Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the Hon. Michael McLeod will be absent from the House today, tomorrow and Thursday to attend the Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for Housing meeting in Ottawa.

This was one of the ones that was communicated to Ministers, and those letters were forwarded to Members of the Assembly. The approaches to regionalization of government was one of those. We haven’t put the energy into that file, because most of the energy has gone into the Refocusing Government initiative.

In my Budget Address back in May I also referenced that this was work we would be looking at. There hasn’t been a lot of energy put into that, as we were, again, putting the energy into Refocusing Government and a number of the other initiatives. We still have to come up with the terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of initiatives and times that I’ve communicated to Members of the Assembly and to the public regarding the actions we are undertaking as a new government and the direction we are trying to set and some of the changes.

For example, Mr. Speaker, in the Budget Address I gave information on the fact that we would be dealing with the strategic initiative committees. In the letters that I sent to the Ministers on their mandates, I copied those letters to the Chair of P and P and outlined all the initiatives there. Building Our Future, Refocusing Government...

Mr. Speaker, I think the fact that some of our debate in this House is about having the proper consultation, and the approach we use, and the change we need to see here in the Northwest Territories…. An example of some of that change is that earlier today Minister Bob McLeod announced the SEED policy, the program coming into effect helping small businesses in our communities.

It’s that type of approach that we see happening, yet we realize we still have some traditional economies out there that we need to continue to support, like the trapping program and trying to get back into, for example...

Mr. Speaker, as the Member has put it so well, it is hard to disagree with a statement or a question that’s…. We want the system to work better. We agree as we look at the global environment and the economy that there is a need for change. We have to look at that ourselves, as the Government of Northwest Territories, in our approach. The issue will be: how can we start that shift happening? I think we’re starting to do some of that.

For example, in the upcoming business plans we are going to be looking from the energy side trying to expand the way we deliver energy in the Northwest Territories...

Mr. Speaker, because of the direct relationship with the Chair of the NWT Power Corporation board and the fact that we are the sole shareholder, any information that is being put forward when there are incidents of outages and so on include quite a number of things that I get updated on regularly as we progress forward.

The other initiative ongoing, long term, for example, is the hydro development that we’re looking at doing. As highlighted by Minister Bob McLeod earlier, there are a number of initiatives we’re jointly working on in trying to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee, the Power Corporation, along with myself and a number of other Ministers, is looking at a number of initiatives that can help with individuals here in the Northwest Territories. We’re bringing that paper forward to Members for consideration. Within the Power Corporation itself we have to, as would be done any time we go before the PUB for a general rate application for rate riders, prove up the numbers, as they say. So there are a number of initiatives that are undertaken.

I’ll commit to get more details for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’d be prepared to try and see what we can do to get this information out to all the students in the Northwest Territories. We ourselves are undertaking a number of initiatives to get on top of the water situation, more so than we have in the past, through partnerships with provinces in western Canada as well as re-energizing the Mackenzie River Basin Board that was put into place a number of years ago. So we’d look at opportunities along with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to see what we can do in this area.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The response I gave in question period yesterday that the Member has chosen to raise as a point of order…. In fact, when you look at the way we do our business as the Government of the Northwest Territories, in this forum there are many times there is reference to the direction the government or myself as Premier or one of the Ministers takes. In trying to defend our positions, we have to at times reference and let the people of the Territories know more of what’s happening.

I think it’s fair debate to respond to issues raised in this House that Members make a point of...

Again, that was when I wrote to Ministers on their strategic initiatives. In highlighting all of those areas — that was back in January — this one, approaches to regionalization of government, was looked at. In one of my statements in this House I referenced the fact that this regionalization of government would look at the GNWT and how it can increase flexibility and responsiveness at regional and community levels. I pointed to the possibility that the honourable Member for Sahtu may oversee that. We’re again re-evaluating who would be leading that initiative. We haven’t structured it. There...