Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re talking about Yellowknife here. I asked, what’s the Minister’s assessment of the impacts of this on the services to the students? No answer. He went off in a different direction. I asked what collaboration and support. I didn’t hear any collaboration and support. They’ve had meetings, dictatorial results.
Will the Minister commit to working with our school boards to provide the new investments required with these new responsibilities that he is asking of them? Mahsi.
Mahsi. When I highlighted all the dates, those are interactions that we are currently having in coordination with the school boards, with the superintendents. We’ll continue to do so because we have to work with the early childhood educators, as well, and the operators, the daycare operators. This is beneficial to all 33 communities. Yes, the Member is referring to Yellowknife, but we, as a government, are responsible for 33 communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are addressed to the Minister for Human Resources. I’d like to follow up on some of the conversation that has been happening in the House and during the budget and during questions and statements in the last little while. I’m going to ask him some questions about jobs.
The Minister has advised us that some 15 to 20 percent of GNWT jobs are empty at any one time. So that is as of October of 2013, it was about 571 jobs that were apparently vacant. I’ve spoken before about the difficulty that I see people are going to encounter because they can only access jobs on-line. Jobs won’t be advertised in the paper anymore. So I think the Minister can appreciate why Members want to see jobs advertised on-line and jobs available to our constituents, especially if on-line is the only way to go.
My first question to the Minister is this: When it’s determined that a job is either going to be open or it’s a new job, how long does it take that job to get posted to the on-line program? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve indicated in the House previously that we’re also going to be posting jobs at the community level. I’d indicated in the small communities exactly where the jobs would be posted and so on.
To answer the Member’s question, if the department has a vacant position that they wish to fill, then they indicate their desire to fill the position by ensuring that the job description, the ad and everything is ready, then they start working with the department. My understanding is that from the time the department advises HR that they wish to fill the position, that position would be advertised in about four weeks.
Thanks to the Minister. Four weeks seems like an inordinately long time to go from when you know that you need a body to when it is posted. I appreciate that that’s bureaucracy and my concern is bureaucracy moves awfully slowly.
It’s fairly common knowledge, I think, and I don’t think it’s something that the government really wants to admit, but I think it’s out there that there are jobs that are not posted because they’re being held back for a particular person and I’d like to ask the Minister what he knows about this practice. Certainly I feel, and I think many of the residents of the NWT feel, that people, constituents, residents should have the opportunity to apply on any vacancy, and if jobs are held back then, obviously, that’s not available for them to know about the job.
So, to the Minister, how many jobs are held back? Does he have that number and could he comment on the practice? Thank you.
Thank you. I don’t think we have a category in PeopleSoft, in our system totally at all that are a category that our jobs are held back for someone else. We have vacancies, yes. There are vacancies that can be held for an individual that’s on a transfer assignment that is going to come back to their home position and then there’s also, on the other side of the coin, there would be vacancies where the department sees that it would be a good opportunity for someone to come into the department on a transfer assignment, those vacancies filled by casuals because they’re having positions that are difficult to recruit.
I know that last year, in 2013, the departments had 1,818 staffing actions, 1,265 were either hires, transfers or promotions and 553 separations. So I think things are moving through the system, but I’m not aware of positions that are being specifically held back. At least the deputy minister doesn’t come to me and say, I decided to hold these positions back because I have someone in mind. That is not just a category that we entertain. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I don’t think the Minister understood where I was going. I’m not talking about a category in PeopleSoft; I’m talking about something that happens before the job ever gets to PeopleSoft. It certainly, I think, is well known within the government service that a job may be coming vacant and it’s not put into PeopleSoft, it’s not advertised because there’s somebody either within the department or, I hate to say it, somebody’s friend who they may want to get that job.
The Minister kind of led me into my next question and that’s the use of casuals. Casuals are a very common practice for us in terms of filling vacancies, but casuals are often extended many, many times. I know any number of people who have had their casual position extended five times, a year at a time, six months at a time.
I would like to know from the Minister, when a job is filled by a casual, is it advertised in PeopleSoft as a vacancy? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as of October 31, 2013, of the 1,150 vacancies, 208 of those categorized as vacancies were filled by casuals. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister, I can appreciate they were filled by casuals, but were they advertised in PeopleSoft as vacancies? They should be. If it’s a casual position and not permanent, if there’s not a permanent person in there, it should be advertised.
The Minister mentioned, in one of his answers earlier, that jobs are not necessarily advertised as vacant because they can be in various stages. They could be in the advertising stage, the interview stage or offer pending stage. It seems to me that we should have all of our jobs posted and if there is a stage, it’s in a certain stage, like an offer stage; for instance, flag that job as it’s in the offer stage. People would then know that the job may or may not be available in the next period of time. It may be filled; it may not. I think that certainly the more information we can provide to our residents the better.
I would ask the Minister if he would consider whether or not PeopleSoft would start reflecting all jobs at whatever stage they’re in. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m going to have a discussion with the deputy on this because I’m not quite understanding how we would be able to do that. When someone leaves the employ of the GNWT then that position becomes vacant. That vacant position, if there’s an immediate requirement, then that position could be filled with a casual. That gives an opportunity for the department to maybe evaluate what they wish to do with that position. As an example, it could be a position that’s hard to recruit. I’m not quite understanding clearly how we would be able to let the public know that we have this many vacancies but only this many of them can be advertised at one time because this many positions are in the appeal process, this many people are in the hiring process, this many are in the offering process and this many are in the interviewing process. I’m not sure that there would be any value in that to start with, but I’m not even sure how we would be able to advertise that whole thing on the website. It would be something that’s difficult to do, but something that we would like to look at. I can promise the Member that I will talk to the deputy, like I said, and see if that is a possibility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member’s statement on the Enterprise fire tower, my question is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I think we are all aware of the potential for each season to be fairly unpredictable in terms of forest fire activity throughout the summer. We look towards, especially in the small communities, government infrastructure projects as an opportunity to create employment and also to try and invigorate business opportunities wherever we can.
What are the department’s plans for the construction of the tower in Enterprise? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan is to proceed with the construction of a fire tower at Enterprise in 2014 and look at the decommissioning of the one that is currently in the Cameron Hills that is accessible only by helicopter as a fire tower. It still has a role to play with our communication system, but the intent is to look at the construction of the fire tower this year. Thank you.
The Minister has indicated that the construction will start. Has a site and contractor for the construction been selected? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I believe a site has been identified, but I don’t have the information as to whether they have proceeded to the point where they have actually picked the contractor for the construction. Thank you.
I would like to ask the Minister how can local businesses benefit from tower construction and operation if a contractor hasn’t been selected yet. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I will commit to the Member to check where this is in the process, but it would be a case of following and looking for whatever tender documents may come out in the paper and looking for those opportunities. It’s a relatively small contract of roughly $400,000 or somewhere in that range. There will be some opportunity, some of that may be somewhat specialized, but it would be best to check and follow through the public tendering process. I will commit to get back to the Member with details and the status of the project. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
I would like to thank the Minister for committing to following up on details of the construction and so forth.
What would a person from Enterprise need to do in order to work at the tower, notwithstanding that there’s a public process in terms of the tendering, but there’s an interest in terms of the local community being employed. What would a person from Enterprise need to do in order to work at the tower? Mahsi.
Currently, there is an arrangement made with Evergreen Forestry to have the tower that is in the Cameron Hills looked after by one of their members. Once again, I’d have to check the length of that agreement. If there were other interests other than through Evergreen when the current arrangement lapsed, there would be potential opportunity there; or members from Enterprise can talk to the folks from Evergreen to see what their options are. But it’s just one person and it’s through that current contract. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 1990 the founder of Gold Corp – his name is Rob McEwen – knew he was sitting on a fortune of gold but just didn’t know how to get at it. So he changed the world in an extraordinary way by putting the question about how could he get help from the world to find his gold in the ground. It drew out, I think, 110 quality submissions, but it drew out over 1,000 submissions at large. In essence, Mr. McEwen of Gold Corp was saying, I have a problem; can the world help me to find my solution? It was all based on innovation and how he was inspired by a product called Linux software where they went to the world for ideas on how to deal with it.
I have raised the issue of Giant Mine and how we have the arsenic trioxide trapped there and possibly left forever.
The question that now goes to Minister Miltenberger is: Would he be willing to look at the Gold Corp innovation challenge, which they put to the world with a prize dollar out there to draw out innovative solutions on how to deal with the arsenic trioxide that’s being left in the ground at Giant Mine for what is seen as forever?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Michael Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for sharing the information on Gold Corp. It is a very fascinating read about thinking outside the box and what happened and how successful that particular initiative was. But keeping in mind that this is ultimately a federal site and they are the major payer, I would be prepared to commit to take that information to the table through the deputy and through the folks that we have working as part of the project remediation to see what the interest is and look at trying to see if there are opportunities here to build off of the success of that example and other ones the Member mentioned like the Linux development where they went to people at large and got very many successful and very good ideas that they hadn’t contemplated.
Publicly, I’ve spoken about numbers of value of prize. It’s not for me to say per se what is the right prize amount, but I think the federal government needs to be a partner in this solution, because as I pointed out, and it’s even been cited by the federal government that it costs $1.9 million to run that Giant Mine site in perpetuity to protect that arsenic trioxide so it doesn’t spill into the environment.
My question now to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is: Does he see an opportunity here to engage in this broader discussion about a possible solution on innovation with our partners in the federal government, because they’re the ones that will be paying so I think they should be the ones that should be helping to support us on this endeavour that can help the people of the Northwest Territories to deal with this horrible site.
Yes, that would be the whole intent of taking that information and the Gold Corp example forward to the appropriate tables, is to initiate that type of discussion, engender debate and look at options of is there a potential application here in the Giant Mine remediation site.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of MACA. I spoke earlier in my Member’s statement about the excitement of all the young children that are gathered at William McDonald School and the coaches and the officials and the wonderful opening ceremonies last night. Certainly, this indicates to me that these traditional games are getting support by this government and by this Minister.
I want to ask the Minister – it would be nice if we had some of these traditional games – is there a manual out there, a book on the different types of games that are going to be played over the weekend and the meaning of these games? As the Inuvialuit elder said, this was for our survival, and he said teaching behind these games. Is there something like that for people who want to know more about these games? Is there something out there for us to get?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re proud of our involvement in the Traditional Games. They had the first Traditional Games last year and there was an excellent turnout, from my understanding. I apologize for missing the opening ceremonies yesterday, but my understanding was that this year’s turnout was just as good as last year. The kids had a fantastic time, and this is a great opportunity for them to interact with kids from the other communities.
As far as the Member’s question about a handbook of some sort, I’m not aware of one. I will do some checking and see if one exists. As part of our culture, a lot of our games and that are just orally handed down from one generation to the next. I’m not sure if they’ve been put on paper and maybe it’s about time that was given some consideration. I will find out and communicate that to the Member.
It was duly noted last night at the opening ceremonies that the Minister was preoccupied, and so that was understandable by the participants.
I guess what I wanted to say was there were so many people out there – coaches and athletes and volunteers – that it would be nice to have some type of a book so that we could start reading about the traditional games, because that’s kind of where things are going nowadays even though they’re handed down orally. We kind of understand that in our smaller communities.
I want to ask the Minister, for the support of these traditional games, is there is long-term funding for supporting these 21 schools that are attending the second, I guess, Traditional Games Championships?
Starting from the 16th Assembly and then Assemblies before, the funding contribution that we make to the youth across the Northwest Territories, I think, is unmatched anywhere in the country. We go a long ways to try and develop our youth, and I think we’ve seen in this last budget that we just debated there was an additional $500,000 that’s earmarked for youth development.
Our youth in the Northwest Territories have a fantastic opportunity. We have some great sporting partners such as the Aboriginal Sport Circle, who I believe are the ones that are putting this event on, and they receive a lot of their funding through the Sport and Rec Council of the Northwest Territories. There is a fantastic partnership here in the Northwest Territories amongst our sporting community. Our regional folks do a lot of regional games with some of the schools within their regions.
Again, I will maybe have a discussion with the Aboriginal Sport Circle and see if there is any type of manual that exists, and if not, maybe we should start working on one and take advantage of the fact that we have a lot of pioneers, as far as the traditional games go, that are still with us. It’s a good opportunity to put their thoughts on paper and the history of the games.
The Aboriginal Sport Circle should be getting all our support we can give, even to increase their funding to support all these small communities, communities around the Northwest Territories that bring kids together to learn about the traditional games and, more importantly, to practice them and to get the best out of themselves and for their schools.
I want to ask the Minister, is there a review process, once these games are finished, to say what went well, what we need to do next time, and is there any way that Members on this side could be part of that review, because I have small communities from the Sahtu that are participating in these games this year.
As far as a review, I’m sure the Aboriginal Sport Circle, when they did the initial games last year, I’m sure when the games were over they had a bit of a debrief amongst their own organization to see what worked well, what could be improved, and I’m sure, as a result of that, there was probably some improvements made for the event this year. An official review, I’m not sure one exists. I don’t know, but I’m sure the Aboriginal Sport Circle has their own internal debrief, and if there’s information that we can gather from that, I can share that with the Members.
As far as the Member’s question on the booklet, there was somewhat of a book, I think, that was made a few years ago on the Arctic Winter Games and the history and that, so again, I will commit to trying to gather that information and share it with the Member.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These Aboriginal games come from our ancestors, and basically, they come from the land and their survival. Now they have a different meaning but they’re very, very, very important. This is the foundation of our culture and our people.
I want to ask the Minister, in regard to these new Aboriginal games that are being out here, if he can work with this Department Education, Culture and Employment Minister. Is that part of the curriculum for physical education in our schools? This should be, actually, a mandatory part of the curriculum in our schools with our young people.
I can’t speak for the Minister of Education. I can have a discussion with him. We’re fortunate that we have elders that are willing to share their vast knowledge of the traditional games and their beginnings. As far as making it mandatory in the schools, again, that’s a conversation we’d have to have with the Education Minister and the district education councils.
There’s another traditional game, I think, among the old traditional games that we don’t hear much anymore, and it’s called the lip pull. We may have to start practising that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I hear a challenge there.
---Laughter
Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been a long, cold and difficult winter for a lot of people and occasionally people fall on hard times and sometimes tragedies beset people in the North. We are really one big family here. We know most of the people in our constituencies.
I’ve recently had a situation where a family that has been struggling has just been pushed over the edge, I suppose, financially by the cost of maintaining a home during this very long, cold winter. This family is supporting an adult with disabilities in their own home at a very, very minimal level of support from this government.
If this family were not caring for their son who is disabled, and if he was in assisted living or in a southern institution, our government would not think twice to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to support this individual, but he’s being cared for by his own family. His family is in distress.
Have we ever or do we have any kind of a benevolent emergency compassionate fund whereby if Members and Ministers agreed that there was a candidate that was a case where someone needed a little support to carry on and not lose their home or have their power turned off or in some way have something catastrophic happen, is there such a fund in this government?
I attend a church in Hay River and it’s just a small church with a $200,000 a year budget. We even have a benevolent fund for if somebody shows up on our doorstep and is in serious trouble.
I’d like to know, has the government ever had something like this? Is there anything like this available? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
