Tom Beaulieu

The plan moving forward and the portion of the plan that we had submitted to the federal government that was approved was for the reconstruction of most of the highway infrastructure across the territory. The Dempster is in there. As soon as we’re able to match the dollars, if we’re able to find matching dollars for the Dempster in 2014-15, then we will be starting year one of the Building Canada Plan work on the Dempster and other highways this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Again, I’m looking at case-by-case would be the way to resolve this issue. People have not come to me, individuals have not come to me and said that they had been working jobs, have 20-plus years’ related experience and then were not eligible to apply. I’ve had situations recently exactly as the Member spoke, an individual that said that they had 20 years’ experience, but they didn’t have a Grade 12 education that was a requirement. I encourage the person to apply for a job at any event. So, I don’t know that is an issue. I haven’t specifically heard that is an issue until today. If...

Mr. Speaker, related experience does matter. Minimum qualifications, as far as education goes, and related experience matter. It’s written in most job descriptions, if not all job descriptions, that we receive from the department. If an individual has directly related experience in the job they’re applying for, it has a significant impact on whether or not the individual gets hired. If a person has directly related experience, education that may not be directly related, but many years of directly related experience as the Member is talking about today, we will not screen that individual out...

We can discuss this with the departments. The departments do the job descriptions and through their knowledge, skills and abilities that are typically required for a position that they’re posting. So they need to do a certain job; there are tasks that have to be done; the department determines what type of qualifications that individual needs to carry in order to do that job. So, if we’re discussing with the department on looking at those qualifications that maybe a job with a different type of task in there may be sufficient, then we’ll have that discussion. I’m more than willing and prepared...

Mr. Speaker, the Aboriginal employees are all employees that were affected by the financial shared services. Regionally there were 16, and 15 in headquarters, so 31 people were affected by the position, and the majority of them were placed into jobs with the government. I think there is a possibility that a couple of the specific cases where individuals may have been applying for the positions that would have been considered an advancement did not get the jobs, but my understanding is that there were some discussions held with these individuals. I don’t have the specifics on the individuals...

This is a national issue. Alberta does have its own regulations. We aren’t exactly similar. We are trying to become part of the transportation system. We do harmonize with the other provinces. Harmonization is the ability for vehicles to move across the country and into the Territories without switching loads or being ineligible or eligible of driving a vehicle of that size. So we would look at everything, not just one province and just harmonize with a province where the most commercial vehicles are coming from. We’d look at everything. Like I said, if that was the best possible solution, was...

I think the bridge tolls currently are provided out of a company we have a contract with in the South. I’m not sure if we are putting bridge tolls on-line, but I think we will definitely look at that possibility. There may be some issues with the configuration of the vehicles that may be close to the border where some Members have indicated that they may or may not need a toll permit to go across. It is a possibility, but I’m not 100 percent sure if that is in our plans right now. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to provide the House with an update on the success of the Department of Transportation’s on-line driver and motor vehicle services.

As you’ll recall from my statement earlier this session, residents can now register to receive e-mail reminders to renew a driver’s licence, general identification card, vehicle registration, driver’s medical, appointments, and commercial vehicle inspection notifications. They can also renew their vehicle registration anytime on-line. This is already making our government an industry leader; other jurisdictions have contacted us to...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Recently, we’ve received confirmation for the Building Canada Fund. We’ve had discussions internally about the allocation between DOT and Municipal and Community Affairs and funding the communities. So we have had most of those discussions. Right now, we’ve taken the money that was promised to us through the Building Canada Fund and we are now going to be discussing that to determine how we’re going to be able to match that money with the GNWT dollars in order to leverage the full amount that’s available. Thank you.

Thank you. It’s difficult for me to speak on this. For me it’s a hypothetical case. If the Member has an actual case where an individual has 20 years’ directly related experience and was not allowed to apply for the job that they were doing, I would be glad to hear about the specifics from the Member and we’ll then contact the department and find out what the issue is. Thank you.