Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The nature of our modern government is that a large number of very important decisions are delegated to statutory officers. The example I use today is the employment standards officer. This is, of course, sometimes the only efficient way to do government, in today’s day and age. What concerns me is that too often the government’s oversight seems to end with an appointment or, certainly in the case of employment matters, when they hire these folks. It cannot be overstated, but the decisions made by the employment service officers have very far reaching impacts. Sometimes if you disagree with them, to some extent, they can be taken to court for review. This is a very expensive process and the courts are reluctant to interfere with the decisions of our statutory officers, as I made mention today.
Once affirmed by the courts, the officer’s decision, that is, whether it’s been good or bad, clear or unclear, it becomes a new standard for employers and employees to live within. It’s therefore critical that we ensure that people who are appointed to these decision-making positions have the right skills and knowledge to do their job properly.
Often you will hear the phrase “to ensure they have the proper competencies” to do the job. That doesn’t mean they’re not doing the job in a manner that they are trying the best they can, just making sure they’re skilled properly with the right ability.
That then leads me into the interpretation of how we balance and manage this problem. What does the government do to help set minimum qualifications? As we all know, interpreting legislation is a challenging business. Do we require mandatory training of people who are in these areas, as I pointed out, such as the employment standards officer? What do we do when such areas as supporting them with training in administrative law and procedures? Do we teach them or mentor them on writing good, clear decisions?
Many challenges have come up, and I’ve heard from different people on this particular issue, but it always seems to come back to this: How do we support and train our folks who make these very important decisions, because they are far reaching and many of them are extremely costly? Later today, as the example I used of employment standards officer is only one of many examples, I will use this example to ask questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to find out how we support these people doing these tough jobs.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
