Debates of August 17, 2007 (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are for Mr. Roland, Minister of Finance. It relates to the situation or the increasingly desperate situation that our non-government organizations, especially in the social service sector, find themselves because of financial constraints. Mr. Speaker, in summarizing the overall findings of a recent study of staffing, the author of the report on behalf of several organizations states that unless there is a major rethinking over the next few years, the agencies that are now contracted to handle this kind of thing will not be able to continue to remain a viable economic alternative for government to turn to for support. They are seeking a rethinking of our overall approach to the incredibly effective and extremely good value for money agreements and arrangements that we’ve had for these organizations, but it is no longer sustainable until we change our approach. Mr. Speaker, are we rethinking our approach on funding these NGOs?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 147-15(6): Funding For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the fact is, as a government, we’ve heard the concerns about funding to NGOs. The study that was done was initiated through Yellowknife Health and Social Services with the organization partly to look at how they could seek funding from other sources and, as well, for Yellowknife Health and Social Services to address how it would put forward its submission to the department on forced growth. The government, overall, has heard this concern through our business planning process and we’ve looked at it and looked at the categories of NGOs and how they work with us in delivering programs on our behalf and we’ve established a number of categories. In fact, category A groups now qualify for forced growth submissions through the business planning process. So we have taken some initial steps in this area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 147-15(6): Funding For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to see that we are making some progress here, but I don’t know that I would say that allowing organizations to allow for forced growth really amounts to rethinking a partnership that we should engage in. Let’s connect the dots here, Mr. Speaker. There are homelessness issues, family violence and dysfunction, and mental health issues grow in our communities and become more sophisticated. We rely very heavily on these organizations to be the frontline, go-to places to manage this for us. But even as these issues increase in our communities, we are disabling the organizations that we rely on to do this for us. Mr. Speaker, the report makes, among others, a very clear recommendation and clear benchmark that what we need to do is bring the pay and benefit package for these employees to within 80 percent of what the GNWT offers. Is that going to be a recommendation for the business planners in the coming fiscal year, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 147-15(6): Funding For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think one of the things we have to do is there are recommendations. In viewing that report and what it's looked at and recommendations it comes out with, first we have to compare apples to apples. The NGOs in this territory, if we are going to do a comparison, should be compared to other NGOs in other jurisdictions and then look at an adjustment going forward for the cost of doing business in the Northwest Territories. If we are going to connect the dots, we should go a long way back to see how some of these organizations were established. Some of these were as organizations brought concerns to the table and governments-of-the-day agreed to try to come up with a program and initiated contracts. I think that’s another thing, Mr. Speaker, is there are contracts in place and can be negotiated when we go out for renewals of those. Ultimately, as a government, we have to look at the cost of delivering that service. If we are going to look at getting close to matching the GNWT, then the question has to be is it something the government is mandated to carry out. If it is, then maybe a review should be should the government be doing that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 147-15(6): Funding For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister just told us that ultimately it’s the cost that this Assembly has to consider. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister at all considering the need that the people of the Northwest Territories have for the service? Isn’t that really our primary job here?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 147-15(6): Funding For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think this government can speak by action and the fact that if you look at our budget, what we have done in our term to address those costs in the Northwest Territories, establish programs; for example, the Income Support Reform Program and a number of other areas. We have invested a lot of money in that area, so I think our record speaks for itself that we have become more involved. When you look at the total cost of spending on social programs by the government, we have done and carried a fair bit of weight in trying to address those concerns in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Short supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 147-15(6): Funding For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we shouldn’t allow this to get into such a bureaucratic argument at this stage. I am disappointed to hear that the Minister says we should compare ourselves to other jurisdictions. We should compare ourselves to the contracts and things that are in place. Mr. Speaker, we really need to look forward in a much more progressive and collaborative way and rethink this. I will ask once again, is the government going to instruct the business planners to really rethink the way we set up our partnerships and our long-term business with these organizations?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 147-15(6): Funding For Non-Government Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact is, as a government, we have made decisions on the political level to accept that we needed some change and we have put that into place. The business plan process that we have entered into is, one, prepping the information. We have made suggestions, but ultimately the 16th Assembly is going to have to either accept or change that and relook if it wants to relook at the philosophy of government and how it supplies its programs. That opportunity will exist, but as we prepare this Assembly and have done so far a preparation, we have looked at some of the growth areas and we have accepted, as I have stated earlier, categories of forced growth that we can proceed and go forward with.