Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister of Finance and the Minister responsible for the public service, Mr. Chair, I believe over 400 members of the public service have put their names forward volunteering at various times to take part in the government's response to COVID-19. Not every one of them can necessarily be positioned somewhere as part of a direct COVID response. Although, I believe at one point, we hit 188, if not more, that were, in fact, redeployed. Again, every time you redeploy someone, you take them away from their home position, and you take them away from the programs and the services that I understand the Member is wanting us to be so mindful of. I agree with the MLA that we cannot interrupt the programs and services that people of the Northwest Territories are depending on and relying on, which is why you can't simply redeploy everybody without filling those positions or without finding a way to otherwise provide those services.
That's, again, part of the reason why there have to be new positions created to respond to COVID-19. I think a lot of people are tired of hearing it, but it is unprecedented. It is something that no one in the world knew what to do and how to respond to. Different governments in different jurisdictions are still figuring that out, but it takes new positions to do it. Otherwise, you wind up interrupting the programs and the services of government.
Mr. Chair, I want to make one last comment again with that lens of being responsible for the public servants is that it's not only those that were deployed under the front lines or deployed to respond under the secretariat's functions. Every single public servant, in my view, over the last several months have been responding to COVID-19, and every single one of them should take pride in the work that they've done. Every single one of them should take pride in being on the front lines of a response from the government, whether they were working at a desk to ensure that invoices were paid to governments or to businesses that were struggling, or whether it's people who are working in the health department. I know the Member is concerned about, and has spoken more than once, and I think I remember hearing the statement in the House, speaking about people's desire to be involved. I just wanted to acknowledge that, indeed, I do think the public servants really have risen to that occasion, so I appreciate that he's bringing attention to that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.