Glen Abernethy

I do understand that it is a gap. I understand that right now their increased costs are based on around 2 per cent, and we know that the real costs of health care are increasing about 7 per cent or more a year. I understand that.

The gap is real. You need to find a way to renegotiate that cap that they have placed on you. So I’m once again going to ask: what kind of timeline are you working on to develop or increase that cap, or negotiate an increase to the cap, so that we can stop losing money that they clearly owe us?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During our last session I went on the record concerning morale in the public service. After receiving the Main Estimates yesterday, it's clear that 231 positions have been targeted for reduction. Fortunately only 147 of these will result in potential job loss, as 84 are currently vacant. Although 147 affected employees is definitely better than 231, it's still far from appropriate, and it's bad for the public service.

Staff of the GNWT are our most valuable resource. They're the people who provide the essential services to our residents in the Northwest Territories...

Language Commissioner recommendation 2: That the government immediately take steps to ensure the appropriate training and certification of interpreters and translators and ensure that there’s a registry of interpreters and translators that is available to both the public and private sector.

With the closure of the aboriginal language section of the Language Bureau in the mid-1990s, the GNWT lost capacity in the areas of language standards, terminology development, training and accreditation. The precarious situation of our aboriginal languages combined with the declining numbers of mother...

My question today is to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, and it is related to my Member’s statement yesterday concerning federal responsibility for Indian and Inuit health care costs.

The federal government has limited growth on their portion of the Indian and Inuit health care at around 2 per cent. Real growth in health care is around 7 per cent or more. As a result, the GNWT is falling further behind. The feds owe our health system more money to support our health care system — around $95 million to date.

So my questions are: what is Health and Social Services doing to...

Earlier this month the Parkland Institute released a report on the public-service cuts in the Northwest Territories titled “Economic Imperative or Political Choice?” This report contains a significant amount of information and points of view that are often contrary to those of the opinions supported by the Ministers and the GNWT public service.

Personally, I don’t believe the government’s financial position is as positive as that suggested within the Parkland report. However, I also don’t believe that the financial situation is as dire as suggested by Cabinet. In truth, the reality lies...

I’d like to recognize a constituent and the president of the UNW, Todd Parsons.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, $135 million is a lot of money. It’s going to be hard to find these dollars. What will happen if we don’t reach the targets that have been set by this government?

Mr. Speaker, how do these criteria affect the critical positions in this government such as those of nurses? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the G.N.W.T. is currently faced with reducing spending by $135 million over the next two years. Through this process, we need to be cautious. We need to ensure that reductions don't adversely affect the public or staff. At the very least we need to minimize these impacts as much as possible. We need to spend wisely and maximize the benefit of the dollars we spend.

So where do we look? One area we might want to consider is the bonuses that we pay. Last year this government paid $1.6 million in bonuses. The majority of these went to 16 deputy ministers and 176 senior managers.

Deputy...

Mr. Speaker, in the announcement of the reductions there was reference to reinvestment. If the government is looking for $135 million, how much will actually be reinvested back into the public service? How will it be done, and what criteria for reinvestment will be used? Thank you.