Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Honourable Premier. As I mentioned, there are a few issues with the network that our GSOs are using, computers freezing. It seems like there's a problem when they're entering the data. That's a whole issue here. It's not filling out the forms. They've been doing it prior to this. I'd like to ask the Premier: is the Department of Executive aware of problems that some GSOs are having navigating the federal system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our GSOs are there to provide services to community members who need it, in whatever capacity, if they are having problems connecting with federal programs. Generally, our GSOs are aware of it, and they try to take steps so that we can improve the connectivity. As well, we all know how difficult it is to access federal programs. If you want to talk to somebody at the CRA, you've got to phone, wait on the line for 10, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and then it will cut you off automatically because that's the way their programs are designed. It is very difficult to get through. You've got to spend a lot of time, and then we complain about it. I guess the best example is where everybody was getting audited on an annual basis for filing and claiming VTA travel, and we complain about it, and they check it out, and it was true. We were being audited a lot more than the rest of Canada. CRA took steps to set up headquarters in each of the three northern territories. We work with them. We don't have all the detailed information, but we are aware of most of the concerns.
I'd like to ask the Premier: what does the department do to obtain feedback from GSOs on how things are going, and is there a formal process for them to give feedback?
Through our government setup, all the GSOs are in regular contact with regional directors. Also, we bring them to Yellowknife at least twice a year for a regular gathering to discuss all of the issues, and it's also an opportunity for us to brief them and bring them up to date on programming. We also invite the federal government to do the same with their programming that reaches out into the communities.
As I mentioned, there are concerns from a couple of GSOs talking about how the program is being offered. They know it's a great program. You know they're happy doing what they do, but their challenge is dealing with the federal government's outdated network. That's the whole issue here. Like they say, they're always listening, so I'm sure they will tackle it pretty quickly here. What is being done or can be done to address the concerns raised by the GSOs?
We bring these concerns to the attention of the various federal department contacts. Also, where we've been working with different federal departments, we try to work with them so that we can get them to address some of the specific complaints. For example, the CRA, they have an NWT office here in Yellowknife, so it makes it a lot easier for us to contact them and tell them what the specific problems are. Certainly, we get much faster service now where we can just go down the street to talk to them instead of trying to contact somebody in Winnipeg by telephone.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This pilot project started in Tsiigehtchic, actually, and I have been in full support of this program right from the start. I would like to ask the Premier: has the original pilot project now been turned into a permanent arrangement with Service Canada, and do you have plans to expand the federal part of the program to the remaining single-window service centres? Hopefully, that will be full-time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are not out there looking for business; it's generally the federal government found out about our GSO program. They approached us to see if we can help them provide better service to the communities. Certainly their objectives are the same as ours where we want to make sure that seniors in the communities get full access to whatever benefits they are entitled to. That is the premise of the program. The pilot projects showed that there is not a lot of demand for federal services. I don't know what areas we would expand to, but certainly, I think that the federal government felt that it was sufficient for them to want to expand the program. We are quite prepared to continue working on that basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
