Michael Miltenberger

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, I’ll give that request the consideration it deserves, as the Member has requested. The reality is a decision was made to move TTC from Yellowknife to Hay River, and it was a good decision. The capacity is there for Hay River to deliver that program and we’ve done our best to make sure we try to spread the resources around to the best of our ability as a government, though as we hear in this House from communities outside of Yellowknife that we should be doing more, we could be doing more. We take that into consideration when we try to make these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a potential to poke holes in anything anyone does. I could tell you what the Member needs to know, is that the decision has been made to move TTC to Hay River to use the capital money that was in the budget to renovate Dene K’onia. That it is going to take about 18 months and we will be able to set up a program there that is going to meet all of the needs of the children that are going to be in that program. Hay River has the capacity with the services that exist there, the medical, the educational, the health, the social services are there or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I indicated and committed in this House yesterday, when the Member asked the question, that I will pull together a file of information, and I will make sure it goes to the chair of Social Programs and to the Member, that lays out the trail that got us to this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The decision has been made by the government to relocate the program and we are in the initial stages of discussion with Bosco Homes. I have met with the board in Hay River. I have met with Bosco Homes' management and we are going to be taking the appropriate steps to have an orderly transition. We also have to look at working with Public Works and Services over the next number of months to do the planning for the renovations. The money was already in the budget; it has been carried over for this year. So we are in the relatively early stages, but we are moving towards...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government we should be taking measured, careful steps to look at our facilities and infrastructure across the territory to make sure that they’re used to the maximum, to make sure there is as equitable distribution of resources and programs as possible. As I’ve indicated previously, there’s a stated commitment that we’re prepared to look at decentralization opportunities. We have to look at the capability of the communities and we’ve done all that, Mr. Speaker. I believe we’ve made a careful, measured decision to relocate a program to a community that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will follow up on the Member’s assertions made here in this House and, as I indicated, we will take all the steps necessary to be as mindful and sensitive as possible to the issues of the staff disruption and dislocation that may occur. Thank you.