Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I am aware that when you’re processing 7,000 cheques every two weeks, you’ll have some complaints. I am aware that there were over 2,000 final pays that were carried over from the previous government under the old system of decentralized human resources, and I am aware that we’ve reduced that backlog by 50 per cent. Most of the complaints that are coming in are from ex-employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what kind of threats he’s referring to, but I normally think that threats are probably not appropriate in any circumstances.

With regard to the motion, I would like to update the Members on what the Government of the Northwest Territories will be doing. The Government of the Northwest Territories intends to undertake a review of the electricity rates, regulation and subsidy programs. Cabinet recently authorized the establishment of the ministerial energy coordinating committee to ensure that the energy priorities identified by the 16th Legislative Assembly are coordinated across government. This committee is comprised of the Ministers of Industry, Tourism and Investment; Environment and Natural Resources; and the...

Mr. Speaker, I’ll remind the department as well as the Member that Human Resources is not the only department that is responsible for the morale of the Territorial public service. The managers in all departments are responsible for managing their employees. Human Resources is a service department. We provide services to the Government of the Northwest Territories and to the managers.

Mr. Speaker, as I tried to explain yesterday, we are not undertaking random searches of people’s offices. We have a backlog of work that has been carried over from previous departments, and we’ve been working very hard to eliminate this backlog. Because of the fact that we have very limited resources, we have to work on weekends. We have a backlog team, whose only time they can work to reduce the backlog is on weekends. Not everybody works on weekends, so we have to be able to go into offices to get files that we need to clear up the backlog.

I too would like to recognize Gord and Jessie Oystrek, constituents from Yellowknife South. Also, I’d like to recognize Father Joe Daley from St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church here in Yellowknife. Also, Joe Constreau, the federal representative in Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, there is a proposal that was put forward. I think it would be premature for me to indicate what that figure is, but we are looking at some substantial dollars.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve had some discussions with Nunavut and Yukon governments. We have developed a proposal, and that will be subject to the outcome of our budgeting process.

If I recall correctly where the money went, it eventually went into the regional departmental budgets, because the expectation was that training would be paid for as part of the normal course of doing business. So that’s where it went. I don’t think it’s an area where we can go back and track exactly where it went, to dig it back out and resurrect it. It would have to be looked at as part of the overall budget planning, strategic planning process.

The Government of the Northwest Territories currently has a number of programs that we’re using for bringing people into the public service. We have the Management Assignment Program, we have the summer student program, and we have an internship program. We’re relying on the N.W.T. Apprenticeship Program and the education system and adult education to bring more people into the workforce.