Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleague before me, Mrs. Groenewegen, I am going to continue to talk about NGOs on the pre-budget consultation. Since I became a Member two years ago, I have had regular and ongoing contact with a number of our NGOs out there, like the NWT Seniors' Society, that deliver programs on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories to residents in Yellowknife, as well.
Again, one of the most pressing concerns that I heard from them is the ongoing funding problems. Every year these organizations are waiting in limbo for the government or one of the health and social services authorities to confirm that they will be funded at the same level of the last fiscal year for the new one. It is time that this government drops the rhetoric and starts going through and doing some meaningful work that helps these agencies.
In the face of funding uncertainty, these organizations are unable to provide assurance to their employees that they will be, in fact, employed, once the government money does show up. Consequently, NGOs regularly lose employees who have to leave because of the uncertainty that this unstable position creates. That is not good for a family. That makes job security impossible. No one can get a mortgage without knowing that they will have a job next year. How does a person really start a true family working towards their future? The undue stress is not right. The red tape must end today.
Mr. Speaker, organizations again like the NWT Seniors' Society, and, of course, as well as many others, have a fantastic track record in delivering services to the people of the NWT. So I ask myself, how many years do these organizations have to demonstrate themselves to finally get the respect they truly deserve? Mr. Speaker, they should not have to spend inordinate amounts of time each year filling out administrative request after administrative request when they have truly a solid track record of providing great services at a great value. So again I say, if the government is listening, the red tape needs to end. We need to find ways to help these NGOs.
In 2002, the Social Agenda, a draft for the people of the NWT, recommended multi-year funding. We have got stone feet on this issue again. Every year, costs go up and the GNWT raises its rates. Authorities get more funding. Labour rates get covered, costs, et cetera, but NGOs continue to get the same amount of funding year to year.
Mr. Speaker, I will have questions later for the Minister of Health and Social Services, but I have to stress, we talk about pipelines and devolution. Let's make multi-year funding a hallmark of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause