Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today on the subject of the restructuring of government departments. Governments, both past and present, have seemed intrigued with the concept of spending an enormous amount of time and energy designing and redesigning the processes and frameworks within which we carry out the task of governing. Perhaps in the past we had the time and money to embark on such costly reflection. There are less than 800 days left in the Government of the Northwest Territories as we know it, and we do not have the financial resources to facilitate any costly or rash adjustments to existing departments. And speaking of costs, there are many costs to be counted, even in the prolonged deliberation of restructuring and redesigning of departments. It requires a great deal of time by the effected departments. It creates uncertainty for staff, resulting in a loss of key, valuable employees, resulting in poor morale. It takes away from the important tasks at hand, the delivery of services, programs and information to our constituents. The shuffling of the debt, so to speak, also results in employees embarking on a learning curve, and it can take one to three years for a department to return to some semblance of normal operations.

I have done some research, Mr. Speaker, and have found that in the last 20 years, 60 such departmental restructurings have occurred. Take the Department of Health and Social Services, for example. In 1977, one department. In 1978, split up and, in 1994, put back together. All these changes in the name of increasing effectiveness and efficiency.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, at this time, in this government, at this juncture, we cannot afford to devote exorbitant amounts of resources to re-inventing the framework of government. We have more important tasks at hand, and I am sure the government of the west and the government of Nunavut will have their own ideas on how to structure their responsibilities and departments. Thank you.