Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Finance. About two weeks ago now, I made a statement in the House about whether or not the GNWT had a social media policy to deal with how we operate our social media sites and whether we have any parameters that we use for either our employees or contractors when they build these sites for us. Mr. Miltenberger graciously committed to review the matter with officials in his department and with Cabinet. My first question to the Minister is: Can he apprise me of the results of the meeting that he had with Cabinet and officials the day after my statement?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member raised a good point and identified a need in terms of having proper structure in place. There has been a meeting of senior officials as it pertains to that particular policy. They have done the initial scoping out, they are establishing a work plan and they intend to come back in the fall with a fleshed out policy.
Thanks to the Minister. It’s good to hear government at work and moving quickly. That’s wonderful. I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not he can give me any idea of the gist of what’s going to be in the policy. Are there any, sort of, general directions that were given to these senior officials that they were sent away with to develop a policy?
The Member in the House raised some areas where there were gaps. It was an area when it was raised, and we had officials look at it where there isn’t a lot of clear policy direction as it pertains to Facebook and other social media, and how we do our business on there in an increasing fashion. They’re going to take a look. They’re going to do a review of other jurisdictions and they’re going to pull together, hopefully, the best practices in terms of next steps.
Thanks to the Minister. One of the concerns that I had was with the need for the government to both remain impartial and be seen to be impartial. Is that a focus of what this group of officials is working on?
The folks are taking close note of the discussion and debate in this House. The Member has raised some legitimate, pertinent concerns, including the one she just articulated, and yes, we’re going to list all those concerns and then see what’s the best way forward in terms of coming up with an adequate and functional policy.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. My last question, then, has to do with whether or not any kind of a draft will come before standing committee to give Members on this side of the House some opportunity to have input into a policy.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
