Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier. It gets back to my Member’s statement, where I was talking about the reduction exercises currently underway and the information that’s flowing through to departments and not necessarily getting through to the Regular Members on this side of the House.
I’ve become aware of one department where they are doing hiring on a case-by-case basis. It’s not necessarily a hiring freeze but a case-by-case basis, and hiring has to be approved by the deputy minister. It’s a big change, Mr. Speaker.
I’d like to ask the Premier if that is a government-wide instruction on case-by-case hiring. Because there are many people out there in the public trying to get a job with the G.N.W.T. and they need to know this type of information.
Mr. Speaker, in responding to the Member’s question, he also stated in his Member’s statement about the planning and timing. For the record, let’s put it on this table the fact that in a consensus-style government, I have agreed with Members that we would make a budget happen by May–June. That reduces the amount of time we can go back and forth. So that is problematic in the way of trying to do business in a new fashion.
As to the specific area of the department the deputy minister is reviewing, it is the process we are following. Because, for example, Mr. Speaker, as a government we’re working with the goals that we’ve set as the 16th Assembly, and there are new initiatives. We wouldn’t want departments to be hiring in an area that would not be supported in the years to come. That is why we’re doing this process, and it is government-wide.
It’s very interesting to hear the Premier say that, because — and I get back to the information sharing here — the first I heard of a case-by-case hiring policy in one department — this is the Department of Health and Social Services, and I’ll single them out — was through a constituent, Mr. Speaker. Now, I’d rather hear from the government that the government has taken that angle and they are going to go on a case-by-case basis.
I’d like to ask the Premier: has the Premier instructed deputy ministers government-wide to only go through hiring on a case-by-case basis? What are they basing their…? The jobs like teachers and nurses: are those case-by-case as well, or is everything case-by-case, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker, the way we reviewed this is the Department of Human Resources and the Ministers brought concerns to the table. For example, we had different departments reacting in areas that were shutting down certain hiring positions. So that is not the situation. We are using a consistent approach now, and that is where departments are going out for hiring. Before an actual hiring occurs, it goes back to the deputy minister for review to ensure that it’s aligning with the work that’s starting to happen. We wouldn’t want to hire a position and then six months from now that position is not going to be part of where we’re going as the government of the Northwest Territories. That is why that direction is being used.
They’re making that determination on what’s going to be necessary six months from now or required six months from now, in isolation, because we haven’t had that level of discussion on what’s going to be a requirement six months from now. Mr. Speaker, I do get calls from constituents who are trying to apply for positions with the G.N.W.T. I want to ask the Premier: when was the Premier going to let Members of the House know that the policy has changed in terms of hiring employees for the government of the Northwest Territories? When were they going to let us know that?
Let’s be clear: we’re still hiring. But we’re doing it in a way…. The policy has not changed, but what we’re doing is, as departments go through their hiring process — through Human Resources, and the message is now to all deputies... Before a hire actually happens, we need to do that review, because departments are aware of what initiatives we’ve been working on to try to bring forward new initiatives for the government of the Northwest Territories, and departments are aware of what targets they’ve been given. They’re doing their work as to what areas may be offered up for cost-savings and cost-saving measures. So that’s where this comes into focus.
Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, the government seems to be taking this reduction exercise as a licence to pretty much do what they want. I mean, we haven’t known about this. And again, that gets back to my point: if you’re going to make decisions, especially like that, I mean, let us know.
My last question would be on timing, Mr. Speaker. I think there are a lot of rumours out there in the public service. I’ve heard numbers. I don’t want to throw them around; I don’t want to exacerbate the situation. But there are rumours out there about the number of job losses. I want to ask the Premier: when can the public service and Members of this House expect some more information on the reductions — where they are at and what they’re going to be?
Mr. Speaker, again, in a consensus-style government, working with Members as to the time frame and meeting the May-June target, we’ve had to track from that point of bringing forward a budget process. The work is going to be done to compile all that information so we can present that to Members. It will be later on this winter and early spring before we will be able to present Members draft documents of where we’re going to meet our timelines and targets for the first budget to be put in place in May-June.
