Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about the upcoming summer student program. I have questions for the Minister of Finance. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance a question on what happened last year. Last year, the Government of the Northwest Territories set a record for probably the most summer students ever hired in the GNWT. I would like to ask the Minister if he plans to exceed that number this year. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. Last year, we had 349 summer students. We were quite pleased with that number. They were spread across the departments and across the government. I am just going to read off the top three departments, just to let them out there know who would be hiring all the summer students.
Number one was the Department of Infrastructure, but that included Public Works and Transportation, so we are not sure if that really counts. Number two was NWT Health and Social Services authorities. They had 62 summer students last year. Number three was ENR at 51.
We have encouraged our departments to try to bring on more summer students. We would like to see that number increase and we will work very hard to see that number increase. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Minister for that response. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister would look at other subsidies. I know that we get around 600 applications for summer students. Hiring 350 is good and 400 is better, but there are other incentives around what I talked about; wage subsidies, what the Government of Alberta is doing. Would the Minister consider looking at something like wage subsidies for employers other than the GNWT who hire summer students?
When I quoted the numbers before, the 349, I have asked a couple times now, and I will follow up on it today on the number of summer students that agencies that we fund also hire. We have 23, I think, local housing authorities, maybe 24 now. I am sure they bring on summer students, as well. If you average out two or three per LHO, that would increase the number.
We have the community governments whom we fund that bring on summer students. They are not included in the 349. I would think that number would be a lot higher. I have been trying to gather that information for a while now. Once I do, I will share that with the Member because I think that will be more of a good news story. As far as the Member's question is concerned, I mean, I am willing to look at any other options we have out there if that means increasing the number of summer students that we hire. We are always willing to look at a number of different options. We will do that.
I have talked to some small business owners here in the city mostly. I don't have a lot of small business owners in my riding. I talked to some of the people here where the majority of the summer students get employment. One of the things I mentioned in my Member's statement was tax credits. I was wondering if the Minister of Finance would look at some sort of tax credit for industry or other small business for hiring of summer students?
As I said in my previous comment, that is another option. It is a very interesting concept. These are options that are worth exploring. I will commit to the Member that we will do that. I mean, there is probably a lot to it. We will see how burdensome it is administratively. I am sure there are ways we can overcome that. To answer the Member's question, we will look at that. We will explore that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have about a month and a half before the students start arriving from wherever they are going to school, coming back, looking for work. I would like to ask the Minister if he agrees to have his staff, human resources division, work with the other departments as soon as possible to start planning for the hiring of summer students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Absolutely. On the Department of Finance human resources website, we have a portal there for summer students to put in applications. I am not sure what the status of the number of applications is right now. I will gather that information and I will flip it to the Member. We are always looking. Summer students who are coming back from school know that there are opportunities. They know where they need to apply. Again, I will check on the status of the number of applications we may have received and share the information with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
