Jane Groenewegen

I don’t know, I got an e-mail from somebody the other day who told me they saw me on TV and said I should go see a hairdresser. Seriously.

---Laughter

Oh, the feedback we get.

Anyway. Our public service is aging. It is prudent for us as a government to do succession planning to find out how we can take people who are interested in careers in the public service and provide them with the professional development, the training, and the opportunities they need to advance in the public service. I have had an inquiry from a constituent who was concerned about an individual who was direct appointed to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleague Mr. Abernethy talked about gatherings, conventions, the capacity of communities to accommodate people, and the appropriateness of some communities to accommodate certain discussions and dialogues. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report to the House that on October 16th and 17th, last weekend in Hay River, a group of representatives of community organizations interested in preserving the cultural and historic heritage history of their communities gathered together in Hay River. They held their meetings at our little Hay River Heritage Centre, which is a very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How are people in the ranks of the public service made aware of these types of opportunities that the Minister has outlined? How do they access information to that if they want to get the candidate that’s going to advance into some of these programs? Thank you.

In years gone past there were programs that were well known to people in the public service. My colleague Mr. Beaulieu, for example, entered the public service under a trainee program, where a trainee for a position was paired up, so to speak, with somebody in senior management and was sent out also for professional development to enhance their skills to become managers in various aspects of government service. What programs exist today? That was called a trainee program. I understand there’s been a MAP program in more recent years. What other opportunities are there that public servants can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for Human Resources some questions about this government’s succession planning.

Our public service workforce is always aging. I guess we’re always all aging.

---Interjection

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take Members on a little virtual tour upon entering the Northwest Territories at the Alberta border. You get to the border at the 60th Parallel. We still have our nice polar bear sign, although I understand the new sign has no polar bear on it at all, just a compass. The old polar bear sign is still there. Then you come across our new tourist information booth, which we spent a lot of money on. And thank you for that, ITI and tourism, for that beautiful new facility there.

However, we have to have people manning that tourist information booth who are...

Oh, we’ve got lots of time. Yes, let’s proceed with Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee would like to continue with the consideration of the capital estimates and today we would like to proceed with Public Works and Services and, time permitting, we want to move on to Education, Culture and Employment.

I agree with Minister McLeod that when we do have people come there, we want everything to look good and we want things to be tidy and clean, we don’t want the places to be vandalized or look unkempt. Our territorial park facilities, which include the facilities around the falls and Escarpment Creek, are open from May long weekend to Labour Day weekend. How much would it cost this government to extend that into a shoulder season of, say, Easter weekend to Thanksgiving weekend? How much money are we talking about? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up with my topic of my Member’s statement and that’s the facilities that are operated by the Government of the Northwest Territories that are visitor and resident related; they’re used by many NWT residents and visitors alike.

Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of people like Mr. McBryan, who would like to know why the gate is closed on the access to Alexandra and Louise Falls and the Escarpment Creek by Labour Day weekend when there are still many people visiting and coming into the North and people wanting to use these facilities, could I ask the Minister...