Mr. Speaker, I’d like to use my Member’s statement today to talk about affirmative action or, in some cases, the lack of affirmative action.
I look to a time when most of the jobs were taken up by southerners who were just up here for the money. Many of those people decided to stay and make the North their home, and for that, I’ve always thanked them.
As more and more aboriginal Northerners became trained to take over many departments, Mr. Speaker, I thought we were turning a corner. But I was wrong. After what I heard from this individual with two degrees — a P1 candidate who can’t even get an interview for a management job — I think we’re back in the old days when that was the standard way of operating within the government.
I heard from a young lady who applied for a position with the G.N.W.T. and didn’t even get an interview. That angered me, Mr. Speaker. She attended Aurora College, but she’s not qualified for work with the G.N.W.T. Is this an indication of what we think of the programs that are offered by Aurora College, where we don’t even use some of the graduates?
The qualifications…. Departments are coming up with creative ways to eliminate Northerners from positions. Qualifications are asked that take many Northerners out of contention for positions within the G.N.W.T. Then when some are put into a position, people who have been there for years are asked to train them. Yet they apply, and they can’t even get an interview, or they’re not qualified for these positions and are asked to train someone that comes in.
I want to see Northerners trained for advancement within the G.N.W.T. Transfer assignments should not be a way to get around the system and hand-pick people.
We can contribute, Mr. Speaker. We want to be able to contribute on merit and not just to fill statistics or fill a quota. We’ve come a long way, and we want to be a part of the future of the N.W.T. We have the most to gain or lose from this, because it’s where we’re going to live for the rest of our lives.
Mr. Speaker, I look around in this Assembly and see over half the Members in here are aboriginal. I see the other half that are longtime white Northerners who plan on being up here for awhile.
We should use this as an opportunity to get an indication of where we’ve come from, where we can go, and how we have to use this to protect the people that are out there that are trying to advance within the government system. We have to ensure that we do whatever we can to move these people along, because they can do the job. Like I said, they want to do the job on merit. I see it.
MEMBER’S STATEMENT ON
Mr. Speaker, as I tried to enjoy myself at home this weekend in Hay River, I couldn’t mistake the feelings of disappointment and frustration and unrest over the course that our government has charted for us in relation to the Deh Cho Bridge project. I had many people come up to me and remind me about the Deh Cho Bridge project, because everyone who came up had concerns as well.
I’m disappointed in the leadership, who are prepared to sacrifice transparency and accountability and the right of the people to know. I’m frustrated because, in the absence of clear and full communication on this project, some people are willing to throw up their hands and say it’s too late, it’s too complicated, and it would cost too much to reconsider.
The editorial in today’s paper is right in pointing out that people don’t know if they should be for the bridge or not, because it’s hard to understand the business case, the liability or the benefits.
To me, it’s like someone decided they’re going to build this bridge at any cost. We keep being told that the price has nowhere to go but up if we wait. I think we just saw an unprecedented inflation of construction costs in the past seven years while this bridge was being considered. I’m not an economist, Mr. Speaker, but certainly, if you look to our neighbours to the south — you hear all the news coming out of the U.S. — I would say perhaps that with this run on development, there’s a window ahead for a cooling-off period.
I know that allowing ourselves to lower the bar of what is an acceptable standard of accountability is wrong. It’s demoralizing, because we came here to do a job with good intentions of upholding what we believe in. I’m not prepared to let that go. Mr. Speaker, I can’t do that, because this bridge project process stinks.
People now hide behind the technicality of what they legally can do as opposed to having the courage to rise to the challenge of doing what they should do. What they should do is admit that this government had no business entering into a 35-year financial commitment three days before a new government was elected. They had no business in putting through a piece of legislation which had been passed on the pretense of a $60 million project that has now risen to $150 million. They had no business committing this government to a $9 million loan guarantee which, at numerous times, they said would not increase. They had no business proceeding without government support.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
They had no business proceeding without federal support, even though they said that if federal support wasn’t forthcoming, the project wouldn’t continue. They had no business committing future governments to additional investments of $2 million a year. They had no business exposing our government to financial harm by agreeing to absorb eligible cost overruns as long as they pertain to things that are unforeseen.
They certainly had no business assuming what was most important to Northerners in light of their knowledge of upcoming financial circumstances that resulted in this same government looking for $135 million in reductions over the next two years.
