Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The college offers upgrading programs in almost every community in the Northwest Territories. It is largely through their work that we are able to have our residents upgraded and ready to get into college. So the government does still provide a lot of assistance to that. Also in the Northwest Territories right now, we do have for residents, particularly along the Mackenzie River, access to funding through the ASEP program which will help NWT residents get training to be able to take on jobs in the oil and gas industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The six positions I talked about were part of the request from the RCMP to deal with providing a minimum level of service just in the communities that already have detachments. So those six members aren't intended to provide additional services to communities that don't already have services. I have already committed in the House that I will work on a business plan and try to advance the issue of dealing with communities that don't have service. So I don't think that it's an issue that needs a motion in the House; the commitment has already been made.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it’s important, too, to remember that a position is shown as vacant when you run those reports, even when it’s filled by a casual. There are an awful lot of positions, particularly at the North Slave Correctional Centre, which are filled by casuals right now because of the transition period now while we’re waiting to see whether or not anybody is interested in a transfer who is affected. Those positions are still being held and filled by casuals. The positions won’t necessarily be filled immediately until we finish our human resources plan, which is something...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Member noted, the government has agreed to maintain the court registries in Inuvik and Hay River.

The issue of training is certainly something that the government is prepared to invest in, but the problem we have been having, particularly in Inuvik, is even getting qualified applicants to bring in for entry-level positions and then to do that training. We are going to have to look for a way to deal with that. It has been a challenge, but I am confident that we will find some way to do that.

I appreciate the Member’s remarks on the North Slave Correctional...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The bottom line is that the department doesn’t have that $400,000 in the next year, which is in this budget that is before the Legislative Assembly. I have heard, from around this table, an awful lot of requests for more spending in Justice; a considerable amount of spending in Justice. I know that the members of government have heard that request as well, but we are going to have to examine all the requests for spending and then try and respond as best as we can within the resources that we have during the next business plan process.

At this point if we were to keep...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't think the department said there would not necessarily be an increase in crime. What the department said, I believe the Member is referring to a response to a question asked through research, that there wouldn't be an increase that would require the re-opening of the facility, the Dene K'onia in particular. So that is not the same as saying that there might not be an increase. It's a question of the volume that we're expecting and how that might impact. There may be an increase in the future. It's hard to predict whether or not there will be, as the Member...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, that’s a snapshot as of one day what the vacant positions were, not what they were through the course of the year. That’s what I said; you would have to do a review of how long the positions had been vacant to come up with a number. So, no, I wouldn’t agree that it was $3 million. Just for the record, at March 31, 2004, the department’s free balance was $17,000. So it’s not as if there’s a whole bunch of room in the budget typically to manoeuvre.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member asked about cost overruns at the North Slave Correctional Centre. There were some overruns. The Member is talking about the two previous years so we’re going back some time even before the life of this government, but there was some over expenditure at North Slave compared to budgets for the year-end at March 31, 2004. There will likely be some over expenditure this year as well. Although at this point we can’t even predict that, because of the pay problem that happened not too long ago that all Members are aware of. So it’s going to take some time to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Members will know, following the review of the draft mains, the standing committees gave the government some advice on reinvestments or putting money back into the budget. The government did respond to some of those, but that was not specifically as a result of any specific pot of money. Obviously any new money that we had would be part and parcel of the reason for agreeing to it, but that was the process that was followed.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of criteria. The process is outlined on our web site, but it is not advertised in any other format. I would certainly be happy to write to the Member with the details. There is a committee that has to consider all of the requests. There are a certain number of criteria. If an applicant meets those criteria, they apply to the committee. The committee then makes a recommendation to me. Then I would sign off on it, based on their recommendation. So I would be happy to write to the Member, and he can share the criteria with the residents he is...