Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, decentralization has been a priority for this Assembly. My questions today will be for the Premier of the Northwest Territories.
Is the government expecting to announce any further government decentralization anytime soon?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we’ve pointed out, we’ve taken a three-phased approach to decentralization. We’ve now completed phase one and phase two and started phase three. I’m pleased to say that to date we’ve decentralized 124 positions from Yellowknife to centres outside of the capital, and we are actively discussing other opportunities for further decentralization under phase three. Through the leadership of the Minister of Finance and the Department of Finance, our expectation is that we will be able to identify to the standing committees as we undergo the 2015-16 business planning process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’m glad to hear that we’ll maybe get some updates in the business planning session.
Has the Premier and his office and the Cabinet come up with this bigger plan of how this thing is going to roll out, considering the housing needs, the office space needs and how exactly these positions will be decentralized?
We always have a plan, so you can be sure of that.
As we’ve announced in the budget, we will be spending $21 million over three years to build 100 houses in communities throughout the Northwest Territories. We are also spending $783,000 for an additional 69 market rental housing units, and we’ve also approved in the Infrastructure Acquisition Plan for 2014-15 $300,000 for office space acquisition.
Our Department of Human Resources has implemented a Regional Recruitment Strategy to address the high vacancy rates outside of headquarters. With the 2015-16 Business Plan, we’ll be identifying which positions and how many positions will be decentralized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Premier has indicated that they have a plan in place and they’ve indicated some of the expenditures that are tied to that plan.
Is it possible for the Premier to share that plan with the general public and the Members on this side, because we haven’t seen that plan yet.
As it is our normal practice to brief the standing committee on all of these plans, we will continue to do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just wondering if there’s a direct correlation. When I look at the housing expenditures, is that where all the positions are going?
It’s not a quid pro quo. We will identify some of the houses to go to remote communities, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we will put a decentralized position in there immediately.
As we go through the business planning process, which we’ll be meeting with committees early this fall, at that time we expect that we’ll be able to outline the positions that will be decentralized.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
