Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to respectfully comment on statements made by the Minister of Social Services yesterday, in response to Mr. Koe's questions. To the effect that "...it would not be advisable to use the agreement for the transfer of social services responsibilities to the town of Iqaluit as a model because it is ten years old." Mr. Speaker, to inform this House, the town of Iqaluit has been unhappy with these agreement for many years. The agreement is an agency agreement. It gives the town very little flexibility to set its own priorities in the social services areas within its responsibilities. It retains significant controls over major decisions in social services headquarters in Yellowknife and, until recently, payment authorities as well.
I would respectfully suggest that the Honourable Minister of Social Services be committed to responding to the long standing request of the town of Iqaluit to modernize and revise the agreement between her department and the town so that it is not an agency agreement, but a real community transfer agreement. It is not acceptable, in my opinion, that the Minister of Social Services should appear complacent about this ten year old model being inadvisable. She should be committed to revising and updating the agreement so it is a real transfer of power and not a clone of a departmental program. That agreement will not be a model for community transfer as long as there is continued resistance from the government to amending the agreement to transfer real authority and discretion to the town of Iqaluit.
When I was Minister of Social Services, I took steps to ensure the agreement would be substantially amended with fundamental character changes, but I was not around long enough to follow that through. The town is ready and willing to be much more than the department's agent. The town is anxious to set its own priorities and manage available funds with the flexibility to respond to shifting local needs and demands.
In closing, I urge the Minister to direct her officials to work with the town and revise this agreement.