Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this motion. My comments are similar to those of my colleagues.
I haven’t been directly involved in the program. I don’t have many constituents who are directly involved in the program, but I am well aware of the deficiencies of the program. It’s been made known particularly through social media, Facebook, the printed and the electronic media and so on.
Since the change came in two years ago, I’ve heard nothing but negative comments about this new program. Those comments have come through social media, Facebook, the printed and the electronic media and so on. Since the change came in two years ago, I’ve heard nothing but negative comments about this new program, and those comments have come from a variety of people. They’ve come from retailers. They’ve come from residents, in particular. They’ve come from previous
federal employees, an employee who managed the program, and certainly from MLAs in both of our sister territories in the North, the Yukon and the Nunavut Legislatures.
It seems to me that from everything I’m hearing and everything I’m seeing, that the old system was better, and people do not want to continue with this new system because it’s a reversion to a system that doesn’t work. It escapes me why the federal government made those changes in the first place. I don’t think they did due diligence in their investigation into how a new system would work, and I think they overlooked a number of things that have made the system inoperable.
Our sister territories have discussed this and have passed motions calling for the same thing that we are calling for here today, and I think a united northern voice would carry a much further weight than just two out of three calling in the wind. I would, as Mr. Hawkins said earlier, exhort all of my colleagues to support this motion and show a unanimous voice.
I think an objective evaluation and an objective audit is what is needed, and I think, as has been stated, the office of the Auditor General is the perfect office for that job. They’re well known for their ability to be objective and to look at things with a practiced eye, to look at things with a very objective eye, and to make recommendations which make programs better, and we’ve seen that in this Assembly with the reports that the Office of the Auditor General has done, on behalf of this Legislature, for various departments.
I think they can compare the previous program with the new program and see where the failings are, and can make recommendations for the system which would work to the benefit of our residents instead of to the detriment of our residents, which is what I think this current program does. Again, I urge all Members to support this motion, as I will.