Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, once again my question is for the two candidates. Mr. Chairman, given the activities that have occurred in this House over the last number of weeks and months, I would like to know the views of each candidate as to what their views are on the introduction of party politics into the GNWT? Thank you.
Territorial Leadership Committee on Dec. 10th, 1998
Transcript of meeting #3 for Territorial Leadership Committee in the 13th Assembly.
The winning word was chairman.
On the agenda
MLAs speaking
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 7
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have come from my particular constituency and having learned politics in the consensual way at the community level as a chief, and then with the Dene Nation, I have always functioned in a consensus level of government. This Legislative Assembly is supposed to reflect reality of life in the north. The majority of life in the north are mainly in the communities and in the regions, where business is done in a consensual way. I would stick with that. I would say that I would prefer to go through a consensus government rather than going through party politics. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 7
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, it is my view that a consensus style of government is serving us in the north very well. We have demonstrated that in the last two weeks. If we had party politics, it would have been an incredibly ugly two weeks. We have come through together, and again, it shows that there is a commitment by people right across the territories to respect the differences, the diversity and the different needs that we all have, and yet continue to demonstrate the will to work things out together.
In the north we have incredibly diverse peoples, the Inuvialuit; Gwich'in; people of the Sahtu; Deh Cho; Akaitcho territory; Metis; northerners; the Inuit. The only way that each group, each region can be assured that they will be heard in their government, in their Assemblies and their considerations, no matter the size of their population, is through consensus government. It carves out a place for each culture, each region, each people. For that, I believe, we are well served. Our population is much too small to give any consideration to party politics at this time. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 7
The Chair Samuel Gargan
Mr. Ootes.
Confidence in Public Service
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 7
Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My first question will also be to both candidates and it is, how will each candidate seek to restore confidence in our public service, and especially in the area of front line workers such as nurses and teachers? Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 7
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
Mr. Chairman. In the last few years we have gone through an incredibly difficult exercise of cutting back on expenditures of government. One of the areas that has been hardest hit is health services, social services and education. I believe that our government and the next legislature will be compelled to work to find additional resources by whatever means to put back in those portfolios. I believe that it is no use to create jobs and industries if we are not taking care of our people in the first instance. We have to make sure people are healthy, confident, the idea of community wellness has to continue to be part of our strategy in improving the lives of our people as we move into becoming more economically independent and diversified. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 7
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the question is that, how will I help restore confidence in the civil service, especially in the front line workers. This is an area again, where because of the financial restraints that we have
imposed throughout the whole system, this is a by-product of it and this is something that I do not have a ready answer for. It is something that we all have to work together on.
There have been a lot of questions in this Legislative Assembly towards the different Ministers that are responsible for the portfolios of Health and Social Services in regards to front line workers, as well as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, income support and for the workers in that area. It is something that we are going to have to all pull together here, in trying to figure out how to deal with it. It is not a simple solution, it is something that I think other Members of the Legislative Assembly all have to work together on trying to deal with this. It is going to be an ongoing problem, not only for within in the next six months, but it is going to be for the next few years. I think we should start looking at how we can address it. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 8
The Chair Samuel Gargan
Mr. Ootes, your second question.
Concern with Contracting Policies
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 8
Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My second question is also for both candidates and it is, how will you address what some members of the public, some businesses see as problem areas in the contracting policies of our government?
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 8
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think taking a closer look at how contracts are being delivered, has already begun. I think that, maybe just to backtrack, when this government had a lot of money back a few years, some of the Members who came from the smaller communities, had addressed it, where there was a desire by the people in the communities to put their foot in the doorway of contracting in business. I think there were some corporations and development corporations that were developed by some of the aboriginal groups in certain areas, communities, and regions that wanted to get into business and wanted to build houses, infrastructure, maintain roads or things of that nature. It started. This Government of the Northwest Territories, the previous governments, have initiated that and when there was a lot of money there, they started to go into negotiated contracts in a lot of those areas. There were sole-sourced contracts that are in place. These negotiated and sole-sourced contracts, I am in full support of if it is to develop expertise in a community in the regions, to try and keep money in the communities. In a lot of cases, we have been successful in achieving that. There are corporation companies that exist today, that if it were not for these policies, they would not be generating revenue and helping the economies in the communities in their regions.
I believe in that process, however, there is a closer scrutiny of those policies now. It seems to be coming from contractors from out in the larger communities. That is the impression at the community level. It is something we have to work through as well. In regard to requests for proposals, I think the public tendering process gets the majority of the contract dollars which come from this government already. There are certain parts of it which goes towards requests for proposals.
There is a difference in those two contracting regarding public tenders where you know what you need, you know what you have to get, so you do it and then companies bid for it. In regard to a request for proposal, you know what has to get done but you do not really know how to do it, so you ask for proposals from companies that are in a position to do it and then you try to get the best package. In that regard, I have no problem with requests for proposals. However, as the money has tightened in the last couple of years, also a side product of the restraints that we imposed upon our own systems to try to balance the budget, it is something that we have to look at and see how we could work through this. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 8
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
Thank you. We talk about, in terms of restoring confidence in the public, about the way we conduct ourselves and we also talk about how we can restore the confidence and morale of our senior managers in the civil service. Again, we go back to the motion. The motion is intended to review any and all aspects of this government, the way it conducts itself, its policies, and its procedures. All Members of the Legislature and the public have a chance to have a look at the way we operate, the policies we have and to tell us ways in which we could improve it.
I have no doubt that the way we contract our policies are going to be part of that equation. It is also no secret that increasingly the regions and even communities are asking to have exclusive control over public expenditures in their own immediate areas. There is a larger political concern of keeping all the regions and communities on side, by assuring them that the government, as a central government, will treat them fairly, take into consideration that if they do not get a fair share for most of these contracts, some of which are very infrequent and small, they would have literally no opportunities to increase training and the jobs that arise potentially from those contracts. I would say, if there are difficulties with contracting policies, then those are the kinds of things that we can review through this independent body that we said we would look at setting up. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 8
The Chair Samuel Gargan
Thank you. Mr. Krutko.
Future Plans Regarding FAE/FAS Programs in the Communities
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 8
David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for both candidates. The first question I would like to ask the candidates is about the problem in our communities with FAE/FAS students and children in our communities and our schools. I would like to ask the candidates what do they see, or what will they do, to improve on this problem and deal with it in the communities?
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 8
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
I said earlier that I thought it is going to be a priority for us as a government, as a Cabinet, to look for ways to increase the budgets of education and health and social services, so that they can have the money to do the kind of public education that is required to address the reasons why we have fetal alcohol syndrome, why we have so many social and health problems in our communities. The Department of Education requires money in the special needs area so that they have the capacity to address this particular need, because it is
a very large problem right now, in every one of our communities. It would be a priority on the part of all of us to try and find the necessary dollars so that they can start to work on this problem. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 9
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the problem of FAE/FAS in our students and children in our schools, the honourable Member is concerned that there is not enough funding in that particular area. This is where it comes from, that is what we deal with here in the Legislative Assembly. It is programs and services and the money to do the work. What we have been hearing over the last few years was that the funding in this particular area has not been increased, the forced growth has not been met, therefore this whole area has been declining, not in actual dollars being put into it, but because of the forced growth. There is a definite need there. The budget part of it is where can we find the extra dollars to put into the base, is what the honourable Member is talking about. We are not talking about a one-shot deal, we are talking about increasing the budget of this department to meet the needs that is there and address this problem. This is the level that we would deal with here.
You are asking what I see and what I will do when I get in there, I guess it is talk to the Minister responsible for it. He has raised that issue a number of times, that there is a definite need for assistance in that department. As a Cabinet, I suppose, and working with the Finance Minister, we are going to have to address that. Again, the problem is where are we going to get the extra dollars that are required, and how much is required, and where is it going to come from? As we all know, we have fixed dollars in the Legislative Assembly and whenever we are going to put money into another department's base, it has to come from some place else, or else we have to generate revenue somehow. Where can we do that? Perhaps, the Minister of Finance has been talking about looking at some sort of a tax that he is dealing with the federal government on. Perhaps, this is where this will come from. I do not know, I am not very familiar with that, but this is something that I am going to have to get familiar with. However, that is the way I see it right now. Thank you.
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 9
The Chair Samuel Gargan
Mr. Krutko.
Improve Oil and Gas Sector in the Northwest Territories
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Item 3: Election Of Premier
Page 9
David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My next question deals with the economy and the economic growth in the Northwest Territories. There has been a lot of emphasis put on money spent in developing the mining industry. I would like to ask the candidates what they will do to improve the oil and gas sector in the Northwest Territories? It seems like it is a low priority of this government at this time.