Bill Braden

Mr. Speaker, it’s about this time of year that the departments, all the departments begin assembling their business plans for the coming fiscal year. In this, especially in the social program envelope departments, Mr. Speaker, are the core or the service agreements with a number of these organizations. Mr. Speaker, is FMBS going to really seriously look at the variances that have been so well illustrated by a number of these organizations and the difficulties they are having in our competitive job market? Are we going to address this for the coming fiscal year, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are for the Minister of Finance and perhaps FMBS, and this relates to the arrangements that our government has with many non-government organizations in the delivery of services for our government, Mr. Speaker. Very recently, the voluntary sector and our government put together a study on this area and the study poses a number of very useful questions. I think they’d do well to be heard in the Assembly this morning. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask, for instance, what policy or legislative change or program guidelines would enable more NWT...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a report entitled Toward New Voluntary Sector -Government of the NWT. Let me start over again, Mr. Speaker. Toward New Voluntary Sector - Government of the NWT Relationships and Funding Arrangements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, the Minister doesn’t see this from my perspective. We may end up with a lot of people trained in conversions and some aspects of how to look after and fix or convert a house. I am talking about something on the ground here, so that we are not exporting our manufacturing jobs to Calgary, that we are keeping them here in the Northwest Territories. That’s what I mean by an industry, Mr. Speaker. That’s what I am looking for. Will we use this as a springboard to create our own industry?

Okay. Thank you. The Minister did a great job of confirming everything that I said in my introduction here, but the question was once we get to the point, as the GNWT…The Minister is going to be bringing a request for an allocation to us for a commitment for tens, and potentially for the long run, hundreds of millions of dollars. I am going to want to know that that is a solid deal and I am going to want independent analysis. Will the Minister enable that to happen before he comes to this Assembly to seek authorization for those commitments; an independent analysis, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process is well defined and well understood even with some of its problems, but I guess what I am looking for, Mr. Speaker, is a clear understanding and an acceptance of the fact that NGOs are really being squeezed by a tough job market. What is our readiness to step up to the plate and help them continue to survive, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, it’s encouraging to know that under the FAA review that we’re going to be looking further into it. I guess for now a number of organizations experience a lot of delays and uncertainty in their funding and their stability. Mr. Speaker, how can our funding mechanisms today be streamlined to improve access to funds and reduce administrative time and stress to these organizations and I would venture, Mr. Speaker, to our own civil service? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when was the last time the Minister or the department briefed committee on this whole area of the National Diamond Strategy? When was the last time the Minister took the time to speak to individual MLAs with constituencies directly concerned with this? It’s one of the expectations that we have in our consensus system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when was the last time the Minister or the department briefed committee on this whole area of the National Diamond Strategy? When was the last time the Minister took the time to speak to individual MLAs with constituencies directly concerned with this? It’s one of the expectations that we have in our consensus system. Thank you.