Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister agree that establishing a Tlicho administrative region would improve transparency by allowing GNWT to track and report housing, health, and education investments, specifically for Tlicho communities, rather than only at the territorial level? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. I believe it's gone to Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, not necessarily. The challenge that we have, some years ago, before I was in government, there were more regions -- or sorry, more specific services offered specific to the Tlicho region with some reporting, but it wasn't necessarily capturing services that would be, for example, funding that gets issued to district education authorities or funding for services that cover multiple communities or services across highway regions for instance. So it -- it's going to be very difficult to fully capture everything that is happening within a particular region.
Now, that said, Mr. Speaker, there is a working group that was established after bilateral meetings with the Tlicho government to try to figure out a better way to provide that kind of information, to identify where there are gaps. And I understand that the attempt to get that back underway has already begun. Thank you.
Yeah, I was looking for a different answer; I was hoping that she would say yes. But does the Minister recognize that a dedicated administrative region could enhance efficiency by reducing duplication in service delivery and ensuring resources are better in line with the unique needs of Tlicho communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, again, there's 11 departments, multiple different types of services. There's Tlicho, TCSA already, and district education authority services. So there already are some services that are delivered directly, then there are other services that go through the North Slave regional office. And the effort, as I understand, of having a working group set up with the Tlicho government is to ensure exactly that we do not have duplication between our governments or between what's happening in the region and in headquarters functions. So that work does need to get done. That does need to happen so that we can ensure that there's seamless provision of service, not duplication, and clarity so that if there are gaps and where there are gaps, that they get filled. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Tlicho do not want feasibility studies. With that in mind, will the Minister commit to establishing a potential Tlicho administrative region to make it easier for government to monitor progress and respond quickly to local priorities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, there's some of the groups -- the housing corporation may well be able to more quickly move to set up an office there. That does not necessarily make it an administrative region. ITI may have a superintendent. That does not necessarily make it an administrative region. There are some government services -- TCSA already -- where does that fit into an administrative region? Which departments need to establish new positions? Which departments could move positions? It is not as simple as simply saying there is a new region, and everything is sorted. It is more complicated than that. I do want to work with the Member. I want to say that this is a large region, a large population, and we want to do this in a way that is respectful of the Tlicho government as well. So the first step was to meet with them to figure out what services are being provided, what could be provided better, and where can we streamline those services. That work was underway. I understood it was paused, and I am committed to seeing it get back going. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
