Bob McLeod

Over the years we have made a number of attempts of doing so. I think in the last government we looked to find ways to find funding that we could use to fund strategic initiatives and I think I understand what the Member is talking about, I think on a much smaller scale, to look at specific funds that we could use to meet some immediate needs and I think that we have a number of processes that would allow us to do so. I think it’s just a matter of us getting together, talking about it so that we can give some specific direction to our senior management, so that we can find ways to identify...

I might add that as soon as I read the Member’s press release we did the letter to the Government of Canada. But we will approach the Environment Minister to get some more specific information as to how the amount of cuts and also how they’re affecting the operation of the federal park system in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like everybody else, and listening to the federal budget of 2012-13 where we learned that 19,689 jobs will be eliminated from the federal civil service, I have not been apprised of the specifics of where the cuts are or what departments and how we will be affected here in the Northwest Territories as of yet other than media reports that we hear occasionally.

I would think that we could come up with some sort of a framework that we could have a discussion with committee. For example, I think we have $350,000 in it and every time we call for applications it’s oversubscribed by $1 million or so. So I think that if we put our minds to it we could come out with a process and also look at how it would be tied into our existing planning processes, because we are talking about public funds. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We would welcome the opportunity to do so. We have a number of processes that we can use to do that and we also have the business planning processes and we always welcome all the good ideas from the other side of the House. We’re quite prepared to look for those pots of money, but we obviously would need the support from the other side of the House as well. Thank you.

Although perhaps it didn’t make it on the priority list, this is part of the ongoing work that this government does that we work with youth. Normally, we would like to have our own brand, so we would continue to work with youth and perhaps not under the auspices of what was done in the 16th Assembly, but I would expect that we would want to work with something, perhaps a better, more improved version, I would like to think, so we would commit to continue to working with the youth.

As in any good government, we put our own stamp and our own brand on those two recommendations, and those were identified as priorities by this 17th Assembly, although perhaps under a different name or a different recommendation.

With regard to the treatment centres recommendation, we are actively working on that and our Minister of Health and Social Services will be tabling a Mental Health and Addictions Strategy very soon.

With regard to a counsellor for every school, we have recognized that, as well, as an area that we need to look at, and through our Aboriginal Student Initiative we are...

We are always looking to become more effective and efficient, and we do have youth as a priority, and we will continue to find ways to interact with the youth and to make sure that their voices are heard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very familiar with the report that the Member is referring to, although it was undertaken in the previous Assembly, in the 16th Assembly. But with your new approach, we are definitely following up on the recommendations that were put forward in the 16th Assembly. Thank you.

At the start of the 17th Assembly, one of the priorities that was identified by this Caucus or all the Members was decentralization. We are starting work in that direction. We are looking at doing inventories on what’s available in the communities. We are looking at it from a deputy minister level, to identify those programs and positions and divisions that could be considered for decentralization.