Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The wish of the committee today is to proceed with consideration of the budget for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I bring this motion forward today as the chair of the Priorities and Planning committee. This motion as put together by all Members of the P and P committee and I merely bring it forward as their chair. To that end I will conclude the debate on this motion, but I would defer to my colleagues to begin to speak to the motion and I will speak at the end.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So all of the preliminary analysis was based on one model and all of the serious analysis that we’re asking about is going to happen in the next seven weeks. Mr. Speaker, I have to ask this Minister why would you launch a plan or a model or a scenario with none of that stuff having been done? This whole initiative should be dubbed failure to launch, because, yet again, another ill-conceived, ill-prepared idea thrown out there into the public. Why wasn’t the research done in advance before putting this out? Thank you.

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Mr. Speaker, part of this approach has also been premised on the theory that it’s kind of a one-stop window for people who come in contact with government through their need for housing, education or health. You know that basically we’re serving those three agencies, or those three departments are serving the same clients. Mr. Speaker, I think that is another ill-conceived premise. I would like to know from the analysis that the Minister and his committee has done how many people are actually in that category. Because you know, for myself, I don’t have a housing issue, I don’t have an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a very divisive initiative that this government has gone out with. It has not been costed. There are so many unanswered questions. It is causing people in the regions, in the communities, in the aboriginal governments to consider their confidence in this government. What can the Minister suggest that we do to dial back on this initiative and start again to look for efficiencies and effectiveness? What venue or process would he suggest going forward?

Any responsible government should always be monitoring for efficiencies and effectiveness in any governance model that they have. That would be an expected thing to do. I sat on the committee for Agencies, Boards, and Commissions’ review with the Minister and with Ms. Lee in the last Assembly. Somewhere between the research inventory of our boards and what has come forward now from this government there has been a strange quantum leap. Where did this Minister get this idea that going from 70 to seven was ever going to fly in the Northwest Territories?

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in every meeting we, as leaders, stop to say a prayer for guidance in the work that we do on behalf of our constituents. The prayer that we pray at the opening of every session day asks that we have constant recognition for the dignity and aspirations of those whom we serve. Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to elaborate on that prayer in relation to the pressing issue before us. We are taught to pray by beginning and entering with our thanksgiving and then making our requests known. Today I thank God for our country, for the hard-fought freedoms, the...

Mr. Speaker, I will try to be brief. My colleagues here have spoken again very eloquently to the motion, have covered and canvassed almost every point that they could. I just have a few comments that I would like to add in closing.

Mr. Speaker, it’s been another interesting day at the Legislative Assembly. Mr. Speaker, we have to ask ourselves why did we need to step forward at this point with a theme day and a motion on this particular topic. It’s because we have heard from our constituents. They feel strongly about this Board Reform Initiative and, therefore, we feel strongly about it. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS all Members of this House are interested in the ongoing pursuit of efficiencies in government as stated in the priorities of the 16th Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS many kinds of efficiencies are best determined by program staff and other employees and should not be imposed on organizations;

AND WHEREAS there are currently some examples of boards which have a long history of efficient, effective, democratic, and fiscally responsible performance that do not need reform;

AND WHEREAS the Premier established a Refocusing Government Strategic Initiative Committee...