Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member indicated, we operate on this side of the House in a perennial minority situation, and that point is brought home to us time and time again. It’s something I’m very, very cognitive of, and we’re all very sensitive to the need to work in a consensus style with all the MLAs, both those from Yellowknife and those from outside Yellowknife, but as a collective for the common good. We intend to do that. The business plan will lay out the detail and we’re always interested and, once again, sensitive in trying to accommodate issues raised in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as an MLA from one of the smaller communities, I am very, very sensitive to the issue of government resources in communities and how they are spread out across the North, including the capital and all of the other small communities, and how important those resources are, especially in the smaller communities. Have we learned anything through the last session? Yes, we have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to point out and reiterate a point I made yesterday, in that the Government of the Northwest Territories has also made the signal very clearly that they are interested and willing to look at decentralizing programs when they make sense and when it is the appropriate thing to do. In this case, this is one of those cases. Will the people be there? Yes, they will be. We have done it in the past. We are running a program in Fort Smith as well, delivering a high quality of care for children. It may take some work, but Bosco Homes has...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will commit to having it for the Member before the end of this session. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have had discussions on this. I can assure the Member that there is no, as far as I am aware of it, backdoor sole sourcing. The information that I had, that I have shared with him, is this is to go to RFP. I saw information today that indicated that, but I will go back when we finish session and I will just double check that. I will let the Member know. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the service that will be provided will be on par with what is currently here. If there are services that are required that aren’t accessible as they are possibly in Yellowknife five minutes away, they’ll be accessible in Hay River 35 or 40 minutes away by plane. We have folks that travel, we have other territorial facilities across the North that provide service to all the people of the Northwest Territories and this program will be no different, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I indicated yesterday and made a commitment to the Member for Kam Lake that we would pull together the information that we’ve been looking at to date. I also indicated in this House that the detail of this transition is going to take 18 months or so to be complete with the part of the business plan process that is now currently underway for the coming fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been on the table for some time, since the money was first put in the budget to renovate TTC a number of years ago and the money was carried over as we looked at possible alternatives given the age of the facility here in Yellowknife. So in the last number of months, more detailed work was done and some basic preliminary technical assessments were done of the building. The comparison between the two, given the government’s stated position that they’re prepared to look at opportunities to decentralize, was there was an opportunity here that...

No, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; this is a contractual arrangement with Bosco Homes, which has been providing a very excellent level of service both in Yellowknife and Fort Smith for a good many years now. There will be an opportunity for people in Hay River, including those individuals who got laid off at Dene K’onia, to look at the jobs that are available, look at the job descriptions and the job requirements. If they are interested, they will be able to apply to access those jobs. It is our hope that that same opportunity will be given to those folks currently...