Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke in my Member’s statement about the program review office, which sits under the Department of the Executive. That office has been up and running for some 18 months to two years, and I know that office is doing good work. We’ve seen the results, some of the results. But as I stated in my Member’s statement, there is a distinct lack of sharing of the activities of this office. So I’d like to ask the Minister what projects has this office undertaken since it was established approximately two years ago. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, we’ve heard the Minister’s 2010 budget address and the main estimates have been tabled in the House. As I listened yesterday, I was struck by a particular statement in the Finance Minister’s address. He said that we’ll have to return to, “a sustainable path,” and, “maintain a tight rein on spending in the fiscal year following this new budget.”

I support our current level of spending and I support the same level of spending for the 2010-11 year as it’s laid out in the budget. But I recognize, as does the Minister, that we will have to reduce or cut back our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I would like to change course just a tad. I’ve expressed a concern that we are probably going to see a reduction in our revenues over the next year to two years and I think the federal government, with a $60 billion deficit, is likely to take our grants and reduce them and I anticipate that’s probably going to start happening next year. So I would like to know from the Minister whether or not the program review office is taking that kind of an approach to reducing our expenditures. Are they considering that our revenues will probably be down and what are they...

Thank you. We could argue about the participation on the Strategic Infrastructure committees all day and I’ll leave that one for now, thank you very much. Perhaps the Minister and I could have a conversation later.

I’d like to ask, relative to the work of the program review office in the past year, if the work they’ve been doing in terms of education has not had an impact on the budget, I also understand there’s been some work in terms of medical travel and so on. I’d like to know whether or not that has had an impact on the budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentioned a couple of areas. I can’t remember them both but he mentioned education. I would like to know whether or not, particularly in the area of education, whether the work of the program review office had a direct impact on the budget which we heard about yesterday. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that response. Unfortunately, I am aware of the results of the office study and, as I mentioned, I felt it was very well done. It’s hard for me to believe that in the last year, if it’s only been a year-- it seems like it’s a lot longer than that -- but in the last year to 18 months the office hasn’t been able to produce some other finite project. So I’d like to ask the Minister, once a project is finished, does the office produce a report on the project that it has undertaken and completed, and who receives that report? Thank you.

Does the Minister of the Executive already know the areas that will be targeted for the 2011 budget? If so, will he let Regular Members and the public know? I say again, for the sake of transparency, this kind of information must be shared and I will have some of these questions for the Minister of the Executive at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for the answer, but I think the Minister also knows that the Standing Committee on Social Programs has been intimately involved in this particular issue over the last year and remains involved and wants to be involved. I think it wouldn’t have been a disservice to the committee if... It was a disservice that we didn’t get the information, but I think the Minister should have given the information to committee who would have taken that information and studied it on their own.

I look forward to the response from the working group, but I would have rather had the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services and I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask some questions with regards to the Supplementary Health Benefits Program potential changes.

As I mentioned in my statement, there’s been an obvious lack of information from the Minister or from the department regarding this very controversial issue, which we dealt with about a year ago. So at this point I’d like to ask the Minister when we can expect some information from her department in regard to the Proposals for Change and what...

A couple of other things: the need to streamline and coordinate GNWT programs in the area of homelessness; a concern for the quality of the high school education that our children are receiving.

The list goes on but my time does not. So to conclude, I look forward to discussing these issues in the course of our consideration of the 2010-2011 Main Estimates.