Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Fiscal Responsibility Policy right now is not certainly part of any of the active reviews that are under way. Certainly, the Department of Finance, in general, which is responsible for management of the borrowing plan of the Fiscal Responsibility Policy is part of what we will be getting under some review in the next coming months.

Madam Chair, I just would note that even on projects that are large projects, they would have the debt amortized over the course of time regardless. There are other public accounting techniques that would demonstrate when there's a large...

Thank you, Madam Chair. That, really, I anticipate, would be a question for the Premier and certainly all of Cabinet, not one that I am going to be in a position to answer here, but obviously, the matter can go to Cabinet in due course. That's a bigger conversation that, again, I have nothing else to unfortunately assist the Member with here today. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I did not make the effort to hunt for those documents. Let me see if the deputy minister happens to know that detail, as well. Thank you.

This is another occasion where, although the Department of Finance, specifically within human resources, may give guidance on the matter, it does go down to each department. Each department does have their individual deputy minister specifically assigned to undertake the approval of these forms and then may well delegate that to senior managers.

Mr. Speaker, there does need to be some flexibility certainly. We would want to ensure that when there is an individual in a particular region making an application or making a request of this sort that the individual making the approval understands the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 468-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Affirmative Action Policy;" and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 472-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Affirmative Action Policy." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, the superintendent of insurance, their role is to ensure that the regulations are being followed, not to go in and create an insurance industry run or administered by a Crown corporation or otherwise by the Government of the Northwest Territories. My colleague already, from the Housing Corporation, has described the efforts that they are using to try to ensure that this is not a barrier. My colleague over at ECE is certainly working with school boards to ensure that, again, they are not facing barriers. There is certainly a lot of work happening in the departments that are relevant to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have to look back to 2013, which is certainly long before my time, to speak to what may have happened in the entire course of that period. I can say that, with respect to the provisions where it says that the Minister may direct that the annual report be printed and published, prior to my opportunity to have this role, I can't speak to what may or may not have been directed. I can say that it is my intention to direct that that happen in the future. Thank you.

Again, I just want to ensure that we are looking at what the actual problem is and where the right solutions are, whether they are in the Housing Corporation, whether it's with ECE, or whether, in fact, it's with the superintendent of insurance with the Department of Finance. That said, with respect to solution-oriented approaches and talking about different ways of governments doing things, yes, I have no difficulty in saying that the Department of Finance can reach out to the Saskatchewan Government Insurance Program, investigate it, and see whether or not that's a tool that would benefit...

Just to be clear, the role of the department and the role, more specifically, of the superintendent of insurance certainly is to regulate, but it is not something that can get involved in the private market. The insurance superintendent doesn't change the market prices, doesn't influence in the market; they regulate the market. I would say it's not necessarily fair to suggest that we are not taking that seriously. I would also be cautious that the problems and challenges being faced by homeowners, school boards, and businesses may well be different. I certainly agree, and the department is...

We have to. I'm inclined to sit down. I suspect that that, in response, won't be satisfactory to my colleague across the floor. We have to get this right, and we make tough decisions all the time.

Today, we tabled a $2 billion budget. In order to make tough decisions, it is better, in my view, to do that based on evidence and to do that based on evidence that is gathered methodically and to do that in a way that is based on evidence that looks at programs and services across the Northwest Territories with a vision of value. We want to have value and not just -- it needs to be methodical and...