Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Minister Roland. Minister Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Given that there’s an error here, shouldn’t we fix that in this book?

Can I have that in English, please?

Thank you for clarifying that for me. When is the reorganization and the restructuring of the department going to occur?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In looking at the active position numbers, I see that the department is going down by 11 positions. After hearing the Minister’s comments, I see that there is going to be a whole lot of new negotiating going on in the future. I understand that a number of these positions that are being eliminated are negotiator or negotiator-related type positions. I’m wondering if I can get the Minister to explain to me what processes you used in order to determine which positions to eliminate. Were any of them vacant? Which ones were filled? And, given these new tables that have been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again that all sounds great. Unfortunately, it also sounds like you're going to be doing to the voluntary sector what you're occasionally doing to us, which is telling them what you're going to do, rather than working with them.

Volunteer NWT is a central organization, a champion for all these groups, and would be a great group to engage and involve in conversation to help set a direction that's going to be acceptable to all the groups that are out there.

If you're not going to give them money, will you at least meet with Volunteer NWT and find some way to engage the...

Where that is actually true, in the past, is the feds had provided money. The feds, in their wisdom, had actually cut the money last year, and the GNWT stood up and helped support the voluntary sector through the Volunteer NWT. Regardless of whether the feds are doing it or not, they play an incredibly important role in the Northwest Territories, which has clearly been acknowledged through our strategic plan.

I'd like to ask the Minister to commit to meeting with Volunteer NWT and working out some form of financial arrangement that will help them sustain their existence and continue to do the...

Today is a sad day for the voluntary sector and non-governmental organizations in the Northwest Territories. As of yesterday, due to lack of GNWT funding and support, Volunteer NWT had to close their doors.

Volunteer NWT has been a champion for the voluntary sector, which includes volunteer organizations as well as NGOs, by promoting and supporting this sector. They have worked towards increasing the number of Northerners helping out, providing communities and organizations with the tools to increase volunteerism, and setting up a formal network to support the long-term goals and work of...

Mr. Chair, I’m now slightly confused. I thought the revenue summary, the grant-in-kind mentioned on page 5-10…. I thought the Minister said that that was the Rockhill grant, whereas on 5-18, the $260,000 is the Rockhill grant. So I’m just a little confused. The number you mentioned before — that $510,000 that disappeared — doesn’t seem consistent with this $260,000. So if you can help me understand that, that’d be great.

Thank you for that information, Mr. Minister. I’m curious, given that…. I may have misunderstood, so just bear with me. With these additional tables, if you’re going to be going for a forced growth in ’09–10, and we’re already…. April, May, June — three months into this fiscal year, and by the time we give the employees their notice, we’ll be halfway through the fiscal year. So they’ll be gone after halfway through the fiscal year is up, and then we’ll be looking at bringing back people to do similar jobs at the beginning of ’09–10. Does laying off the individuals now make much sense if we...