Bob McLeod

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, I wish to table the following document, entitled Northwest Territories Community Futures Program Annual Report to March 31, 2007.

Document 26-16(2), Northwest Territories Community Futures Program Annual Report to March 31, 2007, tabled.

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.

Mr. Speaker, all government employees and the computers that they use are the Government of the Northwest Territories’ assets, so it’s important for the government to know what the passwords are. The Department of HR is a department that’s different than other departments, because we deal with processing pay and leave and pension records for all employees. So it’s important for us to be able to access the records of all employees on a regular basis. We need to know where the information is; we need the most up-to-date information.

If an HR employee is not there and we get a complaint from an...

In March 2007 the 15th Legislative Assembly released the Northwest Territories Energy Plan and Greenhouse Gas Strategy, outlining a comprehensive approach to addressing the many and varying energy challenges that we face in our communities.

The Energy Plan introduced a wide range of tools and incentives to assist N.W.T. residents and communities in reducing their energy use. It specified investments to advance the use of alternative and renewable energy sources and to find ways to apply emerging technologies in our harsh environment. Members of the 16th Assembly have reiterated many of these...

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.