Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, as we conduct ourselves in this Assembly, we would review any particular incidents that occur. We know, for example, there’s a process of being ready and available for Members during question period as well as Committee of the Whole, and overall conduct of Ministers. Yes, if there were an issue that came up, we would sit down and have a discussion and see where we could correct things, if that were the case.

We are looking at the process of how it happens. We know, for example, that there are some staff that work for departments that fall out of the UNW side, and they’re excluded. But within departments they’re treated differently than deputy minister levels, so we’re having a look at trying to come up with a process that would make sense. It would look at performance for work done.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we’re going to get our message out to the people who need to hear it. We’ve also worked with a lot of groups. Whether or not they are the ones that specialize in environmental concerns or issues across the country, they’re still welcome to help and work with us in partnership. The message here is the fact that we in the Northwest Territories need to be making decisions about what impacts our lives, the economy and our environment. They need to be made here, not through some office someplace else, advising another government to make those decisions for us.

When you look at what we do as the Government of the Northwest Territories, we’re committed to a number of things: World Wildlife Fund, other groups from outside the territory. They may do some work in the territory, but they originate outside the territory.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On May 28, 29 and 30 I attended the 2008 Western Premiers’ Conference in Prince Albert Saskatchewan. As I stated in my Budget Address, I intended to focus my attention on delivering the message of our territory and our people to those that need to hear it. The Northwest Territories had the full attention of western Premiers and succeeded in getting their support for issues important to us.

The Premiers from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut and the NWT, along with the Deputy Premier from the Yukon, talked about the strength of the western economy...

We are a part of that. The Premier of British Columbia, Mr. Campbell, has initiated that work. It started off in January with the conference on climate change. Again, other jurisdictions are working with their leaders and coming up with initiatives and sharing some of the work that’s been done. For ourselves, from a territorial point of view working with other northern Premiers, coming up with our piece of that work, we are plugged into that process.

There was much discussion amongst Premiers about the initiatives of other jurisdictions. Of course, the media was very interested in what was happening in B.C. as well as in Quebec and Alberta. I was asked as well about our stance on it, and I did inform them that we were preparing to go out to the public on a tax initiative process for review and then see what initiatives would come back to this House.

We haven’t changed the convention or rule of the Legislative Assembly. From time to time Members have, when it’s a motion in the House that affects their constituencies, spoken to it. It’s not been a very common occurrence, but there is no convention or rule that says that won’t be done. If there’s a need for further clarification, we’re prepared to sit down and have that discussion.

We know for a fact that Members that become Ministers are somewhat tied down to a process — what they can do — in trying to work on behalf of their constituency. But there’s still an avenue for Members to address issues in the House, whether it’s through Members’ statements or speaking to motions that may come up from time to time. We generally vet that to see where that may go and would reflect on that as we come out in the discussion.

I’d be more than prepared to have a look at their work and what it entails. Just for the record, I don’t believe every manager gets performance pay in the Northwest Territories. I understand there’s a process, and it’s limited. We’re undertaking that review to have a look at how it’s been done in the past, and we’ll be prepared to take a look at what the federal government is doing going forward as well.