Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to take a second and welcome the brave men and women of the Canadian Forces to our proceedings here today.

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I’d like to once again address the concerns I’m having or hearing from the public and the employees in our public service in regards to the management of the Human Resources department. Cabinet Members and other Members of this House have heard me stand up on numerous occasions over the past three years challenging and taking the government to task over how it consistently mishandles human resources. The fact of the matter is that the Minister has stood up in this House and admitted that there are numerous challenges and concerns and everything is not as it should be with the new department.

Last year the Minister entered into a sole-sourced $475,000 contract with an American firm, the Hackett Group, to try to develop recommendations to improve client service and business processes. Mr. Speaker, I have questioned at length the former Justice Minister about HR concerns at North Slave Correctional Centre and, Mr. Speaker, there was an operational review done there with 63 recommendations about how they could improve client services there, and I wonder how many of those recommendations have in fact been acted upon. The excuse has always been that HR was still sorting their issues out. I’ve had issues with constituents waiting to retire from the government, persons with disabilities having barriers to employment with the GNWT, and then there’s the very large issue of recruitment and retention of health care professionals and staffing issues at Stanton and other health centres across the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, HR is such an important and critical piece of our operation and it is imperative that the public and our workforce have every confidence that our HR department is functioning effectively. Mr. Speaker, judging by the comments I hear, the e-mails I receive, I lack the confidence that this department is doing its work and delivering the service and response to the clients it represents. Given all the issues that have been brought up in this House in regards to human resources, I believe the communication between the Minister and the Regular Members on this side of the House is not what it should be. HR seems able to do as they wish because of confidentiality becoming a barrier for Members to take on individual cases because of fear of reprisal from the department. Mr. Speaker, I certainly will have some questions for the Minister responsible for Human Resources at the appropriate time. Thank you. Mahsi.

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