Bob McLeod

The arrangements that we understood were in place with the federal government was that the money would flow once a decision to construct the pipeline was made. So we have to go and confirm with the federal government that, indeed, this decision should allow those social impact funds to start flowing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is another great day for the Northwest Territories. I can confirm that Cabinet approved the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and the National Energy Board issued a press release announcing that they have issued a Certificate of Public Convenience for the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Project.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To deliver effective programs and services to the people of the Northwest Territories, the government requires a public service staffed by skilled employees. The goal in 20/20: A Brilliant North, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan, is to provide effective human resource tools which allows managers to have the right people in the right jobs at the right time.

To further this goal, I am pleased to announce that by the end of March 2011 the final phases of e-Recruit, the government’s on-line electronic recruitment and staffing system, will be launched.

Implementation of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we have been basically making some broad estimations and I think that this is an area that as we put more resources and more funding into developing local economies and with regards to food and country food, we are going to paying much more attention to statistics now. For example, we have been estimating the value of country food at about $30 million for the Northwest Territories. For the compensation process, we allow the harvesters to factor in the value of harvesting as part of the calculation of the YMIR. This is an area that, as we go...

We have a staffing appeals process in the government and we’ve been limited by the fact that our legislation, for some reason, is restricted as to only having three staffing appeal positions, but we are making representation to have that changed so that we can have more staffing appeal officers so that we don’t have as much of a backlog.

Not only do we have a system of staffing appeals officers, we also have our human resource officers that go back and review with those that are interested as to how they felt they could improve upon when they go for interviews and also give them feedback on how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government developed a human resource strategy called 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. That strategic plan has been guiding our actions for the past couple of years. We have an Affirmative Action Advisory Group. We have set up some specific affirmative action competitions so that we can begin to get more Aboriginal people into senior management programs. And of course, we have developed a number of leadership programs which Aboriginal people are starting to take a much more significant participation in than they have in the past. Thank...

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe that we have been doing or promoting the work of the federal government, but this is an area that certainly we can look into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Labour market agreements are generally negotiated through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. As far as the $218 million, I was not aware of it. I would have to check as to why the government did not apply. Typically, these federal programs are not available outside of the provinces, so I would think that would probably be the reason. We haven’t accessed it because it is probably not available to our Territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we are looking at locally produced food, and obviously fish is one of the foods that are available in every community. It is a matter of harvesting and distribution. We will be looking at those areas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Traditional economy is a very important part in the Northwest Territories. The value that we have placed on country foods if we had to replace it with store-bought foods, we attributed it to be about $30 million, so it is a very important part of our economy.

For several years now we have been trying to establish what we call a red meat market. Over the years we have had difficulties because of the federal agriculture and inspection requirements. What we are endeavouring to do this year, and with our budget approved we are going to spend in the neighbourhood of $300,000...