Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for refocusing government. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of one of the government’s mandate with this Board Reform Initiative to save money. Could the Minister tell me how much money will be saved? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for government refocusing, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the final analysis, we don’t anticipate there is going to be any money saved, that there’s going to be with the forced growth costs that the Members know are upon this in the social envelope with the annual growth rate up to this year of about 6 or 7 percent in health alone and any efficiencies that are realized, the forced growth in the program area will more than consume any potential efficiencies. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, just to get a sense of the thought process here, I would like to know how the plan structure of the amalgamated boards will accommodate this House and our ability to ask questions in the three disciplines and how the government plans on dealing with, obviously, some sort of a matrix reforming system with three Ministers and the boards. I am just trying to get a feel for what type of thinking is coming, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
The Refocusing Government Committee of which the Member is a party or sits on, there were some of the longer-term questions that we are going to have to resolve. This House will continue to have a very clear and defining role than it currently has. The main estimates will continue to be voted. The money will still be voted. Business plans will still be done. The regional boards currently are there already. They exist. We are talking about change, scope and mandate, but the role of this Legislature will continue to remain paramount. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, currently, many of the decisions made in these three areas of education, housing and health are made at the community level. If and when the planned board reform as proposed by this Minister comes to fruition, will there be any decisions to be made at the community level? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this initiative, which is trying to act on a priority at the 16th Assembly, is an initiative of the Cabinet. We anticipate that decisions will still be made at the community level with the rationalization of legislation and policy. Decision-making will hopefully be more efficient, the ability to do case management at the community level where there is often significant overlap with education, housing and health issues. They would hopefully be able to be facilitated and done even better. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently there exists 67 different administrative structures to accommodate these three departments, as we were told here today. Has the Minister completed an analysis on how those administrative functions and structures will now work if the board reform is to continue? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in the work plan that we laid out over the next seven weeks, some of that basic initial work on the concept is going to be completed by then. The modelling, the finance, the costs, those types of things, we have folks working on. That will be part of the discussion when we look at what is concluded, complete and available for information in April as we collectively decide on the next steps. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
