Yellowknife South

Statements in Debates

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.

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

I am familiar with the on-the-job training program that the Member is referring to. I’m also familiar with the on-the-job training program that the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development had back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Both programs were very successful in getting people to work for the government at the community level. As the Member correctly stated, in most cases these types of training programs usually fall prey to budget cuts. But this would be something we’d be prepared to look at as part of our strategic planning.

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

The previous government spent a lot of money on a review, which is less than two years old. Right now we’re focusing on results, on making sure people are paid on time and reducing our backlog. Once we’ve done that, I’d be pleased to do a review.

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

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...

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

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...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 9)

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 9)

This is a priority that we’ve undertaken. We review all job ads for consistency. We also try to reduce our costs as much as possible so that we can facilitate the hiring process.