Jane Groenewegen

Thank you. That doesn’t give me a lot of comfort that we put the positions where it makes the most sense to have them located, because once the expansion of the public service occurs and there’s more and more concentration of positions at headquarters, there’s an argument, I suppose, and a rationale that could be made for putting new positions close by the ones that are existing and that situation just continues to feed on itself.

What we need is political will on the part of our leaders to see a fairer distribution of government resources, including positions. So whether it be individual...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement says that I love Yellowknife, but let’s dial that back a little bit. I like Yellowknife. Yellowknife is a great place to visit, but as the Member for Hay River South I don’t begrudge government headquarters. We need to have a capital somewhere and the amenities, attractions and jobs that that brings to our capital. What bothers me is that we have not managed to put more government jobs in other communities.

All Members of this Assembly, including those from Yellowknife, agreed last fall to “increase employment opportunities where they are most...

I thank the Premier for that. By the next time that we reassemble ourselves here together to do work for a period of time, it will be to work on the business plans for the following year. I’d like to ask the Premier, would it be possible on a department-by-department basis to have identified positions that could be considered for decentralization by the beginning of our business plan deliberations that will start this fall. Thank you.

  Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, I think there has been an incredible growth in our public service and I’m sorry to say that I believe that growth has been focused disproportionately in Yellowknife. Our government talks about decentralization, but we don’t really see it happening.

Mr. Speaker, in 1999-2000 budget year, the total budget for compensation and benefits for our public service was $139 million. Today it’s $294 million. Mr. Speaker, I believe, as I said, because the numbers are really hard to compare, I think I can say with some certainty that the...

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Is committee agreed?

A motion is on the floor. To the motion.

Thank you. The bill as a whole?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listening to the news, I also realized that MPs, some MPs, I’m not so sure about our MP, but some northern MP representing a northern region has also raised this in the House of Commons recently as well. I think that we need as large of a voice as possible on this particular issue, and so I would appreciate if our government could also engage those who are elected who are also trying to achieve this goal as well, to reinforce our case. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. General comments on Bill 3. Detail?