Floyd Roland

Mr. Chairman, as a government we do realize we need to reduce our footprint and the impact we have on the land and the environment around us and look for ways of reducing that. Yes, as it becomes more and more known, and as publications out there highlight the amount of computers that fall into landfills and the adverse impact they have, it is something we do have to consider.

A lot of this — some history here — goes back to, as Members may recall, Y2K. I believe that was the term used. When governments looked at the potential that major system failures could happen as a result of the design of...

Mr. Speaker, we are in fact looking at the whole area of our contracting practices, the timing we let out our contracts, our processes that are incorporated to date. We’ve instructed a committee led by Minister Michael McLeod to review this process and come back with recommendations on the area of contracting and existing practices. Thank you.

For the record, I have a lot of faith in Minister Bob McLeod and his being able to carry our message to this Senate committee.

As for the specifics with our Senator in the Northwest Territories, I haven’t yet been able to get a meeting time or made contact with his office on initiatives that we are looking at.

Mr. Chairman, we will get the information as we continue with this process, to ensure departments have adequate information available.

The other thing to this is, by law, we are required to keep our data and records in place, and that is part of the process as well. It is the Department of Public Works and Services that manages, for many departments, the overall data storage and media storage that we need and require for all departments.

Again, once I have the details of those specific issues that the Member has raised, I would be willing to look into that and get the proper information to see why these are happening, if they’re tied to previous monies.

Everything we put out there, there’s a caveat that if departments are going forward, it’s based on approvals of this Assembly for new dollars. But I would gladly sit down with the Member and get that detail.

Mr. Speaker, we are aware that the Senate committee is doing a number of trips, or a trip, across Canada. I’m not sure exactly where they’re stopping. We have been approached on that basis about their meeting here, and Minister Bob McLeod will be attending on our behalf.

Mr. Chairman, this project consists of renovations to the Yellowknife Records Centre to create a vital records and multimedia processing and storage area. That would go back to having adequate space and areas for our electronic systems. I don't have the background on that piece, on what stage it is in — whether it’s a totally new project or, as highlighted, it doesn't have prior-year costs but may be at the point where they're needing to proceed. I don't know if the Minister would have any background on that.

Mr. Speaker, the result, as the Member has pointed out, of the additional process we’ve undertaken at this stage is to be clear, to be consistent with every department, and I believe that they are getting the message. Thank you.

Let’s be clear: we’re still hiring. But we’re doing it in a way…. The policy has not changed, but what we’re doing is, as departments go through their hiring process — through Human Resources, and the message is now to all deputies... Before a hire actually happens, we need to do that review, because departments are aware of what initiatives we’ve been working on to try to bring forward new initiatives for the government of the Northwest Territories, and departments are aware of what targets they’ve been given. They’re doing their work as to what areas may be offered up for cost-savings and...

Mr. Chairman, as the government of the Northwest Territories, while not in the 16th Assembly, we know from past experience in the last government that when systems fail, they can cause havoc in how we do business and how things are carried out. This FIS system is a very old platform. We’ve been nursing it along to keep it functional, but we’re running out of people who actually have experience with the program that’s written, and we’re having to do this now for the integrity of our mainframe.