Merci, Monsieur le President. It certainly came as a surprise when the merger of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Lands was announced on May 17, 2022. I thought this sort of change might cause our Cabinet colleagues to engage this side of the House before final decisions on government reorganization might be made.
To be clear, I never really understood why there was a Department of Lands created at devolution as some sort of a buffer or arbiter between the prodevelopment Industry, Tourism and Investment and the prosustainability Environment and Natural Resources.
I am not opposed to this merger but would like to know more about the basis for this decision already taken by Cabinet and believe that the principle of "no surprises" has not been followed by this government. Who had input into this decision and how was that process designed and approved?
I had understood that some government reorganization or efficiencies might come about from the socalled "government renewal initiative" that is apparently underway, but this merger was not announced as part of that process.
There are other more urgent needs in terms of government reorganization that should be addressed by this Cabinet.
The conflicting roles of ITI as both a promoter and regulator of resource development could and should have been avoided at devolution by having surface and subsurface resources administered by one department and leaving the promotion to ITI, which they are very good at.
Support for NGOs could be better coordinated out of the Executive where local government affairs would also be better situated.
Back in October 2019 the soontobe Premier promised to change the name of ENR to the Department of Environment and Climate Change, but that hasn’t happened either.
I’ll have questions for the Premier on government reorganization and whether regular MLAs and the public will be engaged now and in the future. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.
