Mr. Speaker, the 17th Legislative Assembly identified the need to enhance addictions treatment programs as a key priority. Our government is committed to making sure that NWT residents have the tools and support they need to overcome their addictions challenges.
Addictions are linked to poverty and to educational achievement. Addictions can affect parents’ ability to care for their children and meet their needs. Their impact goes well beyond the individual. Families, communities and even our economy can be affected.
Mr. Speaker, we asked 12 respected community leaders to come together, to travel to communities and to learn from our people’s experience of what solutions are most effective in this battle against addictions. I want to thank Mr. Paul Andrew, the chair of the forum, and all the members for their efforts. After the Minister’s Forum completed its work last year, 67 recommendations were put forward in the final report on how to move ahead with a plan of action to help people heal and recover from addictions. Later today I will table the GNWT’s response to the Minister’s Forum.
Many of these recommendations perfectly align with what is already laid out in our Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, A Shared Path Towards Wellness.
The report also identified a need for new services and approaches. Initiatives that focus on spiritual and cultural healing are being incorporated into our approach to mental health and addiction service delivery. We are also focusing on the need for
streamlined intake and fast turn-around in accessing treatment services. Mr. Speaker, the NWT is a diverse region made up of many different cultures with their own traditional beliefs and practices. We need as many options as possible to allow people to decide what works for them. People need to determine their own pathways to wellness, and it is the government’s responsibility to help them follow that path. We are addressing the recommendations of the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness with $2.6 million in new funding in the 2014-15 budget. This is in addition to the existing budget of $6 million for the delivery of the Community Counselling Program across the NWT.
As a result, we will continue to provide an array of southern residential treatment options which can offer specialized treatment facilities, gender-specific options, cultural components and increased length of treatment. We will ensure that NWT residents who attend these treatment programs are offered follow-up support and after-care through their Community Counselling Program once they return home.
Through the Standing Committee on Social Programs, we will continue to keep the Members of the Legislative Assembly informed about developments in this area. I greatly appreciate Mr. Moses, Mr. Dolynny and Mrs. Groenewegen taking the time to visit Poundmaker’s Lodge with me recently. We saw firsthand the high quality of care our residents are receiving at one of our four southern residential treatment facilities, and we heard directly from NWT residents attending this program how important this treatment option was to them.
Mr. Speaker, at the same time, we have not lost sight of the need to develop NWT-specific options as part of our approach to addressing addictions. In collaboration with Katlodeeche First Nation, we are exploring options for the use of the Nats'ejee K'eh building to ensure existing infrastructure is put to good use.
On-the-land programs will be an important part of our continuum of care. The $2.6 million in proposed new funding includes $900,000 to establish community-based on-the-land healing programs. This fiscal year we are partnering with Aboriginal governments and regional authorities to pilot a variety of approaches to combining traditional and clinical approaches to healing. I am also committed to obtaining the best possible withdrawal management services for our residents, and work is underway to identify models that are best for the NWT.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I can assure Members that the Department of Health and Social Services is working to put in place a range of addiction treatment services that meet the needs of all residents of the Northwest Territories. We will open the doors for people to choose their own pathways to wellness and addiction-free lives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, many of our residents want to access more government services “on line,” rather than standing “in line.”
We are looking at ways to improve service delivery. In 2013 we approved the Service Innovation Strategy, a government-wide strategy to improve the delivery of programs and services by leveraging technology and by taking a more coordinated approach to service delivery.
I share this Assembly’s goal of efficient and effective government. It is time to move into the 21st century. It is time to focus on on-line services to complement the services we provide in person and by phone. We have to make it easier for residents and businesses to find the services they need.
The office of the chief information officer is working with all departments to provide a consistent approach. Already, the departments of Justice and Transportation have introduced new on-line services that securely manage on-line payments and client information.
We are committed to continuing to create and deliver services in a citizen-focused manner. We have already heard from the business community, and this year we will ask the public about their priorities for on-line services. We want to hear how satisfied they are with the services they receive from government.
We will also continue to foster a culture of service excellence within the Government of the Northwest Territories.
For instance, in December we delivered a pilot training program for front-line service professionals and plan to follow up on this training in 2014 with additional training for both front-line service professionals and management responsible for service delivery. Seven departments sent 30 very engaged GNWT employees from across the NWT. Feedback has been very positive and consensus from participants was that their customer service skills have improved as a result of taking this training. This year we hope to offer regional training as well as more training in Yellowknife.
A service excellence training program is also in development. It builds on the introductory course and lays out a path to certification as a certified service professional or certified service manager. Based on the levels of interest shown in the course in December, we have already received feedback that more people would like to attend.
Our new service directory website launched in December, with information on over 375 government services, in one easy-to-search location.
It connects people, information and services, reducing red tape and making it easier to access information and services more quickly.
This government has had great success providing in-person service through department service centres, government service officers in rural and remote communities, and through offices like Services TNO here in Yellowknife. With the service directory, residents don’t need to know which department, division or location offers a service, they can simply go on-line to find the information they need.
You can also expect to begin seeing improvements to the GNWT’s website in the coming year. We are improving the design and making information and services more easily accessible.
Mr. Speaker, important initiatives like those outlined in our Service Innovation Strategy will improve the way we deliver programs and services and serve the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is now providing residents with the option to access driver and motor vehicle services from the comfort of their homes, workplaces or from anywhere else with an Internet connection. On-line driver and motor vehicle services are part of the government’s Service Innovation Strategy. Effective and efficient government is achieved by reducing red tape and connecting NWT residents and businesses with the information and services they need.
It has taken over five years of dedicated work to modernize the Motor Vehicle Information System. Now we have been shifting our focus outward to expand on-line services to our clients.
Our first move was to offer electronic notifications. We’re streamlining processes and delivering more efficient government at the click of a button.
How many of us have forgotten to renew our registration or driver’s licence, only to be reminded by a ticket? NWT drivers, commercial carriers and organizations may now create accounts to manage their driver and motor vehicle information through the Department of Transportation website. It’s as easy as going under the “Drivers/Vehicles” tab at the top of the page and clicking on the link that reads “On-line Services.” Once registered, Northerners can subscribe to receive e-mail reminders to renew a driver’s licence, general identification card, vehicle registration, driver’s medical, appointments, and commercial vehicle inspection notifications.
Vehicle owners can now also renew their vehicle registration anytime, from anywhere that has Internet access, as early as three months before the registration expires. This is an important step that will particularly benefit those in small communities without issuing sites or who are outside the territory at renewal time. On-line services also reduce wait times and improve service quality at driver and motor vehicle issuing offices.
At our busiest issuing site here in Yellowknife, we have recently implemented a number of initiatives including queuing systems, posting wait times on-line and implementing measurable service standards to improve the client experiences. We expect that up to half of registration renewals will be processed on-line. That means clients who do need to come to the office will have shorter wait times. In small communities government service officers have been trained and are available to provide assistance.
The department will soon expand on-line services to include scheduling appointments such as driver tests and obtaining your driver record on-line. In the long-term, we hope to offer on-line driver’s licence renewals, address changes and commercial vehicle permits.
Streamlining the driver and motor vehicle services also includes eliminating validation stickers on NWT licence plates. When renewing vehicle registrations, clients will receive blank masking stickers to cover previously issued date stickers. Over the next year, like other jurisdictions, we will be phasing out the use of validation stickers. This will streamline the process for on-line registrations.
With technology and client-centred thinking, there are endless possibilities for innovative service delivery. I look forward to keeping you updated on our ongoing efforts to improve service delivery and reduce red tape. In the meantime I encourage residents to go to the Department of Transportation’s website and click “On-line services” under “Drivers/Vehicles” to begin taking advantage of this convenience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, last week I delivered the 2014-15 budget on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. That budget was based on a fiscal strategy of living within our means while still identifying funds to better support the people of the Northwest Territories and make strategic investments in our economy. Part of our plan included investing in the future of the territory by allocating 5 percent of resource revenues coming through devolution to the Heritage Fund.
While public reaction to the budget has generally been positive, Members have clearly indicated that they disagree with the proposed allocation for the Heritage Fund. We have heard these concerns and, in the spirit of consensus government, will be taking Members’ wishes on this matter into account by allocating 25 percent of resource revenues to the Heritage Fund beginning in 2015-16 when revenues begin to flow to the government.
---Applause
We should be clear, Mr. Speaker, that this will have an impact on future budgets for our government.
Our Fiscal Responsibility Policy limits the amount we can borrow to fund capital projects, Mr. Speaker. Beginning in 2015-16, when the first resource revenues begin to flow to our government, we will have to revisit our fiscal strategy.
We will need to find offsetting reduction from the O and M base and protect the infrastructure budget.
We share a vision of a strong, prosperous and environmentally sustainable territory, Mr. Speaker. The programs and services we deliver as a government and the capital projects we undertake have a direct impact on that vision. An important part of our job in this Legislature is to decide how we will work towards that vision and how we will pay for it. Come next year, this government and this Assembly will have some decisions to make about the initiatives it wants to undertake in its final year and how to pay for them. I look forward to working with Members to take on that challenge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recently had occasion to run into a leader from the Fort Smith Metis Council and he was telling me about a very interesting program. I subsequently did some research and I wanted to share what I found out with Members of this House. It may be something that’s already been shared with this House, but it’s not something that I was aware of, so I would like to do a Member’s statement about that today.
About a year ago, the Fort Smith Metis Council was approached by the Department of Health and Social Services to develop a pilot project for elders that would incorporate traditional foods. In the fall of 2013, the Metis Council received a $55,000 grant. The idea behind the pilot was simple: provide elders with a free year-round supply of fish and wild meat. The project is called TAASTE, which stands for Time-honoured Aboriginal Actions Sustaining Traditional Eating, short form TAASTE.
The bulk of the funding was earmarked for the purchase of new freezers to be stocked with foods donated by local hunters and fishermen. The freezers have been purchased and installed in the Metis Council’s secretariat building.
The success of this pilot hinges on a time-honoured Aboriginal tradition: to give a portion of the hunting harvest to the elders of the community. According to local observers, the program is a godsend because it gives elders access to the type of foods that they were raised on but have, regrettably, gotten used to going without.
Another facet of the project is sending youth out into the bush to learn basic hunting and survival skills, how to set up a tent, how to shoot, clean and cook small game and how to make bannock on a stick. Getting kids out on the land stimulates their curiosity and their appreciation of local foods.
A final component of the project will see greenhouses built in the Northern Lights Special Care Home, giving elders a chance to cultivate some of their own food.
The principles behind the project are sound and surprisingly easy to put into practice. What’s not to like about enhancing community solidarity? What’s not to like about elders having access to healthy, fresh and unprocessed food? What’s not to like about elders lessening their dependence on imported food and redirecting the savings toward other necessities?
Traditional foods are good for them. They are also a source of comfort and pride. I would like to see this pilot project become a blueprint for other NWT communities, so my hat is off and kudos to the Fort Smith Metis Council. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When times are tight, you pay down your exposed debt, retool your expenses and seek ways to increase your revenues. When times are good, you invest and plan for growth with infrastructure and service enhancement. These should be the principles of a sound business plan or, in our case, a fiscally prudent government balance sheet. Sadly, this is not the case. Instead, we see our financial picture as one based on a Fiscal Responsibility Policy that doesn’t pass the smell test, yet this policy is touted and praised at every conceivable opportunity by our Minister of Finance.
Again, if one repeats the policy statement enough times, it must have some bearing of being truthful. At least this is what this Cabinet is instructed to do and does so faithfully.
However, there are some of us on this side of the House whose job it is to evaluate grand statements of claim and take the time to look at the numbers being brought forth into the public realm. One only has to look at statements made in the budget address, such as “We have a record of sound fiscal management as shown by our Aa1 credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service and debt servicing costs below 1 percent of revenues.”
I think I addressed the Moody’s part last week, so I wanted to hone in on the debt servicing issue today. Clearly, we have heard many times in the past week from the Minister of Finance of our servicing cost below 1 percent of revenues. Now, this sounds very impressive, yet has anyone asked for the government to prove this?
If I told you this number could be more like 1 percent under our debt servicing ability, we can sleep better at night knowing this, or should we? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the Minister of Finance’s announcement today, I can throw away this speech, I guess, a complaint about the Heritage Fund not being funded 25 percent. I commend the Cabinet and the Premier for making this bold decision for the future generations of the Northwest Territories.
Twenty-five percent is a substantial amount. It’s an amount that actually provides an amount of money of these non-renewable resources that we’re taking from this territory, giving it to the future generations for capital infrastructure, for paying down debt, exactly what we told the people of the Northwest Territories we were going to do. This is a fiscal restraint. This is something that’s responsible government. This is something that we, on this side, are willing to look at the O and M operations.
We’re seeing a declining population and we need to keep some of this stuff in check. In a year where we’ve signed on to devolution, we should be fiscally strong, but because of some of the lesser values in taxable incomes, because of forced growth costs we’re definitely in a tighter position than we actually expected after devolution, but these are some of the tough choices that we have to make now and some of the tough choices we need to make for the future generations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would have to put my statement aside, but picking up some points from the statement that I’d planned today, first and foremost I have to commend the Minister for taking a bold step, and Cabinet, in terms of increasing the Heritage Fund from 5 to 25 percent, a fairly significant investment for the NWT.
Nonetheless, the Heritage Fund is a vital component of how we use the revenues from our non-renewable resources. As we approach the implementation of the Devolution Agreement, the role of the Heritage Fund is among the important decisions that the NWT has to make. Establishing such a fund is a complex and controversial process, but it is essential to how we move forward as a territory.
The NWT has a wealth of minerals, oils and gas, and these resources are costly to develop. While it is impossible to predict when they are developed, once they are gone they will not benefit anyone. A well-managed Heritage Fund will ensure that money accrues for future needs when we develop non-renewable resources today.
There are models of successful funds in place today that promise jurisdictions will benefit from non-renewable resource development even after major operations are long gone.
There are enormous pressures to spend the resource revenues now on major infrastructure investments, such as roads, airports, hospitals and schools and on fiscally responsible debt repayment, but our constituents, the people of the NWT, have made it clear they want a meaningful portion of this money saved for the future.
Today I applaud the move of the Finance Minister to really listen to the people of the NWT and put aside 25 percent of the resource revenues towards the Heritage Fund for future investments. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use today’s Member’s statement to once again return to the issue of position vacancies within the Northwest Territories government. One day later, in my view and in certainly the view of many others, is one day no further ahead. If this problem was an onion, we keep peeling it back and the one thing that is certain is that it just keeps getting stinkier.
The reality here is the fact that we just don’t know where these 800 jobs are and how they’re being filled, or in this case how we know they’re not being filled. Questions still need to be answered. Even after our briefing this morning, we’re still just as much in awe as to how this could be happening without anyone fully knowing exactly where these are. Questions like the other day the Finance Minister said there was an actual 571 jobs out there that are being actively pursued, but we know that there are at least 800, maybe even more. So what happens to those jobs? Do we continue to fund those jobs?
If you go to the website on the GNWT jobs area, it says they’re looking for about 100 people. So what happened to the 471 people that they say they are looking for jobs, are they posted with invisible ink on this website? I don’t know. Nobody knows where these ghost jobs are. Are there 100? Are there 200? By the way, that would add up to 10 to 20 million dollars. We just don’t know. We need to know where these jobs are located and what they’re doing sitting empty.
The Minister of Human Resources may describe them as, well, geez, in some cases we have students and casuals in them. Well, let’s face it. How do you actively pursue a job posting when you have a casual sitting in there that constantly gets renewed? I guess the question is: Are you really actively looking to fill these jobs? They may also say, well, geez, we use that money to hire summer students, so you hold a job open for a year and only fill it for three months. What do you do with the nine months’ money that’s left over? By that theory, you should be hiring four summer students, not one. Where is the part that starts to make sense?
There are so many questions and we’ll continue to pursue them later today in question period, but we still need to know where are all these missing jobs, these ghost jobs. How many are there? How are we funding them, and by golly, why do we bother still keeping them on the books if no one is interested in filling them? Because, quite frankly, as I said yesterday, if we have jobs on the books that we’re funding, then nothing is more clear than it is simply a slush fund. We’ll be pursuing this later today in question period.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unlike my colleagues, I will not be putting aside my statement today, and I want to talk about the Heritage Fund. I want to speak to the report that I tabled yesterday from the Action Canada Fellows, titled “A Question of Future Prosperity, Developing a Heritage Fund in the Northwest Territories.” That report had six recommendations and I’d like to comment briefly on each one of them.
The first one is to establish clear fund objectives and allocate more than 5 percent of annual resource royalties to the Heritage Fund. We’ve heard from the Finance Minister earlier today that the government is willing to put 25 percent into the Heritage Fund, and that’s wonderful, but I don’t believe it’s in the current budget year, and that’s what, I believe, we’re asking for.
Legislation is also required to state exactly how much money we’re putting into the Heritage Fund, and I didn’t hear the Minister state that legislation changes would be upcoming.
The second recommendation is to set up a statutory framework for deposit and withdrawal rules. Again, this needs to be in legislation. We need to know how much money we are depositing on a regular basis, how much money we are withdrawing on a regular basis. Some of that is covered in our current act, but not in as much detail as it should be.
The third recommendation: Appoint a supervisory council to manage the Heritage Fund. This one is a big one. Currently, the fund is under the management of the Financial Management Board, and in my mind that’s like having the fox guard the henhouse. We need to have an independent and arm’s-length supervisory council which will have independent oversight of the Heritage Fund. Sure, we can have government representatives on that council, but we need to have the public involved and it needs to be reporting directly to the Minister of Finance or the Premier. It should not be reporting to the Financial Management Board.
Number four, develop a robust investment mandate. This one is maybe a little bit more difficult, but we need to know how our funds are being invested. There should be an independent investment manager, and I’m not saying that that’s missing, but it’s not stated, and we need to also have that stated in legislation.
Number five, establish strong fund governance including transparency mechanism, and we don’t have that. It goes back to the third recommendation about the FMB managing the fund itself. There needs to be regular reports, and it has to be reported to the Assembly, and it also has to be reported to the public.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Currently, I don’t believe we have anything which states that there will be any kind of an annual reporting mechanism, and that also needs to be in legislation.
The last one is to continue citizen engagement to ensure the public support and the long-term viability and success of the Heritage Fund. It’s very important that the public understands and supports what we’re trying to do with the Heritage Fund, that we’re trying to save for the future, that we’re trying to ensure that we have revenues in the future when our resource revenues are gone. The fund belongs to the residents of the NWT, and with them involved that will ensure that the objectives that have been set in place will actually be maintained.
I will have some questions for the Minister of Finance later on.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last few sittings that we have had here since we started the Assembly, there have been a lot of questions regarding some of the human resources practices that this government exercises and we have talked about the career fair and going into the communities. We talk about trying to recruit our northern people into positions within the government. We heard about how many vacancies we have within the GNWT, within the departments.
We are going through the budget process right now where this government, actually the departments determine positions required for them to do the programs and services that they provide the people of the Northwest Territories. These fully funded positions are budgeted for and funded through the business planning and main estimates process. That is where we are right now. As I said, we have heard a lot of issues on these funded positions that, as committee, we go through page by page, department by department, we look at these positions and we approve them.
Now, not all of these positions are people getting these positions; we have all these vacancies. Where do these dollars go? In discussions with the government, it opened up another, as Mr. Hawkins put it, you peel one layer away of an onion and there is another layer.
It brings me to something that I have to look on in the Financial Administration Act and dealing with how dollars are moved around within our departments. It brought concern to me because, looking at the actions, there is a significant amount of cash and budget that has been approved for within this government that can move from these job positions that we are talking about, that we approve and fund through the budget process.
I will have questions today to see who has the authority to move the funds that we put for these positions within the government, why they are being moved around, and I will get some more clarity on those with questions later. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to respond to the Minister’s statement on the Heritage Fund contributions. I would like to begin by thanking my colleague Ms. Bisaro for stating many of the shortcomings of where we are at right now with regards to developing the Heritage Fund.
With regard to the Minister’s statement, I think pulling the wool over our eyes would be the most appropriate thing that comes to mind here. The net fiscal benefit resulting from our collection of resource royalties as a result of devolution is booked, although dollars are slow to flow.
The Minister has repeatedly claimed to have included 5 percent of the net fiscal benefit in our 2014-15 budget, but a quick scan reveals on page 5-14 of the Department of Finance budget, that in fact is all he allocated is $250,000, the same as last year and far short of the $2 million to $3 million that 5 percent would be.
The resource royalty collection that the Minister has booked for 2014-15, this fiscal year under discussion, is $120 million. Page 12-9 of the Industry, Tourism and Investment budget shows this clearly, of which we expect $60 million will go to the federal government as per the agreement, leaving $60 million for the GNWT booked during again fiscal year 2014-15.
The Minister is allocating 25 percent of the net fiscal benefit to Aboriginal governments during the 2014-15 budget. That is entirely appropriate because we are booking the revenues. This amount is $15 million, as clearly laid out on page 5-18 of the Department of Finance budget under discussion. Yet the Minister here is grandly offering, in his statement earlier today, to meet Members’ request for 25 percent into the Heritage Fund for this 2014-15 budget year under discussion by providing 25 percent in the 2015-16 year, a year that is not under discussion here. This is obtuse and is further evidence of a lack of forthright dealings to address this issue.
Further, this is absolute bafflegab, apparently meant to confuse and misdirect us into accepting this grand offer, which addresses his needs, not that of Regular Members.
In 2014-15 we are booking $120 million in royalties. We are booking 25 percent of the GNWT’s net fiscal benefit, $15 million to be paid to our Aboriginal partners.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
In 2014-15 we are booking $120 million in royalties. We are booking 25 percent of our net fiscal benefits. That is $15 million to be paid in our 2014-15 budget to our Aboriginal government partners. Regular Members want 25 percent of GNWT’s net fiscal benefit to also be booked for ’14-15.
This House has been clear, the public has been clear about this 25 percent for many, many months, probably over a year. The Minister needs to start paying heed to the will of the House and not provide bafflegab where this is going to be met in some future years. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is on the mechanics of the Heritage Fund. It’s fine and dandy if you have a Heritage Fund, and colleagues have talked about the amount of money going in and how it’s going to be administrated. I wanted to look at the mechanics. Should the Heritage Fund come to a full-blown discussion with the people in the Northwest Territories, what is the purpose with the Heritage Fund and how it’s to be set up within the government structure, independent, arm’s length from the government and have people who would administrate it and look after it for us, and having that framework set up – do we do it now or do we do it later on in five years or 10 years?
I wanted to also know that within this Assembly if the government is willing to entertain that concept of removing the Heritage Fund administrative process and start looking at an independent process as other Heritage Funds have been set up elsewhere within Canada, and look at how this independent body could work if we were to move it out of the government’s hands and put it into an independent body.
The Heritage Fund is a very good concept. I remember having this discussion in a past Assembly, when Members on the other side who were once on this side brought up this idea of having a Heritage Fund for our people in the North, especially for our younger kids who are going to inherit this money. So, I would like to have some discussion on a territorial level, specifically on the whole concept of the Heritage Fund and the implementation of the Heritage Fund. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Over the last couple of days we heard in this House about many empty jobs in government. This is, of course, concerning to all Members on this side. However, my take on this is that I think we should be filling them.
Of course, we’re asking the Minister to assess them and see where those empty positions are, how many are funded, not funded. There are many mechanics and different definitions about this whole job review and ghost jobs, et cetera. My concern is my people, and in my constituency qualified people are being screened out. P1 Aboriginals and local people are not getting the jobs.
Part of the Minister’s fiscal plan is to increase the population, I think he said by 2,000. I also submit that this plan should also include filling our empty positions so that they have people in them paying taxes that will benefit our Government of the Northwest Territories.
Members are anxious to reduce positions because the day that we see that these jobs are not needed…but I remain cautious about that. Jobs are important to my constituency of Nahendeh. We depend on them. They generate revenue for our economy. So, I like the slow, cautious approach, but we must get answers about what those jobs are and why it looks like they’re so empty. We think that the government is using empty positions to use those approved jobs for other expenditures, which should not happen, but let’s work on the plan, let’s get them filled and let’s get people back working in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure to recognize today the Honourable Paul Okalik. He holds the distinction of being the first Premier of Nunavut and is currently the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Culture and Heritage and the Minister of Energy with the Nunavut government. Joining the Honourable Paul Okalik is Karen Kabloona. Karen is an EA for Minister Okalik. Also my executive assistant, Mr. Ryan Strain, is with us today. I’d also like to recognize a former Member, Ernie Bernhardt. Also with us today is our Conflict of Interest Commissioner, Mr. David Jones; and I see our Privacy and Information Commissioner Elaine Keenan Bengts as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize some of the people in the gallery. First and foremost is Ms. Joyce Rabesca of Behchoko. She’s also an entrepreneur in the community of Behchoko. I’d like to welcome her. Also, the honourable Mr. Paul Okalik. He’s also responsible for Culture, Labour and Immigration and Official Languages. Welcome. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Abernethy.
