Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The nomination process, or the application process for people interested in nominating people for the awards is fairly open. It is well advertised to all the communities, it is advertised in all the regions, it is advertised at headquarters. People cannot make application, they have to have someone nominate them if they wish to be there, Mr. Speaker, so it is open to everyone. We receive the applications then, second, there is a committee of deputy ministers because this is a peer assessment process. A group of deputies then assess the applications and will make...

Mr. Speaker, of course our first objective is to have management assignment program clients, enrolees who have the aptitude and the skill to be able to take on senior management positions, but I have had the same concern as the Member is raising that when I look at the list of who is enrolled in the program there are not very many aboriginal people there. We need to do more to encourage aboriginal employees to apply for the program, and to give them the training and skill development that is necessary for it. So, Mr. Speaker, I have spoken with the deputy minister and the director of...

Mr. Speaker, the program is managed by the director of corporate human resources. The intake for the program is once a year. The deadline for the new intake is June 15th. So they will be shortly doing the assessments for the new people. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to announce this year’s recipients of the Premier’s Award for Excellence.

The Premier’s Award for Excellence was created to recognize GNWT employees who have distinguished themselves through work-related achievements and contributions.

Today, I honour the following employees and teams for their accomplishments.

Bob Bailey is an assistant deputy minister with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Since his time with RWED, he has shown a strong commitment to its overall goals and initiatives. This has included developing...

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member that anything I put my hands on is probably going to improve substantially.

---Laughter

I will certainly take her advice on that and, yes, I would like to review this one because we did not get as many applications as I would like to have seen. So, Mr. Speaker, I think this is again another one that we will want to look at and ask if the process we are using is an appropriate one. The deputies, the team who are putting it together, tried to be as open as possible, advertise as broadly as possible, and open it up. But with advice from the Members, I’d...

Mr. Speaker, the program is ongoing. All but five of the current people in the program have been placed or are on assignment. So the program is functioning for them. The deadline for application for new people who want to take the program or be enrolled in the program is June 15th. So if there are individuals out there that any of the Members are aware of, and who are interested in being in the program, then I would certainly be interested in their names and ensure that they have the opportunity to go through the application process. But, as I said, all but five of the current people in...

Mr. Speaker, there is a committee, and a fairly structured but fair process for doing assessments on any applicants or nominees who are being considered for the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, planning for the western Premiers' conference is in full swing and I would like to take this opportunity to provide an update of this prestigious event the Northwest Territories is hosting on July 7th to 9th in Inuvik.

Intergovernmental affairs representatives from the seven western jurisdictions are working on finalizing the agenda for the meeting amongst western Premiers. Premiers have not yet endorsed the agenda, but I can tell you that I have proposed that energy and devolution and resource revenue sharing be included. Once the agenda has been finalized and endorsed by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to first congratulate you on your new position as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and welcome the honourable David Krutko as the new Member of the Executive Council. I look forward to a continued constructive and cooperative working relationship with you both.

I am pleased to inform this assembly that I have assigned the following portfolio responsibilities effective 5:00 p.m. today.

The honourable David Krutko will be Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and Minister responsible for the Workers’...

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, all of the rates for the first 700 kilowatts are subsidized back to the Yellowknife price. So if we find that the prices are going up in the diesel-generated power communities, then it will be the government who will be subsidizing through our power subsidy program, not Yellowknife, but the government will be subsidizing all those communities to bring them back to the Yellowknife prices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.