Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, we continue to waste the public’s time on this by the defence of the status quo by this particular Minister. Section 7.(2)(a) of the Aurora College Act says, “The Minister shall determine the policy respecting the operations, programs and priorities of Aurora College”.

Mr. Speaker, stop sharing the darn concern; direct it – you have the authority, you have the power – and do it in front of everyone here today. That’s it. You could do it today. It is time he actually showed some leadership and just tell the college, you have an e-mail and you are going to be accessible to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is very fitting we actually have wonderful representatives of our college here today, and I’m very proud to see so many of them. So, it’s great.

One of the issues that I’m going to raise, and I’ve continued to raise, it all boils down to one word: accountability. That’s it. Nothing fancier than that, accountability.

I’ve asked the Minister of Education repeatedly about demanding that the Aurora College boards be, guess what, accountable. How so? Accountable by providing an e-mail address so our students can contact them and, at the same time, have a meeting with each...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are so many important issues before us to talk about; however, I feel emotionally compelled to say a few words about the horrific tragedy in Ottawa today. Truly a very difficult day for all Canadians and our Armed Forces who, truly, we are all very proud of. I’m really saddened by the passing of the soldier who was honestly standing up for Canada. This attack wasn’t just on him, it was an attack on all Canadians and I’m confident we will rise in his name again to stand strong.

Anyone I’ve talked to today, without question, has found this an incredibly emotional and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to continue with my questions to the Minister of Human Resources. There was a fair bit of information that he left on the table. I am not sure if he just felt bad that he gave me the original information of PeopleSoft and felt that, boy, we have to stop giving this guy information so let’s just ignore stuff so hopefully he will go away.

I asked, repeatedly, the details of the job fair money and the results, so let’s get to the bottom line here. What were the results of the southern job fairs and what did it cost the people of the Northwest Territories?

We have just under 5,000 people employed in the Northwest Territories with the GNWT. We know that it’s a typical figure, 15 percent vacancy at any one time. The Minister only talks about the back end of the employment process. At the front end of the employment process is the same amount of people coming in as going out. So we have a constant number of about 700 or more vacancies in the Government of the Northwest Territories at any one time, but yet we only have 10 percent on the webpage being advertised.

Let’s get to new results and find out where we’re going with this problem. What did the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the spring this year the Minister of Human Resources had conveyed to Members that there were just over 1,200 vacancies on the books. The Finance Minister had said on the record that they were actively pursuing half of those, and that was 571 jobs. On further drilling down on those books there were 800 vacancies, and may I remind this government we have a 3.4 percent unemployment rate in Yellowknife, but we also have more than 30 percent unemployment rate in the communities. We need these jobs, they’re critical.

So let’s first start off from the Minister of Human...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Everywhere I look, and it doesn’t take any effort at all, you see Northerners dedicating themselves to the success of this great territory. You find people committed in every single corner of our North, whether they’re lifelong Northerners or they’re people who have invested a few short years in getting to know the North. It doesn’t matter if they’re First Nation, Metis, Inuvialuit or non-Aboriginal. So many have dedicated their families to northern values and the opportunities that are before them.

There is certainly much to be proud of. But, as I fear, and certainly...

Mr. Speaker, we know from the Minister’s own numbers that we have well over 500 vacancies. That’s under my estimate, but it’s fine, we’ll use that one. We know that the government had received 700 resumes, as the Minister has clearly articulated, and the Minister clearly said here today before this House, they found five people out of 700 resumes, which begs the question why weren’t we making a bigger concerted effort from his department when we know over 500 vacancies exist on the ground.

Why aren’t we turning these into some type of training positions? We know immediately that would deliver...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources does not know the cost, and that is a bit of a surprise. I can’t ask the same question because he is going to give me the same answer.

Where did those five people go and what type of positions did we employ people that we had to go to the South and only find five people out of 700 resumes?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we know in the books we’ve had at least 1,100 or more vacancies because of PeopleSoft. The Human Resources Minister has just mentioned, you know, well now we’re maybe talking about 500 or more. Fifteen percent, as I said, is close to 800 job vacancies here in the Northwest Territories.

The fact is, unemployment rates continue to rise and the only thing that brings unemployment rates down is people give up looking for work. Not employment rates have risen; unemployment rates have dropped strictly because they have just given up.

So how do we fix the population...