Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, today I publicly demand Minister Miltenberger please put down your board reform pen and join the side of the people. If there is a time for unity, a vision where Northerners need to work together during these fiscally tight and uncertain times, the time is certainly now. The thinking of “government knows best” has been heard and is certainly now refuted by the people who are demanding better from their elected officials. From the turnout today, it is proof enough that the people want their government Ministers to now listen.
Mr. Speaker, if I may, the dream of a democratic approach was never designed around a one-size-fits-all. I have heard and seen time and time again that people want their government, regardless of what level, working better together. Perhaps, if the Minister hasn’t noticed yet, the people want their boards in health, in housing and in education. The people want their boards to be elected, independent and responsible directly to them but not to a bureaucrat out of their reach. Yes, there will be struggles, but that is the nature of what defines us. Now is the time to work towards efficiencies and not the deconstruction of our democratic right, our boards.
Reform is scary, Mr. Speaker. Everyone wants some version of it and in this case the word “reform” has meant steamrolling and amalgamating these boards together. It has not been built around practicality and reality. I’m a believer that if amalgamation is what the people really wanted, Mr. Speaker, then that’s what they would have asked for. I have heard no calls to make super boards out of our grassroots boards that are publicly elected and publicly responsible. Mr. Speaker, I haven’t seen one ounce of proof that efficiencies will be made through this pass; no better representation and certainly no better quality of programming for our people. At this moment there has been no case to build on that effect. I can’t imagine a single person defending inefficiencies, so then where are they? So where are these great reasons to roll up our boards? I cannot see any.
The process from the beginning should have been about bringing people together to harmonize excellence, but not to force a merger through this representation. This should have been about building better relationships and efficiencies, not butchering our boards and our people. Mr. Speaker, this is no loss of respect or shame if this Minister and this government pulls this from the table, but there will be a new found respect earned today by the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I risk leaving somebody out because I certainly can’t see the people who are assembled up behind me, but there are some constituents I would like to recognize: Mr. Duff Spence, who is a constituent and also the chairperson of Yellowknife Education District No. 1; Gladys and Albert Eggenberger, who are constituents of Frame Lake and long-time residents of Yellowknife. Welcome to the House. I’d like to mention, as well, Mary Vane, who is the chair of Yellowknife Catholic Schools, who is here; Mel Pardy, the assistant superintendent of Yellowknife Education District No. 1; Garry Hubert, who is the executive director of SideDoor, and anybody else that I’ve missed, my apologies and welcome. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of people in the gallery today and I just wanted to welcome all of the constituents that I have up in the audience today as well as parents and students, organizers of all those who showed up today in protest of the board reform. I welcome your participation in this process and, again, welcome to the House.
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Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to be able to stand up today to recognize a constituent from Fort Smith, my constituency assistant Denise Yuhas, one of the best in the business and the only one from my community here today. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize everybody that is attending today, particularly those constituents from the Weledeh riding, and in particular all of the young people that have shown up today and remind us exactly what our jobs are. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
I’d just like to recognize all the students that are here, the teachers, the chairpersons and the parents as well. Welcome to the Assembly. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to take a moment to recognize many, many constituents from Range Lake who are here. I know they know whose riding they’re in and I see them all. I just think there are too many for me to mention. I just want to thank them for being here. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s so important to recognize everyone here today. It’s difficult to recognize individuals due to the size of the crowd. I’m seeing people from the riding as well as from the Territory that I know. It should not go unnoticed the significant contribution of public display and effort here today. I want to thank everyone for coming. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to thank constituents from Nahendeh that may be in the crowd there. I don’t want to be remiss in not mentioning their effort in coming to the capital and, as well, making the effort to come out to the Legislature. Thank you very much. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Today I’d like to welcome everyone into the House. It’s good to see all the kids out, livening up the place a bit. I’d like to recognize my mother-in-law, Edith Bourke, from Fort Smith today.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
There are a large number of constituents from the Great Slave riding. I’d like to thank you for coming and for the sake of time I’d like to recognize just one constituent and a neighbour, Mrs. Theresa Crane.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
I’d like to recognize any constituents of the Mackenzie Delta who may be in the gallery. More importantly, I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize a former Member of the Mackenzie Delta, Edith Bourke. It’s nice to see you again, Edith.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the lead Minister responsible for refocusing government. A common question I’ve been getting from constituents and northern residents when it comes to board reform is why. What are we trying to fix? Today I would like the Minister to please tell me why Cabinet is proceeding with board reform and specifically what the problem is that we’re trying to fix.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for refocusing government, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to point out initially that what was played in terms of my first comments this morning were from October 2008, followed at some point later by an interview with myself in Whitehorse. So that may have caused some of the concern for the Member for Great Slave.
The issue of board reform has been identified as a priority of the 16th Legislative Assembly. It has been worked on for over a decade. The social programs area was one that was determined to be, in our opinion, significantly over-governed with 70 boards for health and social services, education, and housing. We set out with an initial concept to try to rationalize that board structure, building on a regional structure that’s there. It’s been a priority that’s been with us for these two Assemblies.
Just as a note, when I made reference to the comments made they were actually from the comments made while in the Yukon, not the comments from October 2008. I didn’t really hear an answer as to what is the problem we’re trying to fix. Going back to the press release from February 16th from the Minister, as well as…Sorry. Based on the unedited Hansard and the Minister’s press release from February 16th where he confirmed the next steps in board reform, it sounded like Cabinet was not committed to a specific model. It sounded to me like there was recognition that regions have different realities.
Do you have a question, Mr. Abernethy?
The question is coming. Okay. So then today, and that’s what I made reference to before about the comments that he made while in the Yukon, it sounded like you’re still pursuing 70 to seven. To me this seems like a contradiction. Could the Minister please clarify the Cabinet’s position on this issue? Is 70 to seven Cabinet’s preferred model?
It’s the model that we’ve moved forward with to this point trying to do the work to prove how it could be done, the impact of it being done. We recognize that it’s going to require significant discussion, which is why we picked April as the milestone date to see and look at the work that’s been done and then decide on any changes that are going to be necessary and on the way forward with the broad issue of board reform.
So for clarity, the answer is yes?
For clarity, the answer is that’s where we started. We recognize that with the regional differences and discussion that’s going to ensue, that’s not necessarily where we’re going to end up. It was our starting point. We put it out there. We’ve been looking at if it’s doable and if it’s doable what will it look like. We’ve asked for feedback and we’ve been receiving that. We know that there are other options out there. April is going to take us to the point where we can have that discussion of how we move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister tell me what other models for board reform they are currently investigating?
We considered whether we would look at going with territorial boards only, which is not a model that made sense to us in terms of removing control from the regions and communities. We agreed from the very start as an Assembly that the status quo needed improving. The one model we had been looking at that seemed to have applicability was the regional service model as it’s been set up over the years in Tlicho.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. When the Minister was in my riding and we met with the Dehcho Health Board and the Dehcho Divisional Education Board he indicated that the Alberta government model was that they had merged boards as well. In that case they merged the health boards with health boards and education boards with education boards. And albeit too, it wasn’t very effective. I’d also like to ask, prior to this model were there any other models that the Minister or their committee had looked at before rolling out this package?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I didn’t hear any question, but I’ll go to the Minister for refocusing government, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We, as I indicated, looked at territorial boards. We didn’t see great value to that in our style of government. We, of course, looked at the status quo and then we looked at the regional service model as has been put in place in the Tlicho.
I concur that at the beginning of this Assembly we all sat down and indicated that a review of the boards and agencies was important. But I still don’t understand how we can merge a health and social services board with an education board. To me and to people who work inside those organizations, it doesn’t make sense. I’d like to know the reasoning behind that decision to put forth this model.
There were case management issues, there were efficiencies through administration and finance we believe are there and are the two key areas that we think would allow us to rationalize that. It would hopefully in the long term allow us to put more money into programs and tie up as little as possible on the administration and finance and policy sides.
You can make the same argument to propose a merge of the Workers’ Compensation Board with the Power Corporation Board, but it just doesn’t fit. I’d like to ask again how they can make an assessment and think there’s a fit here.
We’ve indicated that this is, what we came forward with was an initial concept. We recognize that there are lots of questions to be answered. The timeline was up to 2010-2011. This April is a milestone date to look at the work that we’ve done on the particular approach. Is that going to be the way forward? If there are going to be adjustments, what are they? Those are the questions and debate and discussion we were looking to have in April with the Members.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
