Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my Member's statement, my questions are for the Premier. On a mandate, we said increased regional decisionmaking authority was a priority. The mandate stated that there will be a departmental review. What came of that departmental review and if any significant changes that were made? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I actually had to pull my notes for this one. It's been a while since I got questions on this so but it's good that the Member brought it up because it shouldn't be forgotten.
So I do know that in 20212022 that we engaged with regional senior managers and headquarters to look at the perceptions around the decisionmaking authority in the regions. We did an internal review as well of the job descriptions to make sure that there wasn't any differences. Within that review, we found there was no difference in the job description between a regional senior manager and a headquarters regional manager. So then it told us that probably the likelihood is training. So we initiated some training courses that'll be ongoing to be able to give senior managers in the regions more training and what is the powers that they do have.
We also had discussions with the deputy ministers of all departments to make sure that they understood as well, Mr. Speaker. And then we also hired a consultant to actually get more information. So I think, Mr. Speaker, we got the engagement. We got suggestions. We listened to them. We implemented training. We talked to DMs. But hearing the conversations from the Member, clearly, there's still an issue. And so clearly, this needs to be looked into again, and we need to do more. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Premier. I guess, yeah, that when we made this mandate or this priority, my envision when we all agreed is that it would increase our powers in the region and just, like I don't know, I haven't heard anything. Is it all has it increased if somebody can approve somebody's annual leave? So I'm asking the Premier if there was any significant changes from these reviews and all of this stuff and training that gave power to the regions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, in reviewing the job descriptions, in theory the regional senior managers should have the exact same authority as managers at headquarters. So, again, it's something, like I said I'm hearing it's more than just training. We need to make sure that our deputy ministers are aware. We need to make sure that every department, every Minister, is aware that this is an issue and speak to your deputy ministers, speak to headquarters because we are deputy ministers are headquarters to make sure that the regions have the autonomy, the authority that is vested in them, that is granted within their job descriptions, to make sure that they have the abilities to make decisions for their residents as outlined in their job descriptions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. This will be my last question; I won't have a supplementary. Will the Premier commit to making sure that over these next few weeks that she's still there and her Cabinet that she will discuss this with her deputy ministers, that our regional superintendents, regional managers, all know what their authority is and they use their authority? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will definitely have I think have a little bit more before the next Assembly is sworn in, and as do the Ministers.
I will make the commitment in this House that I will speak to the secretary of Cabinet, who is responsible for all the deputy ministers, to make sure it reinforces, but I'm also telling all Cabinet Ministers while I'm standing here, to make sure you speak to your deputy ministers to ensure that regional managers have the authority invested under their job descriptions to make decisions that they are qualified and mandated within their job descriptions to do. So that, I've already given direction to my Ministers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
