On Tuesday I voiced my concerns about the impact of the Finance Minister’s fiscal restraint measures on the morale of the public service. Mr. Speaker, quite frankly, I don’t understand the mixed messages being sent by this government to the people of the NWT that we serve, especially to people who serve us each and every day by doing the job diligently and conscientiously and keeping the government programs running and ticking along each and every day.
The Premier and Ministers of this Cabinet finally say to this House, our employees are our most valuable assets. I happen to agree with that statement, but what is the point of this government repeating this tired phrase when its actions go along with the platitudes from these Ministers?
This government has a Population Strategy meant to tempt 2,000 new residents to the NWT to make their home here by 2019 as a way to increase their federal transfer dollars. The GNWT remains one of the NWT’s biggest employers, so it must be prepared to hire these new residents. Why would anyone take a job with the GNWT and move their families here if they risk losing their job in the next Assembly’s collateral damage because of fiscal restraint?
This government also has a Human Resources Workforce Planning Strategy, a multi-pronged effort to maintain the GNWT as an employer of choice and to maximize recruitment and certainly retention of employees. How about the efforts of the Department of Human Resources to operate the multi-year strategy along with the Finance Minister’s transition plan in exercising design, in his own words, to make sure revenues and expenditures on an ongoing basis stay the same and plan for what has been determined to be a flat economy with revenues going down.
Frankly, I must point out that the GNWT increased its workforce by 260 new employees and positions in the devolution process. How can this government possibly be considering lay-offs as a fiscal restraint measure less than a scant 18 months after devolution?
The GNWT has known for a long time by considering many options by trying to strategize itself for revenue growth and we’ve known it’s very limited, but controlling the cost by cutting away jobs is certainly not the way to attract employees or strengthen morale. We must find a different way.
I will be asking questions of the Minister of Human Resources about the impact of this fiscal restraint on our Human Resource Strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
