This is page numbers 431 - 469 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 7th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Premier again. I am following up on questions that were asked by Mrs. Groenewegen and Mr. Ootes. Unlike them, they are looking for long term funds and I think that is important, but I think within the next year we are going to need additional funds to provide proper health care and teacher education in our communities. I am looking for funds in the short term, Mr. Speaker. Sometimes I sit on this side of the House and get very frustrated when Ordinary Members ask questions of the Ministers along the lines of when are you going to put more funds into education, or when are you going to put more funds into the health care, and the Ministers respond there is no more money and then they ask the question, where do you want us to take it from?

Mr. Speaker, I find that very frustrating with the very competent and capable bureaucracy that these Ministers have at their disposal, and they are asking Ordinary Members over on this side of the House, who have limited resources in research staff, to provide those answers. Mr. Speaker, I fully intend to answer the question that is put by some of the Ministers sometimes when they ask where are we going to find the funds?

Mr. Speaker, we all know that there are large amounts of money spent by this government in the area of travel. I am wondering if the Premier would agree with me that the amount that is spent in travel, and I do not anticipate that the Premier would have that type of information available to him, but would he agree with me that there is probably at least $10 million a year spent on travel within the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Premier.

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Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the honourable Member asked about travel, I take it he meant all travel that is paid for by the government. I am told that medical travel alone is way more than $10 million a year. Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

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Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for part of that answer, and I appreciate that he may not have the information available. What I was talking about, Mr. Speaker, is travel that takes place by the bureaucracy, by politicians, that amount of money. Would he agree that, that is probably in excess of $10 million a year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Premier.

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Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is something I am not very familiar with. I have to consult with my finance Minister, so I will try to get that answer to the Member as soon as I can. Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

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Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Mr. Speaker, on the question of travel, I recognize that is extremely important for the government and is extremely important for the bureaucracy that they meet their counterparts, go to conferences, bring back new ideas and different ways of doing things. I think that is very important, and I am not looking at trying to curb that. I personally, and I am sure each one of us have paid full fair tickets on occasion, Mr. Speaker, and this is the type of money that I am trying to propose that the government look at saving. My question to the Premier is, would he consider initiating a policy where travel can only be done on excursion rates? In other words, you have to plan seven days ahead before you would take a trip. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Premier.

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Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have to look at this. I think the Members of Cabinet will have to discuss this, and then we will look at it to see whether that is a possibility. I think it is a good idea. I think we may have policies in place already that kind of direct us in regards to new travel policies and so forth. There are policies in place. We will look at those and see what the possibilities are to taking this suggestion of the honourable Member into looking at this policy. Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Henry.

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Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that the Premier, if he has some calculations done on each department in the past years and the amount the budget that was used for travel and the portion that could be saved -- I wonder if the Minister would bring that information back to the House each year, how much travel took place for the last couple of years and how many fares were full fare and how many were excursion, and let us try and get a difference on what this government could save. Will the Premier commit to bringing that

information back to the House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Premier.

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Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you. Whenever a request is made for departments to do research into what happened in the last couple of years takes a substantial amount of time. Perhaps that research will be a good research if it eventually saves money, and we will do that. Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Mrs. Groenewegen.

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Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear what my colleague is saying here. He has identified travel as an area where he believes this government could save substantial amounts of money. I know this is not the budget process, this is question period. Mr. Speaker, I also have a suggestion and I would like to find out if the Premier would be willing to pursue my idea. Mr. Speaker, each and every day, as MLAs and I am sure people throughout the bureaucracy of this government, receive probably about (Mr. Erasmus would not mind if I borrow his desk) this much paper almost on a daily, if not every second day, basis, that we live in a modern age of technology. We do not all need hard copies of every document that this government produces, which I am sure we spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars on to produce, not to mention the fact that it is environmentally not a good idea. Any and all of these documents could be downloaded onto computers that Members and the public could access once they become available as tabled documents. We have a real subculture of paper in the bureaucracy and in the government. This is another area of potential savings. Is this an area the Premier would be prepared to look at as a cost-saving measure? Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Premier.

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Jim Antoine Nahendeh

We will do what we can. Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

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Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River

Thank you, if I could continue on the ideas to save money because, as Mr. Henry says, this is something we get thrown back at us all the time. Where can we save money? Mr. Speaker, I want to say, for the record, that if we were to be asked, does this government waste money, I am sure we would have to honestly answer that, in fact, it does. We have a library over here that is full of strategies, reviews and documents. Yesterday's studies are today's dust collectors. All of these things have a shelf life, and before we have even had a chance to really read the last one, we are embarking on a new one. Would the Premier agree to look at the possibility of...right now we are heading into another Ministerial Forum on Health, and we just spent $350,000 on the Ministerial Forum on Education. Would the Premier agree to try and put a stop to this insatiable desire this government seems to have to review and study? Thank you.

--Applause

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Premier.

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Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes there are strategic plans in place to refocus and relook at what we are doing and how things are getting done. We have a consensus government here, and every time we want to do something, everybody out there, the communities, want to have a say. In this whole area, in the area of let us say, Health and Social Services, there was a request for a public inquiry into Health and Social Services, let us say, into the Inuvik area. That causes a heck of a lot more dollars than doing the strategic plan. Again, we in the Western Territory here, we are a smaller territory and like the Minister of Health and Social Services is saying, we have nine Health and Social Services Boards. We have nine administrations that are running the Health and Social Services Boards in the west. When we were together with Nunavut, perhaps we were functioning for a bigger area and more people. Now that we are smaller, we have to refocus and recharge.

Perhaps the Health and Social Services Minister's Forum will make some suggestions on how to cut some costs and save dollars. Perhaps that could be a way of finding more dollars, but it might also be a way of saying the arrangements on how to streamline some operations and have better health and social services care. Yes, you are asking that we should stop doing strategic plans and I think that there is a need for it, especially with this consensus style of government we have, and every time we want to do something, people want to have a say. So there is a need for it, I think, but I agree that perhaps before any other strategic plan gets struck up that we take a real close look whether there is a need for it before we undertake the next strategy. I do not see anything coming down the line here on that, but if anything is suggested, we have to take a real close look at it. Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

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Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, I know that the study or the inquiry into Health and Social Services was requested, but the Premier says that people want to have a say and that with our consensus style of government, we have to consult the people. Well, we are here representing those people and what we are saying is that this government spends too much money soliciting input from people, which it may or may not act upon, and too often probably does not act upon anyway. I had called for a couple of documents from the library here the other day on deficit-cutting ideas that was conducted in late 1995. A lot of the comments from the public in there would be the same as if you went out and asked them again today, but probably would not read that,

we would probably file it some place.

Mr. Speaker, we are here to represent the people. We are a part of this consensus government too. Perhaps the Cabinet could consult with us when they want to know where we could save money or different ways that we could find of doing things. It is possible to say no to consultation as well. Everybody wants to be a consultant. It does not mean we can afford, as a government, to consult everybody. Just say no. That is what Cabinet says to us all the time when we ask for more money for education. Mr. Speaker, would the Premier agree to consider putting a moratorium on this next ministerial forum which will probably cost another third or quarter of a million dollars on Health and Social Services and look for a cheaper way to solicit information and input on the way this department conducts its business? Thank you.