Statements in Debates
I appreciate the Minister’s offer. I think we’ll take him up on that.
My last question is, just looking at the budget, it’s increased substantially, about 50 percent or more since 2012-13. I think we’re putting a lot more emphasis on employee development and workforce planning.
What is the evaluation of these investments, this additional 50 percent? What is the evaluation of the effectiveness of those investments showing? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to pick up here where I started earlier on the questions with respect to the Intergovernmental Council on Land and Resource Management. The Minister indicated that the department will be coordinating the activities of this structure, and it notes here that the division will be providing support to this structure. This is still a somewhat obscure structure for Members, certainly for myself and members of the public, that needs to be developed. I am wondering if I can find out what will be the role of this new structure. Thank you.
I was aware of that. I probably wasn’t clear with the question I’m asking. I’m asking more specifically on where we are at in achieving our goals. What are the statistics that indicate the trend in our succession planning? It used to be X percent in five years are going to retire. What’s the change? Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. The other side of that was, do we know where we fit in the larger scale looking at other jurisdictions?
Thanks for that, Madam Speaker. Again the Minister didn’t answer my question. There’s a whole toolbox out there of regulatory and legislative means that actually present systemic solutions to the greenhouse gas reduction challenge.
Does the Minister agree and is he willing to look into that toolbox to see what might be apt to flow in the Northwest Territories, and that would go beyond our very specific programs that we have in place to replace this boiler and building with that boiler? Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. Will the Minister also be incorporating into that some other ways of urging this to happen in a systemic way? Right now we have lots of one-off actions where we’ll replace a boiler here or subsidize somebody to do something, but we obviously need systemic actions that work across the public and private and government sector.
Will the Minister be considering some new initiatives there that, rather than nickel and diming here, actually goes towards the degree of action that we need? Mahsi.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. If I had wanted the private emissions reductions cost efficiency, which I suspect would be a lot higher than GNWT, then I would have asked of that, but in fact, I asked for the government data.
I want to be sure that I do not surprise any other Ministers when I ask about the cost-effectiveness of their greenhouse gas reducing initiatives. We need to be sure that we are getting the best bang for the rare dollar that is allocated to this programming.
Will the Minister commit to working with his colleagues in ITI, Public Works and Services...
Thanks for the Minister’s response. I appreciate that and I also appreciate being close to the edge. That means I’m doing my job.
Madam Speaker, the Minister may or may not have been surprised, but I’m fairly sure I have not seen an analysis like this before. While the response left out an analysis of the rebate program that was requested, some programs are clearly more cost-effective than others.
Why, after running greenhouse gas reduction programs for over a decade, has the Minister never presented us with an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of these various greenhouse gas reduction...
Thank you, Madam Speaker, I’d like to congratulate Aurora College and Mary Rose Sundberg for offering Wiilideh language lessons this year.
The course started on January 20th and continues until February 24th. Hugh Moloney, an instructor of the college, recently spent a year with his family, living and teaching in New Zealand. They were inspired about how the Maori language and culture have come to have an important role in New Zealand’s national identity. When Hugh came back to Yellowknife, he wanted to learn more about the Wiilideh language and culture.
Fortunately, he found that Aurora College...
Thanks to Ms. Bassi-Kellett for that. I guess I’m going to leave it at that. Like I said, many of the topics were covered. I was particularly interested in succession planning and where we are at that and whether there are any trends in that trying to build ourselves a bigger buffer there, because it was pretty serious a few years ago. I think I’ll just leave it at that at this point.
In terms of recruitment, one of the concerns I have – and the Minister addressed this the other day – is that the exit interviews aren’t telling us what the external factors are that are causing them to leave...