Debates of May 29, 2018 (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Member's statement, my question is to the Premier, Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. With the growing employees in the Sahtu region and departments, can the Honourable Premier elaborate and give consideration to the position for a Sahtu regional director? Mahsi.

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 16th Legislative Assembly, the Government of the Northwest Territories had five regional directors, including a regional director for the Sahtu, and, in the 16th Legislative Assembly, the government of the day saw fit to reduce the number of regional directors from five to two, so we have a north and a south regional director. It was seen as a cost-saving measure, and, also, the fact is that, at that time, it was felt that the workload did not justify the need for a regional director in every region.

The 16th Assembly to the 18th, two Assemblies later; in consideration of our physical positive position, would the Premier reconsider this reinstatement for this position here before the end of the 18th?

Through decentralization and a number of other Government of the Northwest Territories initiatives, the programs and service delivery is being done by departments and agencies in the Sahtu, and we have recently increased the management with the superintendent of infrastructure position, so now all Department of Infrastructure projects and issues are managed out of the Sahtu regional office.

Thanks to the Premier for that response. Talking about projects and employees, they are two different things here. It seems to me that, where we are growing in the Sahtu, thanks to the government to date, as mentioned in the statement, we have grown to 375 employees, but the challenge in the Sahtu is communicating to the surrounding communities when in most cases there is only annual access. So, given that challenge, would the Premier consider reinstatement prior to the end of the 18th to that position?

We travel throughout the regions, and every time we go into a region we have had a senior management meeting with all of the senior management in the region. The last few times we have been in the Sahtu, there have been no outstanding issues that would indicate that the Sahtu would be better served with a Sahtu regional director over a rotating departmental regional superintendent to chair the senior management committee. For example, in front-line workers, there were an additional 41 positions, as the Member stated, over the last two years in Norman Wells for the new Sahtu Regional Health and Social Services Long-term Care Centre, and so I think hiring those front-line workers would be a more appropriate use of scarce resources and will better serve Sahtu residents.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Premier for that response here. I will use a couple of examples. The probationary officers from the Sahtu have to report north to the Inuvik office, and the financial services personnel have got to report to Yellowknife. Those are just examples of outside decision-making authorities given to the destination of the region. Would the Premier consider providing some options to my office for further consideration of this reinstatement, if possible?

There are also four GSO positions in the Sahtu, and they are supervised and supported by the manager of regional operations, who works with the regional director who is located in Inuvik. Having said that, we are now into business planning for the 2018-2019 season or into the last year of the 18th Assembly, so, as part of the business-planning process, we always review our operations, so I will be pleased to have a look at this again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.