Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When Northstar came to me and identified their concerns, I asked the BIP monitoring office in ITI to review the process. I have subsequently asked the Department of Justice to review the process, as well as the Department of Public Works and Services to review the process. All three have come back to me and advised that there is not enough that was wrong with the process to warrant overturning it. As Public Works has said, there were a number of procedural issues with the RFP, but while they may lend themselves to an error of public uncertainty about the process...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have said, the structure of the Department of Human Resources will be just as recommended by the Hackett report very shortly. That would mean that there will be the number of managers that were recommended as well as the staffing levels.

It takes some time to move. When the department was created, we had 188 people that came in from various departments. Trying to move those positions into the exact right position for each employee and to fit into the organization has been somewhat challenging. It has required retraining, staff moves and it takes some time to go...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member asked how many new positions were new. All the new positions are new. Of the positions advertised, two are new. The rest are existing positions. I think, Mr. Speaker, it is important to remember that the amalgamation of the Department of Human Resources was staffed with 188 people. Over the course of the year and a bit that has happened since then, the staffing component has dropped. So these are not additional positions. These are positions that have been outlined in the Hackett report and recommended for inclusion. We expect that, from 188, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 14, Employment Standards Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill replaces the Labour Standards Act, the Employment Agencies Act and the Wages Recovery Act with a single statute.

The bill applies to all employers and employees, subject to certain exceptions, and restricts the circumstances in which persons 16 years of age or younger may be employed.

The bill fixes the standard and the maximum hours of work in a day and in a week, subject to certain exceptions, and provides entitlements to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve said, the process was reviewed by three agencies of government and we have been advised that we really have no other recourse than to ensure that, while the contract is being delivered, we are vigilant in ensuring that the terms offered by the current contractor are lived up to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not certain that this could be characterized as a situation where information was false. There was an issue with one of the subcontractors being included in the initial response to the RFP who should not have been included. That was an issue, but it was explained as an inadvertent mistake and the company has apologized for that inclusion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Progressive Experience Program and the Relevant Experience Program provide funding to departments and to boards and agencies that are involved in working with the government, health boards, etcetera. For instance, Yellowknife Health and Social Services does get funding in order to support students. But there is no program right now that subsidizes student summer employment for the private sector.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as we’re aware at Human Resources, the numbers of jobs have not been reduced. Of course, we’re not always aware of what jobs or positions departments are looking to fill. The Progressive Experience Program and the Relevant Experience Program are both being funded to the same degree and the same level of support as in previous years. So we would think that departments would find a way to hire a similar number of students. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the best of my knowledge, that has never happened. If it has happened, it hasn’t been formally transmitted to the department so that we are aware of it.

Had something like that come to our attention, it would have been an issue that would have been a very serious concern and followed up.