Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to follow up on some of the information that I presented in my statement.
I referred to the current situation that NGOs have now been taken back to one-year agreements with the government as opposed to multi-year agreements. I expressed my displeasure with that, I think. I’d like to ask the Minister why we have penalized our NGO partners and reverted to one-year agreements. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re not penalizing any NGO. Mr. Speaker, as part of the department’s budget review, we’ve implemented that all agreements would be for one year to allow for evaluation of how we are spending our funds and on the outcomes. That said, as I stated earlier, I think Member Hawkins asked this same question. We’re not saying no to multi-year agreements. We are reviewing our agreements as we go forward and we will make the decision at the end of this fiscal year.
As the Member knows, my department is under huge fiscal pressure and we are reviewing all the agreements. As I indicated in the letter to all Members, we will be sitting down with the NWT Seniors’ Society and work with them on how we move forward. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I can appreciate that the department is reviewing, but I guess I’m really disappointed that as part of review we have to go backwards in order to do a review.
In a recent letter to the NWT Seniors’ Society, the Minister stated that the department recognizes the multi-year contribution agreements provide a certain degree of funding security. If that’s the case, I’m wondering why the Minister cannot, as a matter of policy, use multi-year contracts with NGOs like the NWT Seniors’ Society. Thank you.
Because, Mr. Speaker, as I stated, we are reviewing our budget for 2010-11. We are reviewing all the agreements we have with some of the NGOs. We are evaluating to see how we are spending money and what the outcome measures are. We will be renewing the contracts with those organizations and we will sit down with them. Thank you.
I guess the Minister and the department feel that the only way they can do a review is if they put people on a one-year leash. I’d like to know from the Minister why the department couldn’t do the review of their budget and keep multi-year agreements as NGOs like the NWT Seniors’ Society had in the last year or so. Thank you.
As the Member knows, even multi-year agreements are subject to funding approvals. I’m sure the NGOs feel more comfortable in having multi-year contracts, but as I stated in the House, we’re not saying no to multi-year agreements. We believe that there is merit in that. Right now we are reviewing our budgets or our agreements and we will talk to the NWT Seniors’ Society in due course. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I understand that she thinks that the NGOs are more comfortable. They are absolutely more comfortable with multi-year funding. I mentioned in my statement about a different method of funding and I wondered if the Minister would commit to consideration of a different method of funding. Specifically, will she discuss with her Cabinet colleagues the possibility of multi-year core funding for our NGO partners? Thank you.
As I stated, we are reviewing all of our agreements and it will be based on the review. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
