydrokinetic power generator in the Mackenzie River at Fort Simpson, sounds almost as far away. The technology is new, but the generator could be in the water as early as this summer if the project is approved with the budget, said Nightingale.

While explaining how the turbine works, Nightingale raised an important point - one that reveals the silver lining in these projects. Every new technology has to start somewhere. Studies and pilot projects are necessary in order to determine if a technology is suitable for the North and to identify which communities it will work best in.

The energy-related projects for the Deh Cho outlined in the budget won't provide immediate changes, but they hold the promise of better things to come. If any of the three studies or two projects succeed, they will benefit the community they're tested in and may also be transferred to others in time.

To make sure this happens, Deh Cho residents will have to hold the territorial government accountable to ensure it delivers the projects and follows up on promising results.

I don't pretend to be a legal expert and my intention here isn't to pass judgment on the courts.

But my curiosity couldn't help but be piqued by the Crown's decision last week to stay drug charges on Talal Khatib. The details around the arrest are well-known now. Following a raid last July on Fast Food Cafe, a restaurant he used to own and manage, police uncovered crack cocaine and several stolen items along with $3,000.

So fast-forward to today. Khatib maintains that someone planted the drugs.

As far as the general public is concerned the case is on a one-way track to nowhere. The stay means Khatib could go to trial within the year.

But if one Crown prosecutor says there's not enough evidence to bring it to trial, how could another overrule that decision? What would have to fall into place before the seized drugs could be pinned to someone?

This isn't to imply Khatib is guilty. Not at all.

It's just one of many questions that appear left unanswered. The Crown prosecutor involved in the case, Brent Lepage, said he couldn't discuss specific details of it, other than the fact that at this time Khatib couldn't be tried because there isn't enough evidence.

Lepage wouldn't speak to the probability of Khatib facing a trial in the coming year or if the case might ultimately fall by the wayside.

I don't feel very reassured with it currently being in limbo and having no idea whether that will change. So, what now?

Is the stay meant to provide false hope that answers will be uncovered? Is the case even being actively investigated? Shouldn't a government office subsidized by our tax dollars be obligated in a situation, where public welfare is at stake, to tell residents more? Why can't we know the specific factors that led Lepage to ultimately decide not to pursue the case?

People are up in arms about the court's decision and that won't go away any time soon. It appears there's a distinct possibility we'll never know how those drugs ended up being stashed at the restaurant, or how it ended up in Inuvik in the first place. We still don't know how much crack cocaine was found on the premises.

There are so many question marks and so many worried citizens, when every effort should be made to avoid this.

For city officials to say that waterways within city limits constitute a "grey area" is to call an apple an orange when they feel it's convenient.

Last week, when Yellowknifer pointed out that some thoughtless jerk decided Range Lake was a suitable dumping ground for his or her pet's feces and cat litter, the city's director of community services, Grant White, shrugged and said it wasn't the city's responsibility to clean it up.

He called it a "grey area," meaning it was the problem of some other level of government, presumably the federal government, which has jurisdiction over lakes and rivers, or the navigable ones at least.

After all, the city took a considerable beating when it tried to claim jurisdiction over houseboaters on Yellowknife Bay a decade ago. The city sued them because they didn't pay property taxes but the city was soundly trounced after a judge ruled Yellowknife Bay wasn't part of its realm.

Maybe that's why city officials are a little shy to tackle kitty litter on Range Lake. But wait a minute. Don't city bylaw officers routinely stop and ticket speeding snowmobilers on Range Lake, plus other frozen bodies of water within the city?

In addition, many people probably still remember when the city came down hard on a Good Samaritan who was plowing a pedestrian trail across Frame Lake last winter. Bylaw officers demanded he stop or else face being dragged in front of a justice of the peace.

So what was the city's solution? Its brain trust decided to maintain the trail itself, on Frame Lake. So the city contends it has no jurisdiction to cleanup errant doggie doo, yet it hassles trail-builders and fines snowmobilers.

For the city to leave the mound of feces on a body of water surrounded by homes and businesses only encourages more to be dumped there. Not only is the pile unsightly, having lake ice used as a pet potty can't be good for the ducks and shore birds that live on the lake during the summer, or for the young people who play along its shores.

On a related note, the mound of poop on Range Lake provides further evidence of the need for pet waste disposal bins in the city. Requiring residents to drive seven kilometres out of town to Fiddler's Lagoon to dump their pet waste only makes it more tempting for people to decide to dump it in town unnoticed.

We can sleep easier now that Russian presidential envoy and renowned polar scientist Artur Chilingarov has assured the world Russia is not going to wage a new Cold War in the Arctic.

We all know anything one of the Bear's publicity hounds speaks in public can be taken as gospel, eh?

Heck, we still believe the Czech Republic asked the Russians to come in and restore order all those years ago.

And if you had the chance to speak to any resident of the cities of Poti and Gori in Georgia (the Eurasian country, not the U.S.A. state), I'm sure they'd tell you everyone was smiling from ear to ear when they saw the Russian tanks rolling in this past year during the RussiaGeorgia conflict.

We're also sure the Russians' involvement in the conflict in support of Georgia's South Ossetia region had absolutely nothing to do with the U.S.A. and Europe supporting Kosovo's declaration of independence.

In short, the Bear has been feeling left alone in its den during the past decade and is growing increasingly cranky as its bordering neighbours continue to look to the West for acceptance and support.

Despite Chilingarov's assurances, the Bear has decided to take a long break from hibernation.

Its quiet snarls are beginning to pull back its upper lip to show there are plenty of teeth gnashing in anger behind its public face of cooperation.

The Bear is posturing, make no mistake about it, and it has its icy stare fixed firmly upon the Arctic.

Less than two years after dropping its flag on the Arctic seabed, a Russian advance team left for the Norwegianclaimed island of Spitsbergen earlier this month.

Its mission: to select the site for a station where Russia intends to put 50 polar scientists on the island.

Not to worry, though, the Russians are simply protecting their interests.

To us common folk, protecting their interests translates into figuring out how to stake a claim to the oil and gas resources scientists believe rest beneath the polar region.

It's increasingly alarming that, while Canada continues to talk about its claims to the Arctic, the Bear has begun prowling dangerously close to our frozen neck of the woods.

As we've mentioned in this space before, we've all heard Ottawa's promises to increase its military presence, but, to date, it's still just words.

It's also great that Ottawa is demanding ships sailing in our Arctic waters to register with the Canadian Coast Guard, but that still doesn't make us feel any easier about a bunch of mini-subs sailing around the Arctic seabed and Russian scientists getting almost within rock-throwing range.

And, let's be clear on one point here.

Yes, we who call the Arctic home have a vested interest in the economic benefits that would come with an increased military presence in the North.

Hello? Why wouldn't we be excited about additional infrastructure and more jobs in our region?

But more than that - much more than that - we like getting up every morning and seeing that beautiful maple leaf flag proudly flying over our schools.

It's time to see more from Ottawa than just words to keep it that way!

While many Northerners may have been alarmed by the recent attempt to fire the premier and cabinet, it was an important reminder of what consensus-style government is all about.

Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen led the charge by raising the motion but she was not alone. Eight other MLAs voted to replace Premier Floyd Roland and his cabinet. Three ordinary MLAs, one of which supported the original motion for the vote, voted against her. The rest of the seven votes defeating the motion came from cabinet MLAs themselves.

As has been stated in past News/North editorials, the ordinary MLAs hold the real power of consensus government. Yet they have rarely exercised that power other than to topple a minister for doing something unforgiveable like getting involved in criminal charges or threatening another member. Never has the poor execution of government policy united the ordinary MLAs into a credible opposition as that led by Groenewegen.

Premier Roland's government has performed poorly since day one. The intentions have all been good - fiscal responsibility, keeping housing and infrastructure as high priorities, attempting to identify efficiencies and keeping growth of government to a minimum - but cabinet's style has sabotaged their government at each an every turn.

Roland started off badly by attempting to defend the highly questionable process that led to the building of the Deh Cho bridge. It will be interesting to see how the deal will look once the present low price of steel, which was at a peak when the deal was signed, is figured in. This was followed by a failed attempt to balance the government's books by laying off scores of government employees. Then who could ignore Roland's mishandling of his personal affairs in a very public way?

Thebacha MLA and Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger has alienated a good deal of people in Yellowknife by launching a direct attack on the city's two school boards which, for decades have operated very well as elected and municipal tax supported boards. He has done so leaving every one in the dark as to the details and appears unable to reassure anyone he has thought everything out with well-researched plans and policies.

Range Lake MLA and Health Minister Sandy Lee took office with such high hopes from many quarters. Then, apparently to help people who lacked proper health coverage, took a minor health program in terms of cost and pulled the rug out from under Northern seniors not covered by federal treaty programs.

She has since admitted to screwing up but not before accusing regular MLAs of playing politics and dismissing their advice to rethink what she was doing.

Yellowknife South MLA and Industry, Tourism and Investment minister Bob McLeod came to the rescue of Discovery Air, a southern corporation with Northern assets, with a $34 million loan from a government fund only a handful of high level bureaucrats knew about. Money has never been lent from the fund before and won't be again which all seems very strange considering a newly minted Discovery Air executive was, not too long ago, a high level official in the GNWT, working beside McLeod.

Should the premier and cabinet have been fired? Time will tell.

Bringing ordinary MLAs into the process is the best way to consult the people. Win the ordinary MLAs and you win the support of the people they represent, or at the very least have eloquent defenders of government policies MLAs helped shape.

By this motion and vote, Groenewegen and the other ordinary MLAs have done their duty to make consensus government work the way it is supposed to.

In recent weeks, we have encouraged Nunavummiut who have had problems with police to come forward and lodge complaints in order to keep RCMP accountable for their actions.

However, police officers have no similar complaint process when behaviour in communities gets way out of line, short of arresting dozens of people.

In January in Clyde River, a group of people surrounded the police officers' residence in the middle of the night and, according to a RCMP constable, demanded the return of drugs that had been confiscated before reaching the community.

Luckily the situation was defused without anyone getting hurt, thanks in no small part to the mayor urging people to return to their homes on that chaotic January night.

Police officers, alone or in pairs, are tasked with maintaining order in remote communities. That's an especially daunting job in places where drugs and alcohol are rampant, and the authorities need all the help they can get.

Nunavummiut should not tolerate unacceptable behaviour from police or from their fellow citizens. Everyone is accountable for his or her actions, whether wearing a badge or not.

Sometime in March or April, Nunavummiut will receive a knock on the door. It will be someone from the community, hired by the Nunavut Housing Corporation and the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, tasked with tallying the numbers of housing units versus the number of occupants.

To solve a problem, it helps to know how bad it is.

Everybody knows housing is a critical need in Nunavut. What we don't have are the exact numbers of people who need housing.

These figures can be brought before the federal government as hard evidence of the overcrowding problem. The data should also help the government direct housing money where it's needed most.

The territories' three housing ministers met in Iqaluit in late January to discuss the situation and the money pledged for Northern housing in the federal budget.

Nunavut will receive $100 million, which is expected to fund 350 new units. Yukon and the NWT will each receive $50 million.

Though Housing Minister Hunter Tootoo welcomed the money, he called it a down payment, adding that long-term, reliable funding is the best way to address the shortage.

As the Yukon minister pointed out, more short-term money wouldn't do any good up here, because the small pool of labour can only build so many units at a time.

Nunavut needs a steady flow of money for housing, and needs to target it smartly.

So when the knock on the door comes, speak up. Tell the surveyor what he or she needs to know.

If the information provided doesn't eventually help solve Nunavut's housing crisis then nobody in Ottawa is really listening.