Bob McLeod

Mr. Chair, we have seven regional offices in the Northwest Territories.

In terms of the positions to be reduced, those were put forward by the departments. Of course, HR put forward their own reductions. It was our responsibility to make sure that those affected were dealt with properly.

The main change to the Revised Estimates is because of the technical service centre chargeback adjustments. That was the main reason for the change.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The departments have been delegated authority to do staffing and recruitment. So, as such, they have the authority to do that.

The department put forward a position that was supported by the union — recognizing that there are 5,800 employees that were concerned about the discussions on budget reductions that we took to Cabinet recommending that we provide early notification.

I guess there are a number of reasons for the backlog. Our government workforce is aging. I think 40 per cent of our employees are eligible to retire within the next ten years, so I would expect that is the reason for the backlog.

We can provide most of that information probably today. We just have to make copies of it.

Three of the seven were filled positions.

Mr. Speaker, our government is very supportive of pre-retirement planning. Generally, if the training is approved by the supervisor, we pay for their costs. If there is a cost associated with the pre-retirement training program — and I should point out that many of the courses we put on through our GNWT training calendar have costs associated with them — we would cover those costs if they’re approved by our supervisors.