Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier and are in follow up to my Member’s statement from earlier today.
The Premier established five strategic initiative committees early in the life of this government: Building Our Future, Managing This Land, Reducing the Cost of Living, Maximizing Opportunities, and Refocusing Government. Some of the reasons that these committees were created was to help the departments work together to create awareness of initiatives happening across government and in individual departments, to provide an opportunity to share information across departments and, ultimately, break down departmental silos.
Mr. Speaker, could the Premier please tell me if these five strategic initiatives committees established by the Premier continue to exist and, if so, has the membership on these committees changed, how recently, and which Members lead each of these committees? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. There are a number of questions there, two or three. The Premier may answer one or all of them. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The strategic initiatives committees are still used by all departments. The formats and the memberships have not changed. Thank you.
Could the Premier tell me how often, by committee, each of these committees meet and when was the last time each met? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the strategic initiatives committees meet on a regular basis and, in fact, I believe last week every one of those initiatives committees had a meeting to discuss plans for the upcoming year. Thank you.
I’d like to thank the Premier for that. I’m happy to hear the committees still exist and I’m happy to hear that they meet. Where my frustration lies is that the silos obviously continue to exist. I gave an example earlier, but I’d be happy to sit down with the Premier and give him a number of examples that I’ve received over the last couple of months. What is the Premier doing with respect with these committees to help break down some of these silos? I mean, what we want is an efficient government and I acknowledge that the committees have done an awful lot of good work, but these silos continue to exist. So what is the Premier doing to help break down these silos? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, not only do the strategic initiatives committees meet on a regular basis to discuss… And those strategic initiatives committees will be going towards more policy orientation as we fine tune the work they do. But we also have deputy minister committees who meet on a regular basis throughout the government. Those have been in place for some time. Of course, our challenge has always been and the reason we got these strategic initiatives committees in place was to break down those silos. I must say that at times it is a slow process. It’s frustrating at times. And I must say that some of the debate that happens around those strategic initiatives committees in this Assembly just helps slow things down because nobody wants to move if we’re not all happy with the direction we’re all paddling, even if it’s in a circle. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
QUESTION 156-16(5):
COST OF INTERNATIONAL
CALLING CARDS IN THE NWT
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Getting back to my Member’s statement, I have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, who happens to be the Minister responsible for consumer protection.
It’s come to my attention from a constituent about calling cards which are sold in the Northwest Territories that do not allow the same level of service for a similar card, an exact same card sold in southern Canada. In fact, there’s a 25 cent surcharge tacked on to the minutes for using these cards. I’d like to ask the Minister if he knows why calling cards in the Northwest Territories sold at retail outlets around the Territory are subject to this surcharge of 25 cents a minute. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Consumer Affairs has received a few complaints regarding some of the telephone services across the Northwest Territories and they were told that they had no regulatory role in this area. However, we will follow up on that and maybe communicate to the CRTC our concern with how the phone cards and the charges are made. Thank you.
I think if there’s one company charging a 25 cent surcharge on any call originating in the Northwest Territories, to me that’s called a monopoly. I don’t know what other word to use. Doesn’t our government have an obligation to go to bat for our residents when it comes to one company charging 25 cents a minute for people to call their loved ones overseas? I’d like to ask the Minister -- I know he said his officials are looking into this -- when might we be able to hear back from consumer protection on what the government’s next move might be? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will follow up with the department immediately and I’ll look to have some kind of response back to the Member and Members by the end of session. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve got no reason to believe that this isn’t happening. I’ve used these cards myself and there is a discrepancy between the minutes you get in the Northwest Territories when you dial the supposed toll-free number and what you get when you’re in southern Canada. I’d like to ask the Minister if the government, I guess it would depend on the findings of consumer protection, but would the government or can the government write a letter to the CRTC suggesting that the CRTC have a look at the ongoing issue with the surcharge to calling cards here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as a government we would be willing to communicate to the CRTC our concerns with how the charges are made against the people of the Northwest Territories. So I’ll commit to the Member that we will follow through with that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
