Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, any employee who is facing being affected by in sort of form of reduction anywhere in the GNWT, anywhere in the Northwest Territories is subject to a process. It is one where there is a notification process and there is, indeed, a staff retention policy and staff retention guidelines. Every effort is made to ensure that anyone in an affected position is not lost as a public servant and so, indeed, that process can take several months, if not quite some time, to ensure that they can best find themselves back in a new position within the public service...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Fort Smith correctional facility has 32 employees which would mean that there would be 32 employees who would be affected if the facility were closed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Consensus government is fundamentally different than a partisan system where political parties develop party platforms to deliver after an election. Having fewer Cabinet Ministers than Regular Members, who form standing committees, may be similar to a minority government situation when it comes time to determine whether or how Cabinet can seek to pass a budget or a law because there must be discussions to ensure a necessary number of votes. However, the nature and content of our discussions within a consensus system is different. The work we do in a consensus...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we're starting to cross paths between different departments, whether it's EIA in the Premier's shop where I know they are doing a significant amount of work in terms of supporting our NGO sector in the Northwest Territories. Obviously ECE and the Department of Finance from the human resources perspective. Let me answer briefly and say anything's possible. Whether I'm going to be able to commit on the floor to a program that's rolled out in Saskatchewan, probably not, but certainly can commit to looking at that program and seeing whether there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have noted the comment about wanting to see change to the policy and guidelines. At the present time, we do have a policy with associated guidelines so at this point I'd not want to try to second guess what position, what individual, what training someone might have. They may have training that is beyond the position that they are in or different from the position they are in. So I would just want to emphasize, again, that every effort is always made to ensure that any affected employee whose position might be eliminated is not lost from the public...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of March 31st of 2024, there are 492 vacancies across the GNWT. A vacancy obviously can come with a number of different meanings. It may mean that it may be actively being recruited for at any particular point in time. In Fort Smith specifically, Mr. Speaker, there are 647 GNWT positions of which, again, as of the 31st of March, 114 were vacant, and there were 34 positions in total proposed for elimination in the 2024-2025 Main Estimates. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to update you on new initiatives being introduced over the coming months to enhance public safety for residents and road users in the territory. We can all agree that when it comes to safety, there is a lot on the line. There are almost 27,000 licensed drivers registered in the Northwest Territories. The latest territorial traffic collisions report shows nearly 450 vehicle collisions in one year with 18.5 percent resulting in injury, and a whopping 31 percent involving impaired driving. BIn July 2023, the RCMP conducted a roadside survey in Yellowknife and found that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is not -- the overages and cost escalations we're seeing on a number of key projects here in the last couple of years really are not typical and shouldn't be considered as typical. There are a number of examples to point to of projects that come in on budget and on time. And even right now, for example, the Inuvik airport project is on schedule. It has certainly caught itself back up notwithstanding challenges that initially may have occurred immediately post-COVID and then of course in the course of inflation. So I'm certainly wanting to just note that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an overall good news story here, so I appreciate the questions. I know there are residents and businesses in Inuvik who are really leading the charge in terms of what's happening in our advanced technology industry here in the Northwest Territories, with the satellite array and providing servicing to them. The agreement we have the Yukon ensures that their traffic can use the Mackenzie Valley fibre line in case of need and that our traffic could use the line that comes down the -- or in case of need. I think there is some additional work that's...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me just double check, Mr. Chair. My list also says three, Mr. Chair. So I believe three is the number. Thank you.