Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we heard the Minister of HR talk about the regional recruitment plan and he talked about a significant majority of the program participants are priority candidates under the Affirmative Action. Can he actually give us the number of the actual Affirmative Action candidates, please? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Human Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can.
Laughter
Of the 39 applications that we received, 24 of them are P1 candidates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That's great to hear. Does the Minister have any priority two candidates in this of the 39, and the number, please?
Yes, we do. Of the 39, I said 24 were P1 candidates. Two are P2 candidates, and six have no priority.
Okay. I thank the Minister for his answer. When he talked about developing a communications plan or strategy, is there anything else the department is doing to fill these positions?
Mr. Speaker, well, communication plan is obviously very important, and, if there were folks out there that are interested in this particular type of training, as I said before in response to the questions from the Member from Tu NedheWiilideh, that, you know, if they approach the department, I'm sure that we can work with them to see if they fit into any of the programs that we offer; and, as far as anything else besides communication, our conversation right now is also a good way of getting the message out there; and, hopefully those that have an interest in the public service are listening in; and, if there's opportunities for them, I would certainly encourage them to take the government up on the opportunities and the training that we do offer.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho to the Minister for his answer. This is starting to feel like, unfortunately, summer students and that. Does the Minister know how many vacant positions are available for this program, and he talked about 15 as the recruitment number, but how many are actually available? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I don't know if this is anything like the Summer Student Program. I mean, we encourage the department through that program to try to take on as many summer students as they can, and that is the message that we will be passing on to the department before the next summer student season. As far as the number of vacant positions, I don't really know if there's a number of positions that are identified as regional recruitment positions. As I said before, I mean, we have 231 vacancies, and, as I said before, if there was any opportunities for some of these positions to be filled with those that want to go through the Regional Recruitment Program, then we'll obviously have a look at that. But, as far as a set number goes where there's a quota, say we need 50, I don't think that number exists, but we'll continue to work with those that want to try and access the training that's offered by the government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
