Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. As a government we are very supportive of land use plans. We have land use plans with the Gwich’in, the Sahtu, the Tlicho, and we’ve been working with the Dehcho on the Dehcho Land Use Plan. We’ve signed a bilateral terms of reference with the grand chief where we have been working together without prejudice to find ways to resolve some very complex land issues, and we’re very supportive of the Dehcho Land Use Plan going forward. As I said before, every time I meet with Minister Valcourt I press the need for appointing a Minister’s...

Our government is not recognized as one of the 100 best employees in Canada because we aren’t looking after employees. If the Member has a list of employees affected that aren’t being offered jobs and are being shown the door, give it to us and we’ll fix the problem. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member is correct; 24 people were affected by shared services, 20 of them have jobs. There are four that have still not been placed, one in the Deh Cho and three in Yellowknife. I fully expect that they will all find suitable, reasonable employment consistent with what they are doing now.

There are three negotiating parties at the table, and we have to have some consistency across the Northwest Territories, but we do have a regional administrative system already in the Northwest Territories, so I expect that that’s something that could be negotiated, I would think.

I don’t want to be talking out of school here because we’re still going through different processes. The Dehcho are going through their process; we’re going through our process. But I think we just have to be careful here. We are talking about such an authority, but I think we have to make sure that the understandings and definitions of what that authority will be are consistent. I can say that we are discussing that.

I would just like to confirm for the Members that between January 1st and December 31, 2013, there were 1,605 public service appointments. One hundred three of these, or 6.4 percent, were by direct appointment. Affirmative action candidates make up 67 percent of direct appointments in 2013. Graduate nurses, social workers, interns and teachers constitute 15 percent of all direct appointments.

As the Member indicates, direct appointments are only one tool. It is a very rigorous process it goes through. All of our deputy ministers have been delegated staffing authority and in order to get a...

Mr. Speaker, I have a tendency to be optimistic, so I will say that we will be able to respond before the end of this session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, human resources, all of our employees are our most valuable asset and we are very proud of all of our employees. I have already answered his question and the answer is no. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Direct appointments have been a management tool for this government ever since this government has been in place. On every occasion, a direct appointment is a benefit to the government and it is provided for through appropriate legislation and we will continue to use that practice.

The Member complains that we don’t have positions filled. We’re trying to fill positions and now he doesn’t want us to fill positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, February 21, 2014, I will move that Bill 10, Northwest Territories Lands Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.