Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. I do agree that we need to have better communication dialogue with clientele, and we are improving in those areas. We will be providing training for the client service officers starting at the end of this month, early next month, having all of those client service officers across the Northwest Territories come in and provide training to them on best customer service satisfaction. That’s our priority and we’ll continue to improve in those areas. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Client service officers work closely with the clients and we try to avoid most delays as much as possible, but there are times where we are challenged with the clientele producing valid documents, such as bank statements or other sources of income. At times we have to wait until we receive that documentation. So part of the process is we want to expedite the process, but at the same time we require those documents, according to our policies and legislation that we have in place. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, this particular area that we table those documents, Ministerial travel, we do have staff travel as well, deputies or EAs that are required at these meetings. We can obviously discuss that further with the standing committee and also Caucus, because the Member is referring to MLAs’ expenditures as well. We need to discuss that with the standing committee, maybe Caucus. We are open as a government, as the Executive, to produce any document that is required for the general public if that is the wish of the Regular Members. We are more than willing to work with that. Mahsi, Mr...

Mr. Speaker, we are fully aware, especially in those small, isolated communities, that there is not much of an economy in the community, whether it would be a wage economy or business contracts. Those are areas that we have regional representatives, also client service officers focusing on the productive choices. The Labour Market Agreement that we have in place is for those individuals that do not qualify for EI and that require training in specific areas, as well as the Small Community Employment Program that we initiated onto the communities. Those are just some of the program areas that...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House for today and tomorrow to attend the National Aboriginal Women’s Summit F/P/T in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. Within the Executive department, the communication and services, there is a proposal that has been submitted, along with others that are out there with various programs. With respect to this particular proposal submission, it is being reviewed by the department. Again, what the Member is referring to will be taken into consideration and I will be speaking to the Premier, as well, upon his return, to see if we can expedite this process. Once we identify the individual as the interim, what can we do. So those are questions that we need to address with our Executive department. Mahsi.

Mahsi. That detailed information I will need to get for the Members. I don’t have that specific agreement, whether it be a year or two, due to the fact that there’s been a vacancy, there’s been a reshuffle within the Executive department. So we have to postpone that until such time as the next couple months. But it has been up to March 5, 2012. So it’s been a few months that we were without broadcasting, but we are committed to returning that with CKLB broadcasting. So we’re committed. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, it is a mixture where productive choices consist of the wage economy and also we are moving into more of a traditional economy as well. We have individuals that go out trapping. We have assisted them over the two or three months while they are in the bush. We have done so. We will continue to do that, even those individuals that may be on the land hunting and other sources to bring in some harvesting, as well, for the family and netting fish as well. Those are areas that we are embarking on. I for one like to pursue that even further, how we can engage those clientele so they can...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for that particular question, because it has been addressed to my attention as the Minister responsible for the income security framework how the clients are treated by income security officers, client service officers. Due to that fact, we’ve initiated training for client services officers. I believe that’s coming up either this month or early next month on how to professionally deal with the clientele. We are very serious about our satisfaction of how we service those individuals, the clients, and we’ll make every effort to deal with that...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Since this is a direction to the federal government, the Cabinet will have a free vote on this particular motion. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.