Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I may be taking us a step backwards, but I would like to ask the Minister about the administration of the child care budget now that I have been briefed on the answers he previously gave. Now that this budget will be administered through his department with its great physical presence throughout the regions of the Northwest Territories, is the Minister prepared to move in the direction of providing better access to community groups at the regional level to the program officers who are making decisions about these day care funds? I think the Minister may well appreciate that it has been a great frustration to community groups from Iqaluit, let alone places like Pond Inlet or Pangnirtung, to have to deal with a well-intentioned, but very distant, bureaucracy in headquarters in Social Services in Yellowknife. It has been extremely frustrating for the staff and for community groups, especially from those distant regions, geographically as well as through language barriers, et cetera, to simply make applications, receive approvals and get cheques. Now that this responsibility is within the department, it has a presence in all regions. Is the Minister open to considering a more decentralized approach whereby groups could access this program through their regional headquarters? I think that would be a vast improvement and eliminate a great deal of frustrations quite apart from revisions to policy. I am just talking about operating the program within the present parameters. Thank you.
Dennis Patterson on Committee Motion 78-12(3): To Adopt Recommendation 5
In the Legislative Assembly on March 5th, 1993. See this statement in context.
Committee Motion 78-12(3): To Adopt Recommendation 5
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 4th, 1993
Page 774
Dennis Patterson Iqaluit
See context to find out what was said next.