Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement today in terms of the Regional Recruitment Program. There was a press release that went out on October 23, 2013. I just want to get an update. In the statement it said training is anticipated to start to be on the job in early 2014.

I would like to ask the Minister of Human Resources, what is the update on that program and do we have actual full-time government employees who went through this program? If so, how many?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that we’ve looked at the 20/20 strategy and we do understand that a lot of our employees are going to be retiring. They are coming to that age where they’re going to retire and we will need people to fill those positions. A lot of them will be in senior management, so I think it’s a great opportunity to look at our long-term service employees and give them the tools.

The Minister did mention that this month we’re going to have one of our recruitments in place, so I wonder what his targets are for this year in terms of getting individuals into this program.

Does he...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories monitor its loans receivable and develop targets and measures to improve collections, with a view to reducing the allowance for doubtful accounts to less than 30 percent. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a motion as well. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories review its accounts receivable from Nunavut, the purpose of this review being to develop targets and measures to improve collections, and to identify and write off those debts that are deemed to be uncollectible. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just moving on with more of these human resources issues that have come to my attention, when we’re trying to get casual employees into the workforce, in some cases the individuals have to go through a criminal records check and there’s a cost to that. Most recently, I’ve heard when people are seeking employment with the GNWT, when they are filling out their forms and applications, now they have to look for a Commissioner for Oaths to sign off on the new forms.

I just want to know if the Minister would look at waiving those fees or if there is a process and how we can get this done a lot...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did request some concerns from constituents back home regarding some of the HR practices being presented to people who want to get into the workforce and also with some members that want to access some of their HR files.

I want to ask the Minister of Human Resources what is the policy for any GNWT employee, current or past, that would like to access their Human Resources personnel files. Is there a policy and how does one go about accessing them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The allowance for doubtful accounts is an estimate of the amount of accounts receivable upon which the GNWT does not expect to collect. In 2012-2013 allowance was about 41.4 percent of total loans receivable. In 2011-12 it was about 38.45 percent of the total loans receivable. The year prior it was approximately 30 percent.

The committee sees that this is a concern with the incremental increases over the years and wants to try to address that before next year gets a little bit higher. We want to make sure this government does the right thing in terms of monitoring it and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just before I begin, I too would like to thank the committee for all the hard work within the public accounts portfolio. Being this is the second time that we’ve moved forward in public accounts receivable, I just want to make note that again this year the standing committee noted with concern the substantial amount of money owing in accounts receivable from the Government of Nunavut. While this figure has decreased from close to $10 million in 2011-2012 to $7.78 million this year, the committee reiterates its concern that maintaining such a large interest-free...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regards to signing off on these forms, if the Commissioner for Oaths is not available to sign it off or they might be working or out of town – some communities don’t have too many of them – it seems that an easy fix to this may be to have someone in the Human Resources department sign off on these forms.

Could the Minister look at developing a position or giving someone in the Human Resources department authority to sign off on these? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Most recently, I heard that we had some GNWT employees who were trying to access their file and were told they had to go through ATIPP and pay the fees to access their own personnel files, which I believe under the UNW Agreement they have the right to look at their files.

If so, when did this practice come in, GNWT employees now having to pay $25 to access their own personnel files? Is that something new that HR has implemented and when did it occur? I’m sure committee hasn’t heard anything on that, so I would like a little more information on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.