Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk today about one of my favourite subjects which is jobs. I know probably most of you expected either power bills or certainly the cost of living to be on the topic. But you know what? Frankly, what better relates to them than jobs?

According to the Minister’s numbers the other day, we have 466 jobs that they are presently working on in some form, stage or consideration, and again according to the Minister’s numbers, he said the total number of vacancies on the books is 1,038 jobs. To be clear, that’s about 20 percent of the NWT government’s workforce. That...

While that detail is being provided, can someone take a look at how long it’s been in place at the current rate? It looked like it’s been adjusted a bit due to inflation, or is it a drawdown? Maybe we can look at how long it’s been in place.

Is that the door opening to an agreement that they would find a way to do it if committee asked for an economic analysis? Is that the answer from the Minister?

Thank you. How many people are contributing to this gain that we make? Can he provide a breakdown of how that works? It’s not a straight line, I realize. In other words, it’s not as if it’s 219 people providing $1,000. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I was listening to Mr. Dolynny’s questions regarding the cost of living tax credit. I’ve been actually doing research on this the last few weeks. I was wondering if the department could explain not the theory but the actual cost of how we drive our numbers. In other words, if we raise it by $1,000, the tax credit, how does that directly or indirectly affect us on a dollar amount? Could the Minister or someone provide a clear example? Is it strictly dollar for dollar or is it based on percentage? Who eats what? Right now, it’s set at a rate that has basically stayed since...

I think the Minister meant to say e-mail addresses are on their way, not on the website. I just double-checked while I was there.

Why is this Minister concerned about the feelings of the Board of Governors and not suggesting or giving them direction, which is well under his authority under Section 7 of the Aurora College Act? What is he concerned about? Is he worried about hurting their feelings? Because he’s in charge for the best benefit of the college, the students and certainly the direction the MLAs provide.

Would the Minister of the Department of Education, who is in charge to provide...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aurora College Act under Section 8.(2) says, “The board, in exercising its powers and performing its duties under this act and the regulations, shall act in accordance with the direction of the Minister.” I won’t read the previous Section 7, which allows the Minister to provide direction to the board, because I’ve read that in the House repeatedly. I’ve asked the Minister of Education to provide e-mails to the Board of Governors and to tell the Board of Governors of Aurora College to have town meetings with their students. Has the Minister done such a thing? Thank...

I asked about a policy that redirected human resource money to other functions and I didn’t get an answer, so I will assume we don’t have one.

Wouldn’t it be in the interests of the Department of Human Resources to track this additional money because it would lend the argument to the government knowing what type of money it has and its availability to spend on human resources, and it could give the membership of this Assembly, the MLAs the opportunity to talk about redirecting it as training money to help build strengths and competencies for these types of vacancies. Would that not sound...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s been raised many times in this House about vacancies and the percentage now. The percentage is a number that moves back and forth, but we’ve agreed that in some form or fashion the government usually has about a 15 percent vacancy. It’s gone down to 13 but it’s gone as high as 16. So if we even take 15 percent, that’s 735 people not staffed at any one particular time in the Government of the Northwest Territories. So as we hire one, we lose one. It’s rote rolling, and to give you an illustration of that figure so I can get to my question, that’s approximately $60...

I would say stand by and we’ll see where that goes.

The next item is a little further on the NWT Child Benefit. Is the Minister able to tell us today how many people actually receive this? Thank you.