Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear here, because we’re getting these sort of semantic answers. Is the project in or out for this capital budget?

Mr. Speaker, there has been a plan on the books for a number of years to consolidate the clinics in Yellowknife to create a downtown consolidated clinic. There has been a business case made to do this, basically on the principles that we can take our existing staff and our doctors and we can put them all together and provide more services for less money. So what seems to be the problem? There is money in the budget. Where is this plan today?

Mr. Speaker, the system, I hate to say, doesn’t exist to anyone out there on the street. The system must exist under some rock hidden in some broom closet or something, because I’ll tell you, we’ve got small businesses out there that need help filling out the paperwork . That’s what they need. They need someone to help them along with the process. They need someone to help them work with Citizenship Canada. They need that process. Not when they’re here, because when they’re here that’s not the problem. They just want to get them here. So the problem is getting them to the Northwest Territories...

The Premier brings up a good point about the benefits. But I got a call quite some time ago — not recently — from a company that does business in the North, and the majority, the lion’s share, of business that they’ve sort of worked through in their contract has gone south. So what they’ve done is set up a bit of a phantom company, so they can get a Northern image, working with aboriginal organizations. So they give a piece, but we don’t see what is really underneath the name.

If we’re going to do this process, and if you’re reviewing and you’re standing there and saying that we did a...

Thank you, Premier. To continue along the theme of my suggestions and to make sure they’re included…. I got a phone call today from a constituent on two separate but similar matters, so I’ll put them both in the same question.

Mr. Speaker, some of the cost reduction ideas — and I’m glad to hear boards and agencies will be part of this — are negotiated contracts. Negotiated contracts, they’re convinced — and I think they’re right — cost us more than public tenders.

The other thing is allowing employees to use flexibility when they do things like make travel plans. For example, we tell them that...

I’m very proud to say I’m Rotarian. I know former Members, such as Mr. Dent, are Rotarians as well, and different people in the public service are. They give time to go to the schools like Weledeh to read to school children every week. The thing is they have to take regular annual leave. That is the type of thing I’d like to see us continue, yet find ways to work with the employees so they are not sacrificing one way to make it work. The fact is, I’d like to see that spirit continue so we can allow employees to do the good things they do in our community — and that’s only one example.

Can I get...

Earlier today I brought up the issue of the Volunteer Support Initiative action plan. The issue really is creating volunteers in spirit and morale within the public service.

A lot of public servants belong to many organizations and they volunteer personal time, but sometimes, as these things conflict with work time, we need a system that engenders that volunteer spirit.

What I’m going to ask the Premier is: would he consider looking at creating a volunteer day for the public service so they can help give back to their community? It would build morale and spirit within our public service.

I was just going to call it quits until the Premier mentioned one thing, which was “if there was a savings.”

Mr. Speaker, I have to say that when you have an RFP — a request for proposal; that is, you request a proposal for a contract tender, and you get a comparison dollar figure on a product, and hopefully it’s the same kind of product they’re offering when it goes out to bid…. But when you do a negotiated contract, you have nothing to compare it to. You just sort of go in and say, “What’s the best price?” And then, “Can we live with it in our budget?”

Mr. Speaker, would the Premier initiate a...

Mr. Speaker, when we talk about these difficult times where we have to go back to considering reductions and strategies for that, a couple of pieces of work were left unfinished, I would like to say, in the 15th Assembly. On the boards and agency review, which looked at strategically refocusing on how we do business, I’d like to know from the Premier — this is one suggestion I’m going to put out today; I’m going to give another one in the next question — would you revive this initiative and take a serious look at it? If our boards and agencies are costing us a lot of money and not providing a...

The federal government established a volunteer day, and it allows employees to go and do personal things and volunteer on initiatives that bring them personal satisfaction. This would help raise the morale, as I’ve said numerous times already now, within our service. Here we are buckling down very tough on them, but we want to give them something that they enjoy, something that means something special in their lives.

I’d like the Premier to reconsider his statement and see if he would look into the issue and see what work can be done to help facilitate this. Because — don’t take this the wrong...