Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After the budget address yesterday and the line in there about the 18 GNWT positions being decentralized out of Yellowknife to regional centres and to the communities, of course there has been a lot of buzz. There was a lot of buzz leading up to this announcement because there were rumours to rely on, but now we’ve heard an actual number. We’re getting questions, and e-mails, and texts from our members in our communities, saying where are these positions going. I have some idea of how many of them are coming to Hay River and where they’re going, but I would like to ask the Premier if he could bring some clarity to that, where those 18 positions are going, how many are coming to Hay River, most importantly.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we indicated many times in this House, decentralization is a priority for this government. We’re approaching it in three phases. We’re just very close to completing the first phase, which was to review all our programs and services to see what programs could be developed. We also undertook an inventory of available housing and available office space and made the commitment that we would start decentralization right away as part of a 2013-2014 business plan.
Of the 18 positions, 14 are new positions that have been created through reallocations and those will be going to the regions. We also have four that are existing positions that will be moved out. I just have to make sure that we have to take care of the human resources side of it, so I have to make sure those people that will be affected have been notified. It also has to be approved yet in this House and it is in the main estimates, so you will be able to discuss it in the review of the appropriate departments.
I thank the Premier for that. Those are good and valid concerns. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here. Could we get a general approximation? Would it be safe to say that of those 14 new positions and four relocated positions – and I realize that this is not the Premier’s, it is the Finance Minister’s role to answer this question – would it be safe to say that eight or 10 of those are coming to Hay River?
I will be able to confirm that hopefully in the next few days, but it’s less than what the Member has raised.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
