Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As most people in this House know, Hay River is an entrepreneurial, resilient little town that has bounced back from many losses; thinking back not so far to the loss of Pine Point as our neighbours, and we have continued to hold our own. But it’s time, although we try to stay very positive, it is time to sound the alarm. I feel the pain of my colleagues from Inuvik, as well, with what they’re facing. The Mackenzie Gas Project is being deferred, it would appear. Electricity rates are going up. There are lots of things pressing in upon us, and we now look to the government and say what can the government do to help us get through this difficult time. Of course, in the backdrop are the ever looming global economy issues which we see on the news.
I’d like to ask the Premier if the government has a position or a stance at this time on the significance and the issue of decentralization in the interest of fairness. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can tell the Member that she can count on us. We are supportive of decentralization and we are beginning plans to take that under consideration. Thank you.
I’d like to ask the Premier, is he prepared to, I guess, issue a decree as the leader here in the North to his Cabinet colleagues and to the people in the bureaucracy that this is something we are serious about. Not to do things that are insensible, but to seriously analyze opportunities to do things in the regions, in communities outside of Yellowknife wherever possible. Is he prepared to put that message out in a way that we can recognize it and see it? Thank you.
At the start of the 17th Assembly, one of the priorities that was identified by this Caucus or all the Members was decentralization. We are starting work in that direction. We are looking at doing inventories on what’s available in the communities. We are looking at it from a deputy minister level, to identify those programs and positions and divisions that could be considered for decentralization.
I want to say that Hay River has capacity. We have affordable homes. We have space available. We have schools that need more children in there to populate our schools. We have capacity. There’s nothing infrastructure-wise that we need to add to be able to absorb some of the government.
One of the biggest decisions that came out of the program review office was to build another $40 million office building in Yellowknife. Maybe it’s time to re-profile the program review office to analyzing department or government-wide opportunities for decentralization. Perhaps we should change their mandate. Is that something the Premier could support?
One of the commitments we have made to committee is that we will work with them as we deal with decentralization, and I’m quite prepared to look at the program review office, if that will assist us in dealing with this initiative of this government.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Your final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that there are a lot of skills contained in that office and certainly we don’t want to make rash moves without sufficient analysis before we would make moves in the area of decentralization, but I just want to say that I do appreciate the Premier’s public commitment here today and his willingness to look at this. I thank him very much. Thank you.
In looking at other successful initiatives on decentralization, generally it works best when you make fast decisions and move quickly on it, so we are working very closely with the committees on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
