Yellowknife South

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

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.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

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.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

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.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

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.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

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.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

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.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 10)

Mr. Speaker, in his Member’s statement the Member talked about a backlog of pay that hadn’t been processed that the Department of HR inherited through consolidation, which was inherited from the different departments. We are still in the process of eliminating that backlog, and I’m very pleased to say that we’re making substantial progress. We have a backlog team. We’re processing about a hundred final pay items on a weekly basis. We’ve reduced our backlog by close to 50 per cent. In order to do that, we have to be able to find files. Some files go back quite a number of years. So I wouldn’t...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 10)

Mr. Speaker, talking to staff on a regular basis is something that I try to do regularly, and I will continue to do so. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 10)

Mr. Speaker, I expect that we’ll have that information as part of the business planning process in May–June. We have toured some sites in Vancouver in order to help us develop our business plan.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 10)

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. We were very pleased with the outcome of our participation at the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse; our partnerships with Nunavut and Yukon on the marketing campaign; our N.W.T. House; and the athletes and performers and youth ambassadors who were there.

It is our intention to do the same thing again in Vancouver. Our government has entered an MOU with the governments of Nunavut and Yukon again, as well as the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Committee, to participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics.