Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, the departments of Municipal and Community Affairs, Justice, Education, Culture and Employment, ITI, ENR and the Housing Corporation all function as stand-alone regional units in the Sahtu. We have some control in the region. We have devolution. However, we learned yesterday that the Department of Public Works and Services does not have that yet. Public Works still works out of Inuvik. I want to ask the Minister if there is anything in his plans to have the Public Works office be relocated to have regional authorities like the other previous departments I just named off.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, there are Public Works and Services staff in the Sahtu region.
Just as we have staff in the other communities, I’m asking for the regional authority to be moved to the Sahtu. Right now, the decisions are made in Inuvik. When will the regional authority be devolved into our region? As the Minister of Finance would say, we want control of our destiny. When will that happen?
This government is committed to getting positions outside of the headquarters into some of the regions. I’m not completely sure how taking positions out of one region and putting them in the other would be good for employment in that region. It may affect some of our staff. But I will commit to continuing to push this issue to find out what types of positions we can locate out of Public Works and Services in the Sahtu, if any. As new positions come forward, we will certainly consider the Sahtu as a location for positions.
We have been talking about devolution and those types of things and about locating positions outside of Yellowknife. The Executive is taking the lead on that, and HR and Public Works and Services and all the departments will be participating in some of those discussions.
Although I won’t commit to moving what are considered regional functions to the Sahtu at this point, I understand the Member’s point and I will continue to work with the Member, I will continue to work with Cabinet and Members to make sure that, where possible, we are moving positions to regions, as appropriate.
It’s no different than for us when we’re going to Ottawa and asking for a devolution deal to bring the decision-making closer to the region and to the people. That’s what I’m asking the Minister, the Minister of Transportation and other departments. We want the same type of request that we’re making to Ottawa. I want to ask the Minister, would he closely work with his colleagues and bring forward a discussion paper where we want to bring in decision-making power closer to the people in the Sahtu. Will the Minister commit to that within the life of this government?
I understand the importance of regional autonomy and I completely get what the Member is saying. I will commit to doing the work. I will commit to working with my colleagues and try to identify positions that may be appropriate to move.
I do express caution. We don’t want to necessarily rip positions out of one community and effect their employment rates in that community just to stick them in another community. We have to look at positions that are coming on line, positions that are maybe new to the Government of the Northwest Territories to make sure that we have a solid balance. But to the Member, I will commit to continuing to do that work with the goal of regional autonomy and responsibility.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Colleagues, before we continue, it’s my pleasure to welcome a former Member of this House, a former Government Leader, a former Minister and our current Senator for the Northwest Territories, the Honourable Nick Sibbeston. Welcome back to the House, Senator Sibbeston.
Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could let the Minister of Public Works know that we have a process such as the devolution process now. We don’t want to get the jobs out of Ottawa and bring them into Yellowknife. I think the basic process that he has a path. I want to ask the Minister, within the life of this government, to serve the people the best that they need. As the Minister of Finance has always said, we want to control their own destiny. We want that in the Sahtu.
Will the Minister again commit to a discussion paper, a paper that would make sense, similar to the devolution deal that we did with Ottawa, to have one for the Sahtu? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is, obviously, a bigger question than one department can respond to. It’s going to take all the departments looking at their operations, figuring out what responsibilities exist, what responsibilities would be appropriate to decentralizing or moving to communities. We also have devolution coming, which is going to bring a significant number of positions into the public service.
We have already committed, as a government, to working with our colleagues, working with communities, to get some of these new positions to the Government of the Northwest Territories outside of the capital, outside of the centre here and into some of the communities. So we will commit to doing that.
I believe all the departments have been working hard to identify positions within their organization right now within their individual departments that might be appropriate to move out to the communities. In this budget, we have identified a number of positions to move, and we’re also creating a number of positions.
I clearly hear the Member. I understand and I support the concept of some regional responsibility and some regional accountability. We will continue to do that work. The Executive is the lead, but all the departments are providing input and guidance. We will continue to work with the Member and committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
