Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier mentioned in this House, I think it was yesterday, when he was describing how the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, how a political decision was made three years ago to smash, as he said, three departments together. It was clearly a political decision. That was three years ago.
We are in the business of trying to provide good government and what we are looking at is a program review of what was a major amalgamation. Since I have been in the 14th Assembly, the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development has been under considerable amount of discussion as to what it is doing. Should it be split, should it not be split? Should programs be done a certain way or not done a certain way?
But this is not a political review. We are not asking, as far as I know, and I am not asking the Auditor General to tell us if we should split this department again. What I am asking or hoping the auditor will tell us, as he did in the 13th Assembly when we asked for an audit of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, was to do a program review, which they did. They came back with a whole number of very good recommendations, the majority of which were acted on. Recommendations the department responded to and the committee had a chance to look at. I believe we improved the service of that department as a result. This is not something that should be feared. This is something we should be welcoming as a way to improve how we do business for the people of the Northwest Territories.
I recognize the Premier has been the Minister responsible for this department since its inception and the Minister responsible for Finance was the former deputy, and they put a lot of effort into making this department work. Now it is time, as good business tells us to do, to take a look at whether or not it was the right decision. Are things working absolutely perfectly as they would tell us, or are there ways we can improve service to our people? Mr. Speaker, that is the way I am approaching this.
I have no desire to see this department split at this point, but it has been a subject of discussion. I would ask the Members of Cabinet not to be alarmed. What we are practicing is good business, good government and trying to find out, from a program point of view, it there are improvements and how well things are working. Maybe they will tell us it is absolutely in tip top condition and there is no room for improvement. Then we will be sitting here heaping kudos and throwing rose petals at the feet of Cabinet for the good management of that department.
But I look forward to this and I think it is important. The Auditor General will do it. The Auditor General has a long history in the North, as Mr. Braden indicated, and there is no cost to this government. We should be laying out the departments we want to see evaluated over the next four years, to give us, as legislators, guidance. Thank you.