Debates of February 9, 2015 (day 55)

Thank you, Director Beard. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I didn’t realize that that was going to be such a complicated question to respond to and I do appreciate the information forthcoming from the department.

I believe we have some coordinators out there dedicated to occupational health and safety. I also believe we have a lot of coordinators out there that run this on the corner of their desk. That is not their entire positon. I think we’re doing a disservice if we are not giving that proper consideration. So I will be asking the Minister if he can provide a complete listing of how many coordinators that we have by department, including his own department. Are they dedicated 100 percent to that position and only that position or do they share it with other types of responsibilities? Would the Minister be able to provide that detailed information to the Member? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We can provide that information to the Member.

My final question, Mr. Chair. As we heard earlier from the Minister on his paid political announcement that we have a program forthcoming with respect to some form of a safety training program that is somewhat coming down in the immediate future here, would we be seeing this program implemented before the life of the 17th Legislative Assembly? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, yes we will.

With that last question, if we are going to be implementing something of that magnitude, I would assume that there’s going to be some program dollars associated with it. Looking at this activity as being the guiding directorate for this activity, I don’t see much in terms of allowances for this new program to roll out, that it would go through the proper performance-based management assessment, putting all the risk matrix, everything that has to go with a program rollout of this magnitude.

Can the Minister indicate to me where he will be seeking these funds in order to create this new program? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we have found ways within the passive restraint to roll out the program without increasing the budget.

In the fulsome of time, I will leave it at that. I’ll be following up with this during the course of the year.

I only ask my final comment, does the department communicate all aspects of this occupational health and training in terms of how the government will be undertaking a revitalization, from what I’m hearing, as their safety culture? The only reason I say this is that I fear that we have a number of court cases pending within our territorial court system in which we are defending our four walls. We’ve lost one case already. We’ve been fined heavily and received a scathing report from Judge Malakoe. I’m concerned that with the four or five cases pending that we’re going to be seeing more fines levied on this government until we get our house in order. I will leave it at that for a final comment. I wish the department good luck with this implementation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Next on my list I have Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of questions here. My first question has to do with the desire to draw people into our workforce. We have had, between the two trips to Ottawa, at least one career fair. There have been career fairs, I believe, held across the NWT.

I would like to know from the Minister whether or not there has been any analysis done of the effect to the impact or the effectiveness of career fairs, whether they’ve been held outside of the NWT or whether they’ve been held inside the NWT. Have they been successful and have you done some kind of an evaluation of these particular actions? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Deputy minister.

Speaker: MS. DESJARDINS

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the accountability framework, part of the framework is to evaluate effectiveness of programs, so all of that is actually being researched as we speak to some of the programs and career fairs that we’ve attended or open houses to determine where it’s best to target, based on these occupational groups and where we’re going in the future. So it is actually being researched. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, deputy minister. Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the deputy minister. My other question has to do with retaining employees. There’s been a fairly large emphasis, I guess, from what we hear from the department and what we sort of see in the budget, an emphasis on recruitment, but I would like to know what we are doing in terms of a retention strategy. Do we have one and what efforts is the department making to keep people in the workforce as opposed to losing them? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As far as an actual retention strategy, I could maybe have the deputy speak to that. Our best tool for retaining people in the public service really is having the work environment that the GNWT has and also the benefits package that we’re able to offer to individuals working in the public service.

We would pay equal attention, department by department, on wishing to retain our staff, and our turnover rate has not increased over the years. In fact, it may have come down just a bit. As far as the retention strategy or retention plan that we have, I will have the deputy minister touch on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Deputy Minister Desjardins.

Speaker: MS. DESJARDINS

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With our strategic HR plan is the strategy that has all the initiatives that we have been working on over the last years. Included in there is the Knowledge Retention Initiative and Framework that will help support us and realign how we move forward into the recruitment initiative we are doing. We are doing research on best practices and tools for our clients, really studying our vacancies and analyzing, as part of the accountability of our organization, the vacancies and how to fill them to support our clients in getting these positions filled. We’re also looking at succession planning tools and initiatives to support our clients.

So, we’re refocusing our work to support our clients in looking at the needs of our workforce in the future.

Thank you, deputy minister. Noting the clock, I will rise to report progress. Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. Thank you to your witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out.

Report of Committee of the Whole