Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The response I gave in question period yesterday that the Member has chosen to raise as a point of order…. In fact, when you look at the way we do our business as the Government of the Northwest Territories, in this forum there are many times there is reference to the direction the government or myself as Premier or one of the Ministers takes. In trying to defend our positions, we have to at times reference and let the people of the Territories know more of what’s happening.

I think it’s fair debate to respond to issues raised in this House that Members make a point of...

Again, that was when I wrote to Ministers on their strategic initiatives. In highlighting all of those areas — that was back in January — this one, approaches to regionalization of government, was looked at. In one of my statements in this House I referenced the fact that this regionalization of government would look at the GNWT and how it can increase flexibility and responsiveness at regional and community levels. I pointed to the possibility that the honourable Member for Sahtu may oversee that. We’re again re-evaluating who would be leading that initiative. We haven’t structured it. There...

Mr. Speaker, I believe that on a number of fronts we are engaging the public in how we look at business in the North.

For example, even though we may not have the legal responsibility of water management or some of the land areas we are discussing with the federal government, we as the 16th Assembly have engaged with aboriginal leadership on coming up with a water strategy, and we want to work with that. The Minister of ITI has the economic discussion table that will remain open. We have the Minister of Finance having his tables open on the revenue side of the equation in the Northwest...

Mr. Speaker, I can see now where the Member is going. The fact is that we do have to look at our own economies at the community level. We have heard quite a number of times in this Assembly about the need for sustainable development in our smaller communities and looking at what type of business we can get into.

One of the things we do have to look at…. I think we can go right back to the history of the Northwest Territories. There used to be gardens in just about every one of our communities that provided food and the basic necessities for a lot of the families and some of our own…. Well, not...

Mr. Speaker, in fact, I did raise the issue of bonuses with the chair of the NWT Power Corporation board and was informed that they did a review, had an external review of their system, and they were putting together a package. I haven’t seen anything beyond that.

Again I would express our concerns from the Legislative Assembly that the bonus system or the merit system that’s out there needs to withstand public scrutiny. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my direct role with the Power Corporation is more with the board and the chairperson in discussing initiatives that come forward, concerns that are raised. For example, I had an opportunity to meet with the board in Norman Wells and inform them of the concerns that would be raised by Members and by people of the Northwest Territories when this winter arrives. After a general rate application is approved and the notice of rate riders is out there, as the Power Corporation and as Minister responsible, we send the message. We have to look at the way we do our operations. We can’t...

Mr. Speaker, first things first. We need to get our house in order, and we’re doing that. Again, I’m glad to know that the price of the movie is $30. We can work with the appropriate departments to try and make sure that we get this information and the movie out to as many students in our schools as we can. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the Hon. Michael McLeod will be absent from the House today, tomorrow and Thursday to attend the Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for Housing meeting in Ottawa.

This was one of the ones that was communicated to Ministers, and those letters were forwarded to Members of the Assembly. The approaches to regionalization of government was one of those. We haven’t put the energy into that file, because most of the energy has gone into the Refocusing Government initiative.

In my Budget Address back in May I also referenced that this was work we would be looking at. There hasn’t been a lot of energy put into that, as we were, again, putting the energy into Refocusing Government and a number of the other initiatives. We still have to come up with the terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of initiatives and times that I’ve communicated to Members of the Assembly and to the public regarding the actions we are undertaking as a new government and the direction we are trying to set and some of the changes.

For example, Mr. Speaker, in the Budget Address I gave information on the fact that we would be dealing with the strategic initiative committees. In the letters that I sent to the Ministers on their mandates, I copied those letters to the Chair of P and P and outlined all the initiatives there. Building Our Future, Refocusing Government...