Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. After such a great and vigorous debate, I feel we need to move a motion now. Therefore, I move that this committee now concludes consideration of the Department of Public Works and Services department summary and all related activities and information items contained in Tabled Document 22-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2014-2015.

You would think it would be a very paramount job of the Minister of Human Resources to know exactly how many vacancies we have, not to wait to each quarter or semi-quarter, who knows how you want to paint it.

Why doesn’t the Minister, realizing how important this issue is, while the House is sitting, why doesn’t he know how many jobs are vacant because these are rolling vacancies if someone gets hired, somebody changes their mind and doesn’t want to work there anymore. So we have an average vacancy built up throughout the Northwest Territories government at all times.

Why doesn’t the Minister...

Thank you. Clearly, the Minister understands what I’m talking about, approved medical travel, and I’m just trying to understand how this could be the case.

Is there any circumstance that the Minister can think of where someone in the medical travel office tells the particular person, constituent of mine, or anyone for that matter, that they need to front the costs first and then seek reimbursement? I’ll tell you, they were quite concerned because they don’t have the means to front the costs. They can scratch them together, but it does put them in a troubling position. So, is there any...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was called by a senior here over the weekend and they were telling me that medical travel now tells them if they want to go out, doctor approved obviously, medical travel tells them to book their own flight and pay for it in advance and submit claims.

When has the policy on medical travel now changed as such that we’re now telling the patients who have been approved through medical travel through their doctor, been signed off by the main head doctor and certainly by Inuvik, and now we’re telling them that’s the process, that they have to front the cost of medical...

I look forward to any movement we can make on this particular file. When we often hear that board chairs make between $130,000 and even over $200,000 per year to sit on those boards and we hear that the honoraria for those boards could range anywhere from $150,000 or more, the public wants answers. When we are paying our board folks more than we are paying our teachers, our nurses and even plumbers and policemen, something is wrong.

The next obvious question to the Minister is: What can we do to bring some transparency to some of these board appointment honoraria that need a level of scrutiny...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use question period today to return to my Member’s statement, which talked about public disclosure of public salaries.

I highlighted that the Mackenzie Valley Review Board has recently, as of Friday, February 28, 2014, taken the courageous step forward of publicizing their honoraria between the board chair and the board. It’s time that this government starts following the example followed by six out of 10 provinces.

My question to the Minister of Human Resources is: What steps can this government take forward in publicizing all our board appointment chairs and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to return to the subject of disclosure of public sector salaries. The many jurisdictions I have talked about in this House do publish their public service salaries, and believe it or not, as of last Friday the Mackenzie Valley Review Board has finally stepped up to the plate to show some leadership in this territory by publicizing what they pay their chair and their board members. It’s true, public disclosure is what the public wants to find out where their money is going.

As I’ve previously stated, provinces like New Brunswick publicize their salary ranges...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the Minister had been here when I asked each department all of these numerous detailed questions about their human resource management, whether they are funded or unfunded. I can go through the whole list, but I think he’s heard it a few times. We could probably save a lot of time by me just going to the Minister. I want that detail as far as these position allocations are concerned. Is he able to provide them? If so, that is my only question on this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll just maybe use the time just to request a copy of this so-called study that was done.

The Minister highlighted $300 for a truck to drive across the bridge, obviously, the 10 cars, divide that up, you know, that type of survey. He had highlighted that example, the gas he said they’re using as a reference. I’d like to find out who your expert is. I’d like to see what paperwork they generated, justify their position and I’d also like to know if that could be sent to my office, including the costs that may have come. I want to get a sense or a full grasp of what they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use this occasion to table the press release put out by the Mackenzie Valley Review Board, and at the same time, I have the compendium document, which is what they publicize with this, which is board member honoraria policy that, although confusing, does in some ways spell out what they pay their chair and the board members.