Tom Beaulieu

I will try to have the director provide some detail on the increases and whether or not we are in a position to look at savings elsewhere.

Yes, we do.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We can provide that information to the Member.

We can provide that information to the Member.

Again, as I indicated, that was the full sum of the vacancies in the Department of Human Resources. We could, I suppose, go through the detail on the rest. We do have a report on the rest of the vacancies for the rest of the departments, but to speak specifically on the processes that are going through, or the plan that the various departments have on filling those positions, I don’t have that information with me. Each department, again, is responsible for filling the vacancies. When I spoke about the seven vacancies, that is the full vacancy for the Department of Human Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Department of Human Resources is committed to health and safety and wellness of its employees and to providing a healthy and safe work environment that minimizes risks in the workplace injuries, minimizing risk to workplace injuries, accidents and illnesses. HR is currently developing a robust occupational health and safety program that meets legislative requirements under the Safety Act and general Safety Regulations. The program is near completion and will be available within the coming months for HR staff. The complete program is intended to be shared with other...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will ask Ms. Beard to respond to that.

I do believe that the department feels that they have been assisting with the situation. My understanding is that although the unit that was in jeopardy was moved, the member does not live in that unit so it continues to be in an area where it has flooded or has flooded frequently. We are looking at that now, as I indicated. We do plan to resolve the issue if we can, if we can work in that area and do something with the culvert, as the Member advised. If that is a solution, then we’ll work towards that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct that both ourselves and the Housing Corporation have spent substantial sums of money to resituate the house, rent equipment to remove ice from that area. Recently, the Member has indicated to me that there may be a solution, so we’ve just begun discussions with the department from my office to talk about that solution of maybe placing the culvert at a different angle and maybe using some heat trace so it doesn’t freeze in there. We’re just beginning to look at that now, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we are anticipating that the cost of gasoline will be lowered in the communities as well. In the case of gasoline, we want to deliver the gas before we make the adjustment. It appears to be a little more volatile and the gas price could actually go back up and we do believe that some of the gas prices have been rising down south and we could feel the impacts here and in other communities. We are going to wait until we do purchase and deliver before we lower it, but we do anticipate that it would be coming down from what the current prices are now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.