Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be directing my questions to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger. I, too, am concerned by the summer student hire, or I should say lack of hiring thus far. My first question to the Minister of Finance is: the Department of Finance hired nine summer students last year; to date, how many students have they hired this year both in the territorial capital as well as the regions?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My list tells me we’ve hired nine, all in Yellowknife.
I’d like to thank the Minister. Is the Department of Finance planning to hire more summer students by the end of summer and are they looking to expand into the regions?
There’s a modest presence in the regions and I would anticipate that since it’s now May, almost June, that we’ve probably maxed out, but I would have to check with the department to see if we anticipate exceeding last year’s number of nine.
Would the Minister be willing to commit today that his mandate would be to encourage his Department of Finance, both in the capital as well as in the regions, to hire more summer students if they could make those opportunities available for them?
I will just reiterate the encouragement and admonition that we put out to all departments, as a matter of fact, to hire all the students possible within the resources that we have available.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
QUESTION 124-16(6):
SUMMER STUDENT EMPLOYMENT
FOR PWS
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services. I know earlier he anticipated the questions and tried to generalize everything, but specifically to his department, Public Works and Services hired 17 summer students last year. To date, how many have they hired?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I answered that question. More specific, we have hired 13 students this year. Our target, again, is to try to max the hire from last year. Of course, we have a budget that we have to follow and it’s going to be a challenge, but I’ve instructed our staff to try to achieve the 17 that we hired last year.
That was a nice clear answer by the Minister and the commitment level from his department, then, throughout the whole hour has been very good discussion and commitment from all the Ministers. Just one last follow-up question. Within Public Works and Services, was there a particular number for the Nahendeh region?
The answer is no. Our practice is to try to hire students based on their program of study. If there are students who are planning to be architects, engineers, information technology students, those are the ones we focus on. Sometimes the level of applicants in those areas is not the highest; then we move into the trades and try to hire people in those areas. If there’s still a void in our numbers, then we’ll hire labour positions.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
