Mr. Speaker, I was going to talk about something different today, but after hearing the lead Minister responsible for the Refocusing Government Strategic Initiative Committee, I thought I would talk about his statement instead. I’m happy to see the government is moving forward with refocusing government. I’m happy to hear that the government is planning on conducting program reviews. I’m happy to hear that the government is planning to change the GNWT’s approach to infrastructure. I’m also happy they’re going to be improving human resource management, improving service delivery and managing the cost of the government.
Unfortunately, I think these things should have been done before this budget came forward. These are the types of things we were hoping to hear and hoping to see prior to the budget coming forward. When the Premier came and talked to us about the need to change the way we do business, change the way the government operates, we were hoping to see that.
What we see with the budget that has come forward is cuts, cuts, cuts, and we don’t see these types of things. It would have been better for all of us — it would have been better for the people of the Northwest Territories — if we had held off on many of the budget cuts we’re proposing now and gone through this process the Minister was talking about today rather than jumping into cuts immediately. I would love to see this government take back this budget and give us a status quo budget for the next couple of months, another interim budget so they could have the opportunity and the time they require to actually follow these processes and come forward with a decent, responsible budget that will allow the Northwest Territories to prosper.
Ultimately, though, I’m quite happy to hear what the Minister had to say. I think it’s just a little too late. I think this needed to happen before the budget came forward. I’ll stop repeating myself. I’ll now sit down.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to reply — again I am changing my statement today to the Minister of ITI — to the Minister’s rather surprising announcement on the Advisory Panel on the Economy. This seems to be reflecting the ongoing and apparently typical modus operandi of this government to keep MLAs completely uninformed and certainly not to include their input. The vision this Caucus came up with was strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous territory. The Minister’s Advisory Panel on the Economy — well named as the Minister’s; certainly not anybody else’s that I know of — simply serves the community that is already benefiting from the roaring economy we already have. The basic principles of sustainability are to include economic development along with social sustainability and environmental sustainability. Those three pillars must be there for something to be sustainable — and to benefit all members of the Northwest Territories.
Let’s look at how this panel was formed. This Minister worked with the president of the NWT Chamber of Commerce — which I am sure has been enjoying the growth, as it should, but has a focus, as does all the development that has resulted in the homelessness, social issues and environmental issues this society is dealing with today…. Ten years ago and more there was an economic development strategy. A panel was put together that actually included representatives of the social and environmental community.
Mr. Speaker, we are regressing incredibly, and it obviously has gotten me very upset, because I know we can do so much better. There has got to be some basic understanding that develops here on this stuff. Let’s stop repeating the errors of the past. Let’s include representatives on these panels of all three legs of our stool here. Let’s try including the input of our MLAs and informing them so we can make sure such initiatives actually have some strength in them and aren’t destined to failure.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
