Unfunded positions are treated the same way as funded positions in that we look at the job duties that are needed for the position. We then do a job description that we submit to human resources for a job evaluation, and they do a pay grade.
I thank the Minister for her answer. As we are developing these job descriptions and that, can the Minister tell us: how does the department fill these positions and does the affirmative action policy apply?
The filling of the positions actually is done dependent on the situation. It can be an open competition. It can be a transfer assignment. It could be filling a spot with an affected employee. Yes, the affirmative action does apply on unfunded positions the same as it would on any other position.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to hear that the affirmative action does apply in there. I am a little concerned about how the positions are filled. Sometimes, it is direct appointment, and that concerns me. However, will the Minister make a commitment to classify these positions and put them on the org chart so they are not unfunded positions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The positions that we have, the current nine positions, they already have gone through the job classification process, and they are in our organizational chart. I will commit to actually reviewing them at the end of this fiscal year again to ensure that they can still maintain as unfunded versus moving them into a funded position.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I spoke of the Department of Human Resources and the upcoming amalgamation with Finance. I have some questions on trying to maintain as much of the human resources aspects into this new department as possible. I would like to ask the current Minister of Human Resources if he is able to advise the House: how many departments have human resource development plans? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Human Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we expect all departments to have the HR plans. I will confirm for the Member how many of them actually have the plans, and I will report back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In the breakdown of affirmative action candidates in the GNWT, we notice that most regions are well within or very close to representing our population, except for if you are looking at representation of the territories overall. As I indicated in my Member's statement, Yellowknife is just slightly low, but there are other communities as well in the same way, some communities lower, actually. I would like to know if there are any affirmative action plans that departments by department follow?
I have a response to the Member's earlier questions. We actually have seven departments with completed plans. However, as I said before, we do expect all departments to have them. We will follow up on that and ensure that our departments are putting together their completed HR plans.
To the Member's second question, the affirmative action, we expect that to be incorporated into the HR plan for each department.
I would like to thank the Minister for that response. I just wasn't anticipating that. I was going to ask the Minister what actions he will take to increase Priority 1 hires? I guess I will ask a different question, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to know if the Minister would actually look at the affirmative action plans community by community as well as department by department?
As I recall, some time ago we did have a list that I think we shared in Committee of the Whole, not this particular government, the past government, that actually had it broken down to the regions and to the different departments, the number of P1 candidates or P1 employees they had in their system. I can tell the Member that, of the 5,187 employees we have, 1,601, I believe, are affirmative action employees. I will look at the breakdown of numbers by community, and I will share the findings with committee.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good memory; I have the numbers in front of me. Mr. Speaker, inside the human resource plans, I would like to know if the Minister would insist on having some development plans for affirmative action so they can move up the ladder to more senior positions if their education and skills warrant it. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for those who are working within the government system, some who work in the system, you know fairly quickly that they have the ability to move through the system based on what they bring to the job. We continue to promote that. There are a number of initiatives that we use, the regional recruitment, direct appointments, the Aboriginal Management Development Program.
I can assure the Members that I want to see the folks from the Northwest Territories move through the system, but I want them to move through the system based on their ability and what they bring to the job. Our commitment to them is to give them an opportunity, because I think that is what a lot of them are looking for, is the actual opportunity to move through the system based on what they bring to the job. We will make that commitment that we will work with all Aboriginal employees to find places for them to move.
Masi. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier in the sitting I asked questions about the environmental integrity of Kam Lake, the namesake of my riding. I am wondering if today the Minister of Health could answer some questions I have around a 2016 public health advisory around arsenic. That study recommended that Northerners not eat fish or drink the water in Frame Lake or Jackfish Lake, and cleared Yellowknife River, Great Slave Lake, Long Lake, a variety of bodies of waters. Unfortunately, Kam Lake was not included there, so I am wondering if the Minister today can advise on the relative levels of arsenic and safety concerns around Kam Lake, if there are any? Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Chief Public Health Officer put out the health advisory, it was based on a number of reports that were prepared by different organizations, including universities, that had done some environmental assessment on those lakes. It is my understanding that Kam Lake was not one of the lakes that was included in that study, so it was not included on the health advisory.
I don't personally know the arsenic levels in that lake, but given the history of that lake and where it is located, you might want to be cautious about drinking the water out of Kam Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am sure people are. There are a number of houses that open up onto that lake, so I am wondering if the Minister is in a position to study arsenic levels in Kam Lake and report back to the House and to the public on the findings.
The water that the Department of Health and Social Services will look at through its environmental health officers tends to be water that is drinking water. That is our mandate. To review or do an assessment on other lakes, the Member might want to make reference or ask the Minister responsible for ENR, who would be responsible for lakes that are not drinking water.
All right. One more, Mr. Speaker, and thank you. If there was data that showed that the arsenic levels in Kam Lake were over 52 parts per billion, would a public health advisory be issued by the department and would people know in Kam Lake immediately that there was a concern and that they should avoid it?
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. On January 31st of this year, I submitted a written question on the costs of the November 2016 Cabinet trip to Ottawa. As part of that question, I asked for costs of lobbyist support, including contracted services. The Minister responded by stating, "No lobbyists or consultants were engaged in the planning or coordination of this trip."
The third quarter report on GNWT solesource contracting shows that, between April 1st and December 31, 2016, we retained Earnscliffe Strategy Group, with an office in Ottawa, to lobby on our behalf at a cost $126,800. Can the Minister confirm that we retained Earnscliffe Strategy Group and what was it that they were doing for us during that period? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Yes, I can confirm that the Government of the Northwest Territories has a contract with Earnscliffe Strategy Group of Ottawa, and they provide government relations and media relations services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Premier for his response. The Earnscliffe Strategy Group is a registered lobbyist under federal legislation, and they fully disclose that GNWT is one of its clients, as shown in a filing that I will table later today. The period of its service to the GNWT includes a period where our entire Cabinet went to Ottawa. Did the Earnscliffe Strategy Group provide any advice or support for the planning or execution of the November trip by all of Cabinet?
Earnscliffe was not directly involved in preparing any materials or strategies for Cabinet's November 2016 mission to Ottawa and did not have a role in setting up any meetings with federal government officials.
Thanks to the Premier for that response, as well. So, if they weren't providing advice or support, can the Minister provide a little bit more detail about what we paid $126,800 for, exactly what kind of services? Maybe a few examples would be helpful.
We use Earnscliffe to provide strategic information, and they do provide briefings. They did provide briefings to our government on the government environment in Ottawa. They do provide information on federal legislation, the work that is being done there, and also policy priorities.
Between the period that the Member refers to, they provided ongoing advice on our federal engagement strategy development on federal infrastructure engagement. They also supported us by providing communication support at Government of the Northwest Territorieshosted events related to the Aboriginal Affairs working group meetings that we held in Ottawa, including organizing and hosting news conferences. They have provided ad hoc meetings with our deputy minister, as well, in Ottawa, including deputy ministers attending the infrastructure roundtable, and also worked with Minister Sebert's appearance in September on federal electoral reform panels.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier for providing those details. As I understood, the trip to Ottawa that all of Cabinet went on was precisely as part of this federal engagement strategy and the three pitches that they made when they were down there. In any event, I will move on.
One of the commitments that we made in our mandate was increasing transparency and accountability and strengthening consensus government, so a knowledge of the lobbying activities of the executive would help make us more transparent and accountable. Does the Minister believe we should have lobbyist registration regulation legislation for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I'm not aware of any lobbyists in the Northwest Territories, but we do provide information. We put it on the website, government website, of all the meetings that we have. Certainly, in our trip to Ottawa, we set up the meetings ourselves. We do not need to hire people to set up meetings for us.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs talked about Western Canadian Lottery in the Sutcliffe Report. In there, she goes on to give us a bit of information about recommendations, and recommendations that weren't followed. Can the Minister please provide us: what two recommendations from the Sutcliffe Report were not adopted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The two recommendations that at this point the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs are not implementing are the second recommendation. The report recommended that the department include all of its programs in the Sport, Recreation and Physical Activity Policy, including youth and volunteers. The second recommendation that we, to date, have not implemented is recommendation number 15. The report recommended that the department establish a separate lottery commission to oversee the Western Canada Lottery program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister kind of answered the second question I had, so the rationale on why these two recommendations were not followed. I thank her for that. I will move on to my third question: with respect to the proceeds of all the lotteries going into the sport and recreation programming, can the Minister confirm that proceeds will cover the new staff who are moving into the government?
Presently, the funding for lottery staff come from the lottery dollars. The department, though, is going to work with the Department of Finance to describe in our main estimate process beginning in 2018-19. The funding of these positions will need to align with the legislation which will be developed in 2017-18 with an intended implementation of April 1, 2018, and the management of the lottery revolving fund. The details around the legislation and the management of the revolving fund have not been developed at this time.
I understand that the policy has not been developed yet, but is the government looking at actually using lottery dollars to pay for the staffing? Is that one of the recommendations or idea that they are looking forward to?
At this point, yes, the lottery funding will be used to pay for lottery staffing; however, this will be reviewed with the Department of Finance to ensure that it is the best action moving forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for her answer. That gives a clearer picture in this. In this Minister's statement, she talked about how all the proceeds from lotteries will continue to be directed towards sport and recreation programming. Does that include multi-sport games? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
