Bob McLeod

There would be 167 funded positions.

Mr. Chair, it was up to the individual departments to determine the best approach and identify potential reductions for review at Cabinet level.

Mr. Chair, I guess the best way to respond to that is that I think the number of positions at headquarters goes up and down depending on the staff that we have at the regional level. As much as possible, we like to have the services provided at the regional level, but on occasion we have staff who leave, and it takes some time to replace them, so that has impact on the headquarters level. As far as the reductions go, I think the approach that we took, our first cut at it, was to look at the vacant positions that we had in the department. That’s how we approached it.

Our experience with the staff retention policy is that if there’s no suitable job for an individual in their home community, they could look at jobs in other locations if they’re mobile and willing to move.

I guess I should have been more specific. The $628,000 is part of HR; $270,000 is the part that’s here in the directory. The remainder is in HR strategy and policy.

Mr. Chair, we have seven regional offices in the Northwest Territories.

In terms of the positions to be reduced, those were put forward by the departments. Of course, HR put forward their own reductions. It was our responsibility to make sure that those affected were dealt with properly.

The main change to the Revised Estimates is because of the technical service centre chargeback adjustments. That was the main reason for the change.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The departments have been delegated authority to do staffing and recruitment. So, as such, they have the authority to do that.