Bob McLeod

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I wish to table the following document, entitled 2007 Annual Report for the Public Utilities Board of the Northwest Territories.

Document 23-16(2), 2007 Annual Report for the Public Utilities Board of the Northwest Territories, tabled.

I would be pleased to do that. Also, it would help us immensely if the Member would make us aware of the job categories or positions that he had concerns with.