Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I just wanted a chance to comment on the budget address generally. Along with my colleague Mr. Blake, I think nursing in our small communities is one of our priorities I would say, and trying to get that in the budget is proving to be difficult. I would sure like to get support in one of these budgets and say, look, having equal services in the small communities compared to the larger communities is just as important, so I will continue to push with that. I’ll proceed with a Member’s statement during this sitting, along with that as well.
Decentralization and devolution, decentralization is a key to MLAs from the regions and communities as well as I’m pleased that the budget address does mention that housing is critical, and I would
imagine office buildings, as well, but I think the key thing is a huge opportunity to get more jobs out to the regions and communities and I certainly support that and balance too.
I guess the big thing here is that once we get the jobs devolved to the Northwest Territories that people taking the jobs are advised that they won’t be entrenched in Yellowknife. At least some of the jobs that are potentially going to be moved to the communities at some point in time, it would be nice to have the discussion and start identifying how many would be transferred in the future.
I’ve always told my constituents that once devolution happens, there’s also decentralization, and to do my job, to have a big win, I would see a small mini-department set up in the community of Fort Simpson, which is a regional centre. There are 10 to 15 jobs potentially. That’s what I see in my mind. It would be a huge boost to the community.
I have to mention, of course, my two favorite words, Highway 7. Of course, that’s in the capital that we talk about in the springtime, but just as important is the operating and maintenance. Highway No. 7 still needs attention from the operating and maintenance budget, and I look forward to that. I made a statement in the House already that we try to get out there early, try to get our maintenance done just to avoid the embarrassment of getting vehicles stuck again, stuck on our highway right in the springtime, which is an embarrassment because tourists watch that. In fact, Highway No. 7, talking with Ted Grant, he’s so well known internationally that people actually call him from the tourism companies from Germany, from all the different areas that he’s been involved in, and ask him about Highway No. 7 and what shape it’s in. He has to be honest about it and tell them that people are getting stuck on there, so that hurts potential tourism traffic and that’s one of the things that I’ve always been saying, is that Highway No. 7 would be a good boost to Northwest Territories tourism, if we were able to complete the Dehcho loop right from the BC border and back out by the Alberta border. Along with Highway No. 7, too, residents of Fort Liard continue to stress to me at each of my visits that that’s how they make their living, they are on that highway all the time. So that’s why I continue to push for it and will continue to do so.
I’m pleased that we’re going to have a stable tax system, which means that the federal government announced that they won’t be raising personal taxes and I’m glad about that as well. We are already pressured as a workforce, pressured in the communities, pressured with the higher cost of living, gasoline, power, et cetera. It’s tough out there in the communities.
As well, the Minister spoke about increasing the workforce by 2,000 individuals to help with the revenue side of the budget, and earlier today, in my
Member’s statement, I think that we begin by filling our existing vacancies that there is, not to make those entry level jobs seem like you need a professional degree, you need five years’ experience, you need an accounting degree to become an accounting clerk. That is entry level stuff. I think one of my colleagues raised that in the House, saying who writes these job descriptions? We have to be more mindful of that. Sometimes the criticism in the community is that managers are actually writing those jobs for their friends. That is the criticism they get. Everybody knows it’s just an entry level position, so we have to be mindful of that and strive for that.
As well, I am concerned about our Affirmative Action Program, our representative workforce strategy. I think we have to continue to work hard about it, work hard on it and try to continue to hire our people from the communities in those community jobs, because that’s another criticism. They’re saying, I’ve been here, I have similar skills and somebody else comes in and gets that job and I have the same skills. That continues to be a criticism. We talk about employing our residents and our Northerners and they should be first.
Those are just my comments on the budget right now. Thank you very much.