David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister brings up a good point and that is the departments are responsible for forwarding business plans with positions attached to these business plans. Mr. Speaker, therein lies the problem. There is no coordination. This leads to duplication and a lack of coordination. That’s why we scramble on big files like the pipeline, we scramble on other files. I would like to ask the Minister when are we going to have a comprehensive human resource plan for the Government of the Northwest Territories? When will that happen? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. To the motion. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources and it gets back to my Member’s statement from earlier where I mentioned again the fact that since 1999, the size of the public service has gone from 3,700 to over 5,500 employees. That’s 1,800 positions in seven years, Mr. Speaker. Four years of this government and reactionary position growth, four years of having no human resource plan, strategy or vision. Four years of no consideration of the impact self-government will have on our human resource needs going into the future. I have some why...

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Committee has been considering Committee Report 3-15(6), Report on Matters Related to Child and Family Services Act. I would like to report progress, with six motions being adopted and consideration of Committee Report 3-15(6) is concluded. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Oh yes, September. Sorry, Mr. Speaker, September. Again, I want to thank the Members that are supporting this motion and I am going to ask for a recorded vote, Mr. Speaker.

In closing this out, this does not say do not build a bridge. All it says is please, please, please give us the information before you…

Thank you, committee. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Lafferty.

You know what? Before we go blindly into a project, Mr. Speaker, before we jump there and we go there, prove to me and prove to this House, government, that the cost of living in my community and the other communities here will not go up. You have not done that. That has not happened. I can’t see how building a bridge and charging tolls and who knows what the tolls are going to be, Mr. Speaker. They are at $6; they are going to go up with inflation. Who knows? That cost is passed on to consumers, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The motion is in order. To the motion.

We have not had that discussion. Mr. Speaker, to me, that’s the fundamental argument here, absolutely. I knocked on doors during the last campaign, not one person when I knocked on their door said build a bridge. The main concern out there in Yellowknife and in our communities is the cost of living, the cost of living.

---Interjection