Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we look at our budgeting exercise when departments come forward with requests for the amount of money they feel they will need to operate their programs and services, we look at issues of forced growth. We also look at the overall budget picture. We allow some of the requests to come forward and some we send back to say they have to look at it again to live within the fiscal environment we operate in. That’s one of the ways we do it. We specifically don't, as a budgeting exercise, require them to show us a savings, whether it’s Municipal and Community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of human resources and how we deal with boards and agencies, and in this situation now with the Tlicho Government and the arrangement that they’re looking to make, is something that is not new to us. We have, on a number of occasions in the past as a government, tried to work with the boards out there that had hired staff outside the public service. That became an issue when we looked at our union agreements and how we operate as a government, and we had to make some changes in that area. So our hand has had to be changed in how we looked at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been identified quite some time ago that with the reduction scenarios that the previous governments had gone through and reduced expenditures in certain areas, and the area of the Capital Replacement Program was one of those areas that took a hit. If we did not bring that capital back up, we would indeed find ourselves in problems. The particular facility in Inuvik as well as the other school in Inuvik have been on the capital plan for quite some time and have been bumped for a number of years. As we know, the planning is proceeding with a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I understood the Member’s question properly, what are we going to do to get the maximum conservation out of our departments and staff? There’s a fair bit of work that’s already been undertaken, as I have said, work that’s been ongoing. Results are coming in, but we are pooling that work right now to make sure that we are aware of what all departments are up to in this area. As we gather this information, we will be better able to direct departments in areas that can see further savings to this government. As a government, we will and continue to work to make sure...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated as well in a previous response to the Member on this issue, the departments have already undergone some work to look at their own initiatives. One of the things we have done within Cabinet under the direction of the Premier is we started looking at what all departments are doing. We are pooling the resources to see what initiatives are being undertaken.

Some of the things we are already involved with, Mr. Speaker, are the EnerGuide program, furnace and boiler maintenance programs; as well, one of the issues we have been working on is thermal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, as I committed to, I’ll gladly sit down with the Member and those parties interested in trying to see what arrangements we can work out. Again, qualified with the fact that we have our own limitations that we have to operate within, and that will affect the outcome of that. But as I said earlier, I’ll be happy to sit down with the Member to get some more of the detail and try to find some of the areas where there are concerns. When it comes to the Intergovernmental Services Agreement that’s in place, or the ISA, as the Member has spoken to, I’d...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to this government’s role in working with the Tlicho Government in fulfilling our agreement, we are committed to that process, and we will follow through with what we can to ensure that there’s a smooth transition or qualify that with what we can in perspective of how we deal with all our other employees within the government as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the plan for reopening of the Samuel Hearne Secondary High School is for about the middle of December, but our goal is to have the classes back in operation in the high school after the Christmas break. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I think over a number of years the department has made changes in its process of how it does things as a result of concerns being raised in the House. We have made a number of changes and as I’d committed to this process I’m hearing the concerns here and looking at the document and seeing already where we can strengthen that. Again, I’ll provide that to the Members and see what input they want on it. Some Members would probably like to sit beside me at the FMB table and say yes or no to certain projects. Unfortunately, we won’t get to that level...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the information that we use or the changes we use, we do inform Members of the changes that have occurred. In this particular case, the item came back to this House requesting the permission to make the change. So when you look at the process, we followed the letter of the law. We’ve followed the process in place and, in fact, I believe Members were aware that this was occurring prior to the day before, because a Member had been quoted in the paper as being supportive of this initiative. Thank you.