Glen Abernethy

Now, Committee, we’ll turn to the bill. I would ask you to stand down the clause-by-clause and Preamble, and turn to the Schedule found on page 3, if the committee agrees.

Economic Development, not previously authorized: negative $1,864,000.

Total Department, not previously authorized: $2,764,000.

Total Department, $2,764,000 approved.

Road Licensing and Safety, not previously authorized: $300,000.

Road Licensing and Safety, $300,000 approved.

Total Department, not previously authorized: $1,533,000. Agreed?

Total Department, $1,533,000 approved.

Justice continued, Operations Expenditures, Community Justice and Corrections, not previously authorized: $214,000.

Page 23, Transportation, Highways, not previously authorized: $1,500,000.

In 1998, when the Games were last here, we had similar policies in place and the government’s decision at that time was, “Let the staff have the two hours.” I'm wondering why, several years later, we now look at the same or very similar policies and we're rigidly applying them. We are not seeing the value in having our staff work on the Games. We are not seeing the value in giving them the time they need without taking credit away from them. We're saying, “Yeah, do it, it’s great, but you have to use your own time,” whereas in the past, we've stood up for employees and given them the time they...

Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Human Resources and are related to the Arctic Winter Games and the volunteers, G.N.W.T. staff in particular.

The question is very specific to a two-hour block — two hours maximum per day — where individuals would be allowed to volunteer without penalty against their lieu time or annual leave. So where operational requirements permit and where a G.N.W.T. staff is registered as a volunteer and is either scheduled from a 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift or a 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. shift, the government has said no. Basically, if you need that two hours at the...

I happily acknowledge that the government is doing a lot for the Arctic Winter Games and that the commitments they’ve made are good commitments, but I come back to that two-hour block. You’re asking people to take lieu and you’re asking people to take annual. This volunteering is good for the community; it’s good for the public service. In fact, it can almost be viewed as a public service.

You talked about the fact that they’ve already got the 2,500 volunteers. Yes, but now they’re trying to schedule them. It’s proving to be quite difficult as people don’t want to work certain blocks because...