Thank you, Madam Speaker. The program review office of the GNWT was established in 2008-2009 for the executive branch of the day to undertake a number of targeted programs and reviews. Its role was to clarify and confirm mandates, determine program effectiveness and recommend modifications such as the elimination, reduction and service improvements. Now, I’m sure when the concept of this office of the executive was cleverly conceived, it had all the poise and promise of the day. Who wouldn’t want their own private army of ombudsmen working feverishly to support your strategic initiatives? It sounds good. It even looks good on paper, but since then, has it been effective? Let’s take a look.
If you go to our GNWT website and search for program review office, you get a very simple executive summary under the banner “refocusing government.” Not really finding this beneficial, I went to our new NWT Legislative Assembly website, which is very cool, by the way, typed in a general search for program review office, and nothing. Well, there must be at least a tabled document from this office, so I searched through all the tabled documents since 2008. Guess what. Nothing. Nothing. I took to the Internet on a wide search with different combinations of words to try to find something reported by this office. I found one hit. It was a copy of the key activity summary during the 2009-2010 annual business plan, but I found no reports, no findings and definitely no recommendations.
To the question: For over six years and at millions of dollars to operate, what value has this office provided in finding program effectiveness, or to eliminate, reduce or improve service? The only thing of late from what this House has managed to piece together was the recent data on PTR – that’s pupil-teacher ratio – that is being used for the junior kindergarten rollout. Other than that, the jury is out. We’re not sure. In fact, the last time Regular Members had any interaction with this office was under the request of Premier McLeod asking for Regular Members to identify priorities for this program review office to undertake within their three-year work plan. This has been over a year now and Regular Members have never heard back from the Premier.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Today I want to ask the Premier of the Northwest Territories what this program review office has been doing since giving our list of priorities for review back in 2012, but more importantly, is it not time we should take a critical look at the structure, the mandate and the transparency of this office for the people of the Northwest Territories, because clearly, it is not living up to its intended purpose.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
