Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My hearing is going; I didn’t hear you the first time.
Mr. Speaker, since the Finance Minister’s fiscal strategy announcement, which outlined the need for massive budget reductions for 2008-2009, Members have all been working very hard considering how to reduce expenditures, the implications of reductions and how to minimize the impacts of those reductions.
One of the unforeseen impacts that has resulted from the announcement of the fiscal strategy is the effect it has had on G.N.W.T. employees and the non-governmental employees who deliver programs and services for the G.N.W.T. The uncertainly with regard to job security that now exists in the public service is very unfortunate.
This situation has highlighted for me a culture in the public service that must be changed. Employees are our best and most valuable resource, a resource we don’t tap into often enough. Senior management, including ministers, must recognize this value and be open to suggestions from any and all employees. In fact, good change and the best ideas often come from those in the trenches, so to speak. But do we ask for those ideas? Not often enough. We need better communication with our employees at all levels — communication that flows in both directions, not just to employees but also coming from employees.
Communication must be honest, it must be open and it must be often. Feedback from the government’s human resources, our employees, must be welcomed. It has been proven many times over in other jurisdictions and in private industry that staff can and do positively contribute to programs, services and savings. The staff doing the on-the-ground work know best how to improve service delivery or to make changes to garner savings.
Mr. Speaker, we must encourage staff input and give credit for speaking up. We must support and develop a culture of creativity and imagination. That can only happen in an open, inviting, risk-free environment, and that environment we don’t have at the moment.
The G.N.W.T. needs to establish a government-wide incentive program, one with monetary awards to promote savings through staff suggestions. We are looking for ways to reduce expenditures. This can be one of them. I think we will be surprised at what comes forward.
