Statements in Debates
No, we haven’t offered up any money to our share of any dredging. What we do know is that the federal government is not dredging the harbour in Hay River. They haven’t had a dredging program since the early ‘90s, late ‘80s. Since then we’ve had a little bit of money at one point. I think in 2012 there was $60,000 allocated to remove some of the silt from a key area. But aside from that, essentially the dredging program has been non-operational for the years. It would take some money, for sure, to get the dredging operational again. The dredging equipment that was being used previously at the...
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will commit to contacting the Members to obtain a list of individuals that may have been faced with being qualified and not being able to get into the public service.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our officials have had a meeting with the Canadian Coast Guard and encouraged them to meet with the CMAC and the AMAB, they are two organizations, I guess, known as the Canadian Marine Advisory Council and the Arctic Marine Advisory Board, to see if there can be some dredging done on the Hay River and along the route up the Mackenzie. Thank you.
We have worked with that as a department, Human Resources. We’ve reviewed all of the vacancies to be filled. We’ve looked at the qualifications of those vacant positions and we’ve looked at if any barriers at all were placed in any of those positions, barriers that would make it difficult for individuals of a priority group to get into those jobs.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Our affirmative action numbers are around 32 percent across the public service. Representative by population would be about 50 percent. We have an Affirmative Action Program designed to bring that number up more so that the public service is more representative. At the senior management level, the percentage is lower than that. I do believe it’s around 20 percent of our public service that’s Aboriginal. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I would.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent granted
Within that review of the Public Airports Act, we’re extending the leases to a maximum of 30 years. That gives them a longer period, so something more definite. We also lay out in the lease that there would always be a market value for the lease. So every five years we do a market assessment on the lease and then the individuals are advised. If there is to be an increase on the lease payment, then the lessee is advised eight months in advance of any increases. We’re hoping that this will build more certainty for the individuals that are leasing at the airport.
Thank you, Madam Chair. For the times and what we’re using as opposed to maybe a conventional letter of appeal, it could be using some e-mail process, but using the Internet and so on, so I’m going to just ask the deputy to provide the details of what we’re streamlining.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Transportation is proposing amendments to the Public Airports Act to make the act more efficient and effective. We are finalizing a legislative proposal to amend the act and we’re hoping that a review for that will be before committee within the next month or so. Early 2015 is our schedule. We are looking at things like harmonization with the Motor Vehicles Act, giving people at the airport the same authority that lie within the Motor Vehicles Act. We’re looking to extend leases at the airport. There are a few things that are laid out in the...