Bob Bromley

I’d be happy to wait, Mr. Chair. I didn’t hear the Premier say which section, but I’d be happy to wait for the appropriate one. Of course, we haven’t passed the whole department, so I’d also be happy to wait until we go to the final.

In reflection, I have to be quite disappointed that the Premier is not willing to welcome any input from our citizens on the issues that our people face. That’s shocking to me. It depends on what the question is on whether he is interested or not, so that’s a bit shocking, but let’s go with it.

With so many informed and caring citizens in our employment, and I assure the Premier, and although he sounds doubtful that we do have a significant number, there is some concern that GNWT may be tempted to silence public debate by preventing GNWT employees from expressing their opinions, even when the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks for the Minister’s clarification there. Again, I don’t know, but it just seems like it would be a good thing to have that built in somewhere in here, and maybe it is at some point, but I think that sort of clarity would be good. Although we hear about it in other forums, it might be good even in a narrative sense at the beginning of the department in the budget document here just to have that clarity. Just a suggestion there.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Premier today. I’d like to start by noting that a democracy works best when all citizens are able to speak their minds.

Would the Premier not agree that we should welcome respectful input from everyone if we want to get the best result?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That certainly explains it. I recall now. Thanks for that reminder. I see we’re nearing the end here. Was there a plan to move some of the department’s staff and programs to the Department of Finance this year or am I thinking of another department? My memory is stretching. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I’m sure I’ll find out soon when that will be happening.

In the process of reorganizing divisions or departments or sections or whatever, positions sometimes get deleted within the government, and I’m concerned about a situation where an employee in a position might be assured one day that they’re secure and then with an about-face by the government their position is designated as affected shortly thereafter. Are there standards that must be met here, and what recourse does an employee have when their employer goes back on their word such as in such a situation?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are all the questions I had. I appreciate that information. I guess I would note some of these things are meant to be funded I think out of the vacant positions. Obviously, we have over 600 vacant positions to be staffed and inactive that are funded on any one day. That’s a lot of moola. We know that those dollars are being used for many of these things, so if they are funded specifically on top of that, as well, I think there needs to be some real clarity in reporting and evaluation on those fronts. I will leave it at that comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the deputy minister for that information. I didn’t get my statistic again, but I think I heard that it’s not a reliable statistic anymore. Perhaps we don’t have any statistics that indicate our succession with all these tools to deliver succession planning. Forty years is great in one way, but in another way people may not be able to retire, and I think we are hearing that across this great country, and there’s a possibility that the types of policies we are putting in place are failing people and their interest in retiring early and moving on to other...

I’ll leave it at that. Obviously, the increase is more than a PY, but perhaps we will get the details as we go. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to follow up a little bit on succession planning, which I think this division is largely responsible for. This has been highlighted for a number of years now and our workforce has been aging, basically, as I understand it. I think we had a significant proportion of employees, something like 20 percent or maybe much more than that that were within five years of retiring. What is the current trend on that measure, whatever it is? Thank you.