Mr. Speaker, my questions are for either the Premier or the Minister of Human Resources. We as a government, as everybody knows, have been looking at ways to save money. The Regular Members got together and came up with a list of potential reductions. We submitted that to Cabinet. As yet, we have not had a formal response back to that, because we were told that those would require some analysis.
I would like to know what kind of flexibility we have. Everybody knows that during the 13th Assembly we came up with something called Donny Days, where non-essential service providers were given the days off between Christmas and New Year’s. Is there any potential for that type of thing again, perhaps between National Aboriginal Day and July 1? That seems to be a bit of a week there when a lot of people are…. Well, there are two stat holidays very close together. Has any consideration been given to that?
The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
Flexibility is something we definitely need to look at in this area. For the record, though, we did respond to the committee on the specific changes we made within the budget documents before this Assembly, based on some of the recommendations the Members made. A number of the recommendations require that they go into the Refocusing Government initiative. So as we get through this phase, we’ll be putting the energy in, working with Members to see how we can implement those in the next budget cycle, as we’re starting to enter that process as well.
The area the Member has raised, the Donny Days scenario — in fact, in one of my meetings with the UNW president, I suggested that…what can we look at in the future? Because we obviously haven’t met our targets to date. We need to still look at how we use the money wisely in the North. Is there an appetite for looking at something of that nature coming down? He said that though the union is always opposed to looking at reductions to hours for staffing, in principle that’s something that could be looked at. So I think it’s an avenue that we should approach.
I recall the days of discussion on Donny Days. Some of the staff within the communities that I represent — and the correspondence I received — said they’d be happy to take a Friday afternoon off the odd time. So though we haven’t entered those discussions, we need to have those as part of the mix as we go forward.
When I look at private sector employers and even the federal government, they have a lot of opportunities for their employees to partake in different things, like transitional retirement, where instead of going from working five days a week to full retirement, they look at reducing their work week to four days a week and then down to three days a week and then they’re off on their retirement. There is an opportunity for people to work six-hour days instead of eight-hour days. There are all kinds of different opportunities available to people who have different lifestyles or different times of their life where they may need the extra time or they may like to work less. People are concerned about quality of life. We as a government have an opportunity, I believe, to offer people workplace flexibility that would save us money and make them happier. I want to know what work is underway to consider those options.
Mr. Speaker, I should say for the record that “mandatory days off” are in fact the official words that we use in our policy, going forward. The issue of what other areas we’re looking at — we do have to work with the unions that operate in the Northwest Territories, because the working conditions, the hours set, also work directly with those negotiations. So we’d be prepared to engage in a level of discussion to see if there are avenues of flexibility within that working arrangement. Once we get to the next stage and begin the next process of business planning for the remainder of the life of this government, we’re going to have to look at a number of options and see if they would be effective solutions for us.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not hearing that we actually do have a lot of flexibility to do some of those things, so that is a discussion I would like this government to embark on with the union. I really do believe there could be cost savings, and it could be a win-win situation for everyone.
I have a situation in my constituency, for example, where a person wants to retire, but they want to know that they can come back as a casual. Why can’t that kind of thing be facilitated?
I’d have to get some clarity from the Minister of Human Resources, but my understanding of the process is that we’re looking at retirement. If individuals have set their dates, we have to work with, for example, Superannuation, because there are set dates when individuals can qualify. Working with them on potential earlier retirement for individuals that may be affected…. Once people are retired, I don’t see where we have any problems. Again, I’d have to defer to the Minister of Human Resources and get more detail on that. But for retirement and coming back as a casual, people call their regional offices or offices in communities and put their name on the list. I’ll have to see if there’s any problem around that, going forward. I’ll get that information to the Member.
I look forward to hearing what the Premier finds out about that. It’s not just that they…. They have everything in place to retire: the pension, everything, all the numbers; they’ve reached the goals. But before they do that, they would like to know for sure that they could come back as a casual, because it’s important to their decision whether they retire or not. If that kind of thing could be accommodated, I think it could be a win-win for everyone.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, whether we are affected with our work environment, with our unions or, in this case of retirement, working with Superannuation…. If they have policies in place that could affect some of those areas, we’ll get some detail on that. One of the factors that could affect that, for example, is how high a level they are within the public service. That also has an effect on that avenue. Again, that is more a reflection of our relationship with Superannuation.
The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
