It’s about making the lives better for our constituents. Deh Cho Health and Social Services, like many government departments, they’re clients as well.
The main concern now, at this time of year, is that it gets darker sooner. Constituents are landing in evening flights — 7, 7:30 — and the airport gets shut down right away by airport staff. So sometimes they really don’t have an outlet for who to call or how to get transportation.
I was just wondering: does the current policy or guidelines require a call ahead of time to the community that the patient is traveling to, to advise them of their contractor and/or, in this case, that it’s probably going to be Health and Social Services staff for the interim?
Yes. Right now the policy or the process is that the local taxi company is advised. They would like to get the call by 4 o’clock the day before for anybody coming. I understand it does work most of the time, but once in a while the passengers might arrive at the airport and not find anybody there, and they’ll have to call the number that’s indicated at the airport.
Like I said, at Fort Simpson Airport there is a phone number that people can call collect. Has the department looked at using a 1-800 system at all? I think we’ve raised it before too; I’m not too sure. Maybe it exists; I’m not too sure.
I think the 1-800 number question was to do with residents in our small communities who need to get hold of a health professional, if there’s just one simple number they could call. The issue there, at the time, was with NorthwesTel having some difficulties.
With respect to this medical travel, I would commit to the Member that I will ask the department to review the process we have now to see if we could improve that any better. But, at the end of the day, having a contractor who could deliver that service consistently probably will be the better way, and I’m hoping we could have somebody take that on.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
I’m very happy to see the Minister is very attuned to the situation, because we do have patients traveling to and fro that require attention.
Just once again, I’m not too sure whether the clients are given a sheet with phone numbers on it to contact somebody when they arrive on site and there’s nobody there to pick them up or to forward them on to the next point of destination.
It appears that in Simpson the Deh Cho Health Authority is in close touch with the Stanton authority. The community health rep or even the maintenance person, whoever has a vehicle, will go and meet whoever is arriving. That is the process right now. I will review that to see if we can tighten that up any further.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
My question is for the Minister of Human Resources, following up on my Member’s statement today. As I mentioned, I’ve become affected by the disillusionment and disappointment shown by a lot of our young people — our summer employees, our casual employees, our new employees — and they’re lamenting the waste that they see.
I know the Minister made a statement the other day that they’re embarking on a comprehensive human resource strategic plan, which I’m very happy to hear. How is the department going to ensure that all employees have input, specifically these new and potentially long term employees? Given their status as past employees, some of them are not with us. They were temporary, or they’ve become so disillusioned that they’re no longer with us.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a government we are very pleased that we were able to offer summer student employment to 281 summer students. I’m quite surprised to hear it appears the majority were disillusioned, because of the fact that we’ve taken extra steps to ensure that summer students were gainfully employed. We provided orientation opportunities for them, and we worked very closely with all of the departments to make sure that their employment was meaningful and allowed them to gain some skills that they could carry forward.
As well, we do provide the opportunity for exit interviews for summer students, and all of these interviews are compiled into a report that is provided to the government.
Thank you for those comments. I am surprised that the Minister is surprised, if he indeed does have access to those exit interviews. I want to be clear that the students and young people and new employees that I talked to are clear in that they’re very happy to have had the opportunity for employment. It is just the disappointment in the workplace — the missing teamwork and so on that I have mentioned.
One of the big ones is the incredible amount of wastage. I mention that again. The ENR, for example, apparently is the only department that has mandatory double-sided photocopying and so on. What is this plan going to do to ensure that wastage of things like paper, employee potential, energy and so on is explicitly addressed?
Mr. Speaker, it doesn’t sound like it’s a summer student issue; it sounds like it’s a government operations issue. Certainly one of the initiatives of our government is to work on making our operations a lot more effective and efficient, including the reduction and elimination of wasteful practices.
Once again, these are people that have thoughts and feelings about their employment. It is something we really want to take advantage of and address so we can improve our service to the public. One of the things they mentioned is the opportunity for a GNWT blog, where employees can log on and register their complaints and so on. What is the opportunity for anonymous contributions in order to protect these employees and enable them to make these comments and ensure we get a thorough assessment?
Mr. Speaker, the Member referred to the human resource strategic plan that we’re developing, which will be a ten year strategic plan, with our ultimate goal to reaffirm that the GNWT public service is the best place to work in the Northwest Territories. It’s unclear to me what kind of retribution these summer students would be fearful of. We do provide them with an opportunity to respond through exit interviews. As we go through our consultation, if the general feeling is that we should provide a blog, an opportunity for them to respond, we are quite prepared to do so.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. A short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate those comments by the Minister. A lot of the issues raised are government-wide issues, and I am hoping that this department and all departments will act to ensure that many of these things are addressed. They are brought up in real terms by our employees and our potential long term employees. I think it is well recognized by the Minister and others that we are not the employer of choice right now. We’d like to regain that status and both attract and retain employees.
So once again I would ask the Minister: is he willing to commit to working with the other departments on these issues, sort of beyond a human resource thing — just good management practices?
Mr. Speaker, management of the public service is a shared responsibility with all departments. We do have a deputy ministers’ human resource committee, and we’ll make sure that all of the departments are aware of this.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Before I go on, Members, I would just like to request your cooperation in the length of questions and supplementary questions. We have less than 20 minutes, and we’ve only had six questions asked. So, Members on both sides, if we can keep our questions and answers a little bit shorter. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Speaker, I mentioned in my Member’s statement a number of questions that had come from constituents, various residents that had communicated to me their concerns in terms of revenue, budgeting expenses and so on. I would like to ask the questions that I mentioned in my Members’ Statement to the Finance Minister today. The first one is: where is the analysis of the impact of cutting jobs on GNWT finances?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, it is not clear to me if the Member is talking about government jobs, private sector jobs or just any job in general. We know there is an implication to transfer payments if people leave the North. We know that if there are layoffs in the civil service for whatever reason, there’s a ripple effect in that area as well. There’s been work done over the years in terms of the government — the plan we are taking with reductions both last year and as proposed for this coming year. But we’re very sensitive to the issue of having a negative impact on the private sector, given all that is transpiring as we speak.
Thanks for the answer to that question. The reference, I believe, is to the analysis that is necessary for job cutting within the GNWT public service. I think there’s been a lot of noise made about the lack of analysis done in the previous budget. I think this question deals with that previous budget, but I would like to know from the Minister: what kind of analysis is being done for the cutting of jobs for the operations budget upcoming?
Mr. Speaker, a lot of that initial direction was set and laid out as we concluded the budget for this current year. As we look forward to ’09–10, we are looking at, as has been pointed out very clearly, living within our means and what it’s going to take to do that, both on the reduction side and looking at revenue options. We are very, very sensitive, as is every other government and individual, to what’s happening in the economic landscape around the world and in Canada with the markets, the interest rates, the fiscal tightening up and moving into an economic recession. So we have to look first and foremost at what we can afford, how we maintain our core services, as the Minister of Health was talking about, and what choices we have to make at the end of the day to live within our means.
Mr. Speaker, I didn’t get the answer I was looking for.
The second question that was asked by a constituent is: why are suggestions from knowledgeable people being ignored and critical research absent? I think constituents are concerned that albeit we have a Program Review Office, there is very little analysis prior to job cuts being proposed. There is very little research — in this case “critical research” is the statement — in terms of proposed job cuts. I would ask the Minister again: what sort of analysis, what sort of research are we doing for the job cuts which are liable to be coming up in our new budget?
Mr. Speaker, once again it is not clear to me what critical research may mean. There are things we’re doing in our planning with departments, with Cabinet, across the board looking at the fiscal realities, program needs, living within our means. There has been work going on basically non-stop, and that work will continue. In due course we will be coming forward in the next number of weeks with our business plan, and this February we’ll come forward with the results of all the work with the budget.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. A final short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me give an example, Mr. Minister. If we are proposing to cut four jobs from a particular program, what analysis is done to determine that those are the best four jobs to be cut? What research is done to determine that the program is or is not valuable and should be maintained?
That work is done as a matter of course. Ministers are involved, deputies, all the way down to the managers and employees. Choices are made as we look at fiscal targets. We look at what we consider fundamental, essential services, core business versus those that wouldn’t make that definition. So that work is an ongoing process.
Thank you Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about the importance of the traditional practice of harvesting buffalo by Dene elders for subsistence purposes. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Can the Minister tell me if sections of the current Wildlife Act speak specifically on traditional harvesting of bison, or is there any regulation on the same issue as it pertains to the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, the NWT Wildlife Act governs activities in this area and the consequential Big Game Hunting Regulations; in particular, in this case, I understand part V, subsection A of the schedule to those Big Game Hunting Regulations.
Here’s my question, Mr. Speaker. My question is fairly specific. I recognize that the current Wildlife Act may not exactly talk about the bison in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary. However, I’m wondering if the Wildlife Act with any accompanying regulations has anything covering the traditional harvesting of bison by Dene elders.
Mr. Speaker, there is a bison strategy that has been taking more time than was initially contemplated. That’s going to be coming out in the next number of weeks, and we’ll be able to have that discussion. We currently have arrangements with the people from Providence and the people from the Tlicho in terms of tags, the management of the herd issues, the hunting zones and how they deal with resident, non-resident and big game hunters. There is consultation about some proposed changes as a result of the Tlicho self-government agreement that is being consulted on with the North Slave Métis as well the Yellowknives. So there are a number of pieces in place that we have to deal with, and there’s other work currently underway.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if the department acknowledges and incorporates the role of traditional knowledge into its policies and legislation; for example, any regulations that may be required as a result of the management strategy?
We’re going to, as a matter of course, work very closely with the aboriginal governments and the appropriate wildlife boards, both at the community level and with the Wek’eezhii board. We’re consulting with the North Slave Métis and the Yellowknives. We’re going to work closely in terms of the proposed changes — the bison strategy and regulatory changes — and how to best manage the herd. There was a recent assessment done. The herd numbers are down about 21 per cent. So we do have issues to talk about, especially as the bison tend to migrate northward.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to working with interested Members on this side of the House on this very important matter so an arrangement or an agreement can be put in place to allow Dene elders to harvest bison outside and northeast of the Mackenzie Wood Bison Sanctuary for subsistence purposes?
Yes, we are interested in working with the Members. This is a threatened species. There are specific restrictions and criteria that we have to use and follow. There is work underway, but yes, the commitment is that we will work through the appropriate committees as we come forward with the various strategies and proposed changes.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Mr. Speaker, today I would like to ask the Minister of ECE, regarding the staff, how they are treating people while giving help or assistance on Income Support and regarding the way they are being treated.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With all the communities we serve — 33 communities — we do provide client service officers to deal with those clients in the communities. Where communities may not have client service officers, we do have visitations on a regular schedule. If there are any issues or concerns, that should be brought forward to the regional representative of the income support assistant as well. Certainly, we provide all income support related issues to these clients in the communities on a regular basis. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to me that he will speak to all staff on how they are treating the people in my riding? I’m getting more than one call in regard to staffing issues. I’m not going to name names; I just think people should be treated with respect, and they don’t deserve being ridiculed. They don’t want to go and get help; they want to be working. But the staff should have a little bit more respect for the people and who they are serving.
I appreciate the Member’s addressing this issue to my attention today. If it is an issue, we need to deal with it as a department. Certainly, the respect should always be there between the community members, the clientele and Education, Culture and Employment employees. We do an orientation package for all employees on how to deal with the clients. Even at stressful moments or most critical moments they need to deal with it at a professional level. That is what we’re faced with, and we’ll continue to do that. I certainly commit to the Member that I will look into this matter in his riding. Mahsi.
