Floyd Roland

Mr. Chairman, I believe the Member is referring to the lease commitment on page 2-103. That area is one where we pay the lease of the government office that is in Ottawa. It has been established there for a number of years. This is one of the areas where we are doing work within the Executive and DAAIR to see if we can change the way we do business in Ottawa and the need for that office. We’re looking at our options in that category. So it’s still there for now. This is our piece of it, of the actual lease of the space itself.

Flexibility is something we definitely need to look at in this area. For the record, though, we did respond to the committee on the specific changes we made within the budget documents before this Assembly, based on some of the recommendations the Members made. A number of the recommendations require that they go into the Refocusing Government initiative. So as we get through this phase, we’ll be putting the energy in, working with Members to see how we can implement those in the next budget cycle, as we’re starting to enter that process as well.

The area the Member has raised, the Donny Days...

Mr. Chairman, before I hand this off to the deputy minister, the fact is, as we go through the cycle, we’re working through HR with affected employees for the potential finding of other positions. Each department, in some cases, is working with individuals; with others, we’re waiting for this final process to be done before shifting of positions can happen.

But specifically within Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, I’ll have Ms. Sparling give some detail.

We would be prepared to put that kit together, an information package, and share it with Members. I do believe Members can help us in getting the message up north. The simple fact that we’re looking at tightening our belts as a government shows everybody in the North that we need to get more revenues in the North. One of those packages is a revenue source flowing south right now. We need to bring that north so we can enhance our programs and not have to tighten our belts.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, we had correspondence with the Senate committee and had the Deputy Premier sit down with them and have some discussion, as well as one of our staff members.

Mr. Speaker, absolutely. As I stated in the Budget Address, my focus will now be on getting the message out to the people who need to hear it: about our opportunity, what’s available and what we can do. It’s about getting the tools in the North to make those decisions in the North, and get on with where we think we should be going as a territory and as a people in the Northwest Territories.

Part of the next process is getting that information out there, and getting the message out about the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, as the Deputy Premier has informed me, there’s going to be some correspondence between the Senate committee and ourselves to share more information.

First and foremost, though, we have to realize that the federal government is ready to move on this file. We just have to make sure we get the proper deal. One of those things is to work up north first and get agreement to proceed forward or, if we decide there are just too many differences here, to look at what other approaches are available to us. But we are corresponding with the Senate committee, looking at options and sharing more...

There was much discussion amongst Premiers about the initiatives of other jurisdictions. Of course, the media was very interested in what was happening in B.C. as well as in Quebec and Alberta. I was asked as well about our stance on it, and I did inform them that we were preparing to go out to the public on a tax initiative process for review and then see what initiatives would come back to this House.

We haven’t changed the convention or rule of the Legislative Assembly. From time to time Members have, when it’s a motion in the House that affects their constituencies, spoken to it. It’s not been a very common occurrence, but there is no convention or rule that says that won’t be done. If there’s a need for further clarification, we’re prepared to sit down and have that discussion.

We know for a fact that Members that become Ministers are somewhat tied down to a process — what they can do — in trying to work on behalf of their constituency. But there’s still an avenue for Members to address issues in the House, whether it’s through Members’ statements or speaking to motions that may come up from time to time. We generally vet that to see where that may go and would reflect on that as we come out in the discussion.