Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I discussed some of the concerns surrounding a Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Admittedly, the Alberta Labour Minister earlier this week indicated that Ottawa is over-reacting with the foreign worker moratorium and that responsible employers are being unfairly punished. Ultimately what we are hearing from many of the big western provinces is that they want to have more control over the program. It’s about a month since the temporary freeze on the program. I thought it would be important to see what our Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has to say on this subject.
Could the Minister indicate to the House where does NWT sit on the temporary foreign worker file? Is the Minister in contact with the federal Minister Jason Kenney on a regular basis? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We are fully aware of the temporary foreign workers moratorium that is laid out across our country. GNWT has no Temporary Foreign Workers Program. It is a federal program but we do share concerns. I did speak with Minister Jason Kenney just the other day, Wednesday evening, May 28th, about this particular program and share our concerns, how to move forward on this and what his plans were. My department senior officials are working very closely with other counterparts as well, territorial/provincial and also the federal Minister’s office on this particular subject. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It’s good to hear that we have some communication here with our federal Minister, but I would like to get a little bit more information in terms of where we are at with our NWT Nominee Program. This is where we administer from our end. I am led to believe that we have only two out of four employees actually working in this department, so I’m a bit concerned whether or not we have the capacity to work with it.
For example, what has been our quota for this program? How many unprocessed applications do we have? How long have these applications been in stasis and how many have actually been processed during this fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Temporary Worker Program, again, is a federal funding, but also federal programming. The Nominee Program, we also administer that with the federal government. Part of the process is to monitor and evaluate the program itself. With the actual numbers which I don’t have with me, the detail, but I can share with the Member all the transactions that have taken place since we took over the program with the federal government until today and how we are planning to integrate that with the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I will entertain those numbers when the Minister has them for me. That would be great.
We know that this Temporary Foreign Worker Program is, as I said, delivered here through the NWT Nominee Program. We know that a recent ITI Economic Opportunity Strategy implementation plan proposed strengthening this NWT Nominee Program. However, there has been little information on the proposed timeline of action. There hasn’t been any mention of any anticipated resources required.
Can the Minister share with the House what is this action plan and how much is this going to cost taxpayers?
During my discussions with Jason Kenney, these were some of the discussions that we’ve raised. We’ve raised some concerns, as well, just to elaborate and also enhance our nominee programming. The Northwest Territories Nominee Program is employer driven. The program is administered by our department and supports a permanent residency. The department is investigating ways, as I stated, to enhance the immigration program, which includes raising awareness of the Nominee Program and provide supports for new Canadians. Any new enhancements to the Nominee Program will be met with the existing resources. Those are the discussions that I had with Jason Kenney, and he is also supportive, and we will be pushing forward with the federal government.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We heard that there are internal funds being used for that, but I didn’t quite hear a timeline, so I’ll encourage the Minister to get back to the Member and the House.
We know that competition with the local job market requires a strong policy with such an NWT Nominee Program. Can the Minister reassure the public, with pending reform, will GNWT policy, including mining industry socio-economic agreements, still recognize Aboriginal people at a higher priority than foreign workers?
Yes. Of course, the people of the North are our most important resources, and first and foremost, we want to ensure that Northerners in the Northwest Territories have the skills and knowledge for their employment success. That’s our priority. We also recognize that there are growing pressures on the government, not just our government but the federal government, industries, business, to respond to the increase in the labour market demands due to changing demographics. Those are some of the important discussions that we have had with Jason Kenney just the other day as well. It’s important that my department is also working with all partners to ensure skills training and also the post-secondary education system responds to these needs. I will carry this forward with the federal Minister as part of a priority for this government.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
