Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by Mr. Hawkins to the Premier on May 30, 2012, regarding direct appointments. Mr. Hawkins asked for a list of all direct appointments made by the Cabinet of the 17th Assembly, noting the employing departments and the reasons for filling the positions through direct appointments.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to advise this House that the Cabinet of the 17th Assembly has recommended 57 individual direct appointments from the beginning of the term to date of the Member’s question.
Sixteen of these direct appointments concerned term appointments to positions in the Ministers’ offices which will expire shortly after the next general election. Fifteen of these appointments were, in effect, reappointments of individuals who had worked in term positions in the Assembly building during the 16th. More recently, a term direct appointment was made to fill a vacancy left following an executive secretary’s decision to relocate to another province.
Mr. Speaker, Members of the House are familiar with one-year internship placements for northern post-secondary graduates. As of May 30th, 13 individual grads have been direct appointed to one-year term positions under this program. This includes one intern position in the Executive, one in Environment and Natural Resources, two in Health and Social Services, four in Human Resources, two in Industry, Tourism and investment, two in Transportation and one at the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission.
Six deputy minister level positions were filled at the beginning of this Assembly, three of which involved the reassignments of portfolios and three of which involved the appointment of individuals who had not previously held deputy minister portfolios. Three of the direct appointments concerned the reassignment of deputy ministers’ secretaries.
The remaining 19 recommended direct appointments concerned four positions in Education, Culture and Employment, six positions in Environment and Natural Resources, one position in Executive, two positions in Finance, one position in Human Resources, two positions in Health and Social Services, and three positions in Industry, Tourism and Investment. The 19 direct appointments were recommended so as to:
support the career development of an affirmative action candidate from outside the public service where an open competition would not be an appropriate way of filling the positions (six cases);
support the advancement of an existing employee who has successfully completed a formal training/preparatory assignment directly related to the position (six cases);
retain specialized and unique experience within the public service while supporting the career development of long-term employees who have demonstrated both ability and commitment to the organization (six cases, four at the associate or assistant deputy minister level); and
secure services where recent recruitment practices for similar positions indicate that an open competition would not be an appropriate way of filling the position (one case).
