Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, how many people will be affected by the proposed closure of the Fort Smith correctional Complex men's unit? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Fort Smith correctional facility has 32 employees which would mean that there would be 32 employees who would be affected if the facility were closed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How many vacant positions are there open and available in Fort Smith that are not proposed to be cut in this budget? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of March 31st of 2024, there are 492 vacancies across the GNWT. A vacancy obviously can come with a number of different meanings. It may mean that it may be actively being recruited for at any particular point in time. In Fort Smith specifically, Mr. Speaker, there are 647 GNWT positions of which, again, as of the 31st of March, 114 were vacant, and there were 34 positions in total proposed for elimination in the 2024-2025 Main Estimates. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What work has been done to assure the affected corrections employees that they can remain in the public service? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, any employee who is facing being affected by in sort of form of reduction anywhere in the GNWT, anywhere in the Northwest Territories is subject to a process. It is one where there is a notification process and there is, indeed, a staff retention policy and staff retention guidelines. Every effort is made to ensure that anyone in an affected position is not lost as a public servant and so, indeed, that process can take several months, if not quite some time, to ensure that they can best find themselves back in a new position within the public service following those two different documents, again the policy and the guidelines. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I'm hoping that policy can be changed slightly but I can talk to the Minister of Finance about that.
What work can be conducted so affected employees are appropriately trained or assisted to continue to work in the public service at their current or better pay? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have noted the comment about wanting to see change to the policy and guidelines. At the present time, we do have a policy with associated guidelines so at this point I'd not want to try to second guess what position, what individual, what training someone might have. They may have training that is beyond the position that they are in or different from the position they are in. So I would just want to emphasize, again, that every effort is always made to ensure that any affected employee whose position might be eliminated is not lost from the public service, relying on the policy and guidelines. But, again, happy to engage with the Member and see if there are areas that we can improve with a view to improving the public service all of the time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
