Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the issue of process and the whole underlying theme here is it’s not about the Betty House in particular, which if money made itself available I would certainly support transition shelter for women and children in every regional centre of the Northwest Territories, but as we all know that’s certainly not possible. But it’s sad because it comes under the halo of a great launch and a significant achievement under a contribution from this government towards this project. But yet at the end of the day Members are left wondering where did this come from.
My question will be directed to the Premier, strictly about process of his government working with our side of the House. Would the Premier explain why weren’t MLAs kept informed of this particular announcement? Because we have no idea where the money was coming from, we had no idea this project launch was going to happen, and e-mailing us just before the Assembly sat is not communicating. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have thought the Member would have been right on top of this as this Betty House is in his riding, but the money was approved in the 2009-2010 budget through Canada’s Economic Action Plan. It was carried over and it was reviewed by the Standing Committee on Social Programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
You can tell from the Premier’s response there about how did I know, clearly I must have hit a vein of reality here. The fact is this side of the House is not fully kept apprised as to what actions were happening. This particular project did not get the vetting of the standing committee in advance of this particular situation, and as I said in my Member’s statement, clearly whenever a significant contribution happens for any particular region, the MLA is informed. Certainly not only myself, as the Premier has readily informed of being the local MLA, there are seven MLAs in Yellowknife and something could have gone out in writing to us.
What actions is this Premier going to do and take today to correct these steps of blatant insults to this side of the House?
It’s my understanding that the Standing Committee on Social Programs was informed that work was ongoing on finalizing this agreement at a meeting in December 2010. Also through normal protocol and convention we give additional advanced notice at least an hour before we announce it, which we did on Friday of last week. Thank you.
I want to acknowledge the tone seems to have changed in the Premier’s response towards me. I want to thank him for that because I felt very insulted by I should have known, and the fact is I think other people at the same time were insulted.
This being vetted in 2010, well, I can tell you in 2011 I asked questions specifically about what type of contribution from the NWT Housing Corporation will be made towards the Betty House. At the time the Minister of Housing had said well, geez, there’s no money, the wallet is bare. So in fact this contribution seems to have come out of the air. So how are we going to correct these particular problems and where did the money come from? Because it would have been nice to be vetted in this current Assembly. Thank you.
I’ll try to be very careful about my tone, but the money was approved in the 2009-2010 budget through Canada’s Economic Action Plan. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members are noting that with this development, are the Regular MLAs considered an afterthought. I want to hear clearly in the House today that with any future announcements, MLAs will be invited to a process at least being aware of the particular project. In fact, when we saw people gathering in the gallery on Friday, they knew this particular project was being launched and I’ll tell you when the good news announcement seems to get trumped by process, it seems to affect all of us. So that’s the type of commitment I’m looking for from the Premier. Will he make sure that an e-mail just before the Assembly happens is not the type of communication time we’re talking about? Full information and sharing. Thank you.
There was no official signing and we are committed to sharing information with everybody, including the other side of the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
