Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We spend a lot of money promoting the North and making different investors aware of opportunities in the North. Where possible, we take trade missions to other countries, and I’m glad that this Member is starting to support some of those initiatives so that we can go out and make the world aware of business opportunities here in the Northwest Territories. We’re doing that even without royalties from the federal government, and we are taking every advantage to partner with the federal government and, certainly, we will look for any opportunities that are out there where...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, I have Mr. Tom Williams, deputy minister, Human Resources. On my right, I have Michelle Beard, director of strategy and policy for the Department of Human Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We now have transition in place. There’s been an increase of six positions for a two-year period. Right now, we are starting to make some gains. There was a brief increase for a number of reasons, but now that we have a transition team in place, our expectation is that we’ll begin to see a reduction in the backlog. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We do have some ideas of where we would like to go with developing a territorial park in Fort Resolution. We have had some very preliminary discussions with one of the former chiefs of Fort Resolution, and since October we’ve been endeavouring to meet with the Deninu Community Council, the Deninu K’ue First Nation and the Fort Resolution Metis Council, so we are committed to working with the community of Fort Resolution and we would certainly appreciate if the Member could assist us with helping set up these meetings so we can discuss where we can go from here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Chair, I am pleased to present the Department of Human Resources main estimates for the fiscal year 2010-2011. The mandate of the department is to provide leadership and direction to the Government of the Northwest Territories, its boards and agencies, in all areas of human resource management.

The Department of Human Resources is the face of the Government of the Northwest Territories as an employer. As the human resource service agency of the Government of the Northwest Territories, we are responsible for the development and implementation of government-wide human resource management...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The main reason for the increase is for the implementation of 20/20. So contracts have increased by $2.1 million for that purpose. Also, it includes funding for Employee and Family Assistance Program, HAY training, labour relation, a very small section. So the primary reason is for implementation of the 20/20 Strategic Plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Al and Feb Bohnet on their 65th wedding anniversary, and all their extended family of Bohnets who are here today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We’d be very pleased to be able to work with the fishermen to identify opportunities and plans to work with them in setting up their businesses so they can market Northwest Territories fish which, similar to the fur, is some of the best in the world. One of the things we have to do is work with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to determine responsibilities in terms of dealing with fishermen on Great Slave Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member is correct in his observation in that younger people, how green the place of employment is, is a factor in their decision-making. So the Government of the Northwest Territories does have a departmental Green Team. The terms of reference have been developed and the following departments are represented on the team: Environment and Renewable Resources; Industry, Tourism and Investment; Public Works; Municipal and Community Affairs; Justice; Housing Corporation; Human Resources; Aboriginal Affairs; and Transportation. So the team is right now finalizing a comprehensive inventory of...

There are some ongoing costs with operating the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. There are liabilities that have been cumulated through the operation of Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. At the time of incorporation, I understand there were some considerations that were agreed to by all of the different parties that agreed to participate as part of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. I understand that there was legislation that was passed by this House to allow our participation as well. So we would have to deal with that part of it also. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.