Great Slave

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

I think I get the point that the Member’s trying to make as who is ultimately responsible for usage, and because we have the responsibility for running and managing the buildings and paying the bills, we ultimately have responsibility for paying those bills. We would have conversations with departments when usage is identified as one of the driving increases on costs. But this is not something that’s actually been a problem for us.

I mean, we monitor billings. We have a pretty good baseline of what the costs are going to be and the usage is going to be, and when we see a spike we, as I’ve...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

I feel that it does. It addresses harassment in the workplace as well as abuse of authority, whether it’s overt, implied or suggested. The program is available, staff are aware of it, we continue to provide training to departments as they request it so that they can be prepared to assist employees when these types of situations arise.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Mr. Chair, I would say that there is still a significant opportunity to get financial return on this, which will help us save money. The Capital Asset Retrofit Fund, there is lots of opportunity out there to continue to use technology. It’s not just heating technology; it’s lighting technology, it’s distribution of air, it’s all these types of things that can help reduce our costs. We may eventually hit a point where there may not be as much economic return on some of these, but we will continue to move forward with the savings that we do have.

An example of a community where the savings aren’t...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Thank you. Some of that falls into other departments, like Education, Culture and Employment has some agreements for bandwidth so that they can run some of their school programs, and Health and Social Services is often in the same boat. With respect to the Technology Service Centre and offices that we’re responsible for, I don’t have that specific detail in front of me, but I will look to see if we can break it down to that degree. I’m not actually 100 percent sure that we can break it down to that degree because we’re buying bandwidth in a fairly large scale, but I will attempt to get that...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s not specific to that. It really depends on the size of the contract, the magnitude of the contract, the cost of the contract, not where a vendor happens to be located.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Maybe if I can get the Member to explain that a little more clearly. I’m not sure I fully understand what he’s asking.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT is committed to providing a workplace where all individuals are treated with fairness, dignity and respect. We do have a Harassment Free and Respectful Workplace Policy, which replaced our old Workplace Conflict Resolution Policy, which came into effect in 2011. One of the reasons we modified the program and went with the new Harassment Free and Respectful Workplace Policy was to reflect the current emerging jurisprudence in the area of personal harassment, which is, basically, bullying, and to reflect current GNWT structures and practices in applying the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have conversations. We talk about co-located facilities and things that we could do, and we certainly are involved. I’m not sure whether the Member is getting at hiring or having one position shared between. I’m not sure that that’s what she’s getting to. Can I get a little bit more clarity from the Member?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Mr. Chair, agreed.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For a specific definition of those two I will go to the deputy minister.