Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple areas I want to talk to today. The first one, of course, is Public Works taking back the utilities to track them. I support this initiative. I think consolidation in the sense of one billing process, one group organizing this and being able to track it and monitor it, and certainly hopefully someday understand it will be a useful step I think for us to get a grip on what we are using as far as utilities are concerned.
The only concern I have with this particular issue -- and I like to think that because it’s at the beginning we will certainly have a position to strive to avoid this -- is what are we going to do with this. I hope there is a plan of attack on how departments will be somewhat accountable for the amount that they spend and certainly in the context of we’ll work to strive to spend less on things like utilities.
In the past we’ve heard nothing but, oh, it was an unforeseeable year and the expense just grows and grows and grows with no understanding of why. And furthermore, I’ve heard, through many people over the years, that a lot of departments don’t really know or understand how much they’re really spending as far as utilities go. I understand the fact that lights always need to be on in schools and hospitals and whatnot, but I think people need to understand where they’re spending their money. Once you understand that, you can also get a sense of how you can spend your money wisely. I think that has to be a critical component to amalgamating the utilities under one roof. I certainly think it probably was a visionary sort of step for some and others may not have wanted to give up the control, but I understand that there’s probably a management headache attributed to it trying to figure out what goes where. I do think a coordinated
role in this particular case will be very useful for a government our size to help, as I said, manage this expense.
Another area I’d kind of like to touch base on, and I’m glad the Minister brought someone from TSC here today. I look for hopefully some insight in this particular area. Although it’s not a new trend, it’s certainly becoming a constant one that’s been growing by leaps and bounds. It is the use of Skype. I hear about this quite regularly now in the city of Yellowknife, that many people are talking long distance through the use of Skype. I can only wonder if this will provide a benefit to the territorial government, whether you’re living and working in a small community and you need to talk to headquarters or vice versa where headquarters needs to talk to someone in one of the small communities. Does this provide an opportunity for us to do business better and, certainly, smarter?
People who use it tell me that their phone bill has gone down dramatically. The government is always trying to find new ways that make a lot of sense to save money. From folks I’ve talked to who use this process, do save a lot of money when they speak to friends, relatives, and whatnot across the country and across the world. Perhaps this can be an opportunity the department could look into if they have not yet. If they have at this time, I’d certainly like to hear more about it, because I’m not aware of this being used within the government system so far. Everything I’ve heard about being able to use Skype is it’s a great investment and people have saved a lot of money using that process. I don’t necessarily believe it’s for everyone and certainly the capacity level on our lines that would carry the Web to every community may not facilitate these types of endeavours, but it all starts with two phones, not one, to start making change, and obviously we could start from there. I’d certainly like to hear if there’s optimism to give something like that a try.
At this time the rest of the issues raised within the Minister’s opening comments, I certainly support the work being done on Deh Cho Hall. I know that one very well. I fully understand the accounting for it. Removal of the Tulita school, Chief Albert Wright. I certainly support the efforts by my colleagues about getting more community people working in their community. I stand supportive of the statements so far here and, as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t mind hearing just a little more on those two particular areas. Thank you very kindly.