Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As required by section 32.1(2) of the Financial Administration Act, I wish to table the following document entitled List of Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 for the Period April 1st, 2004, to February 8th, 2005.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again, the area of the MAP program is being looked at to see how we can open it up and ensure that northern residents are having a fair opportunity to advance within the government. As we go through this first issue we have to deal with around human resources, we will be able then to take on these other areas with more horsepower, I guess you can say, to begin to look at this and hopefully bring solutions to Members of this House and to our workforce. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, scrutiny of what Members of FMB decide should not happen on this floor, as Members have been questioning us to the integrity of what has been happening. As I informed the Member and other Members on this issue, that once we have got a plan together to move forward, we would be bringing it to committee. In fact, a document will be going to committee in the very near future about where things are going right now and what our plans are for trying to improve our system. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I have been a part of three elections now. The first one was October. The second one, we went in December. The most recent one was late in November. Some of the things we need to consider when we do look at this -- and I heard a comment about the North -- is one of the things about a November election day is usually the ferries are pulled out and crossings start to freeze mid-October. So that would be difficult for some of those communities. As well, by the time you get into November, it is usually pretty cold. People that open their doors don’t...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on many occasions when we are looking at gathering information, whether it is about a program or survey affecting employees, we tend to try and have one section of that being open for anybody to make comment. Some people are very concerned that they may say something that would be brought back to bear on them as they are in the workforce. So there are some sections of our internal surveys that employees are told right off at the start that there is a confidentiality portion. We will have to look at that as we go through this. So with the information of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will go back and see where the assessment was put together; if it was, in fact, from a consultant whether northern or southern. I think it is important to remember, whether you are north or south, your ability to get the job should be one of the most important measurements taken. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is no committee in place. What we did is once we came up with a plan and decided to put it in action, we started off with the corporate human resource service portion we had within Executive, moved it over to FMBS, and from there involved all of the staff who were involved with the delivery of corporate human resource services and started expanding out from there, putting a plan together and involving them. We met with just about every individual that is involved with human resource services and got some input into how things would flow, as well as...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe I’ll have the Minister of Health and Social Services make that response in this area. As I explained earlier, the increased actual usage of what services are provided out of territory and some of those increases in the claims that were processed. For further detail, Mr. Miltenberger can give that detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The process, as it works, allows for all UNW and excluded employees to appeal, so there could be further appeals. Again, the initial job evaluation methodology that was used when the GNWT went to the Hay job evaluation process that we entered into, came up with a rating. Pay was adjusted on that basis and as a result of that there was a grievance filed on behalf of 42 nurses that triggered this going into action and the re-evaluation of the positions. Again, it is open to employees that feel that they are not getting a fair shake, they can grieve it and if...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This has come around as a result of extending the highway season for two more weeks, plus the activity on the winter road up the Mackenzie Valley has added a lot of extra maintenance that needs to be done on that area. The increased traffic as well as the extending of the season has caused the department to come in for this request. Thank you.