Glen Abernethy

Mr. Chair, in listening to the Minister's statement, I see that he's indicated that there's been a decrease in four positions, which is technically true, but there were actually five positions eliminated as part of the reduction exercise, all in Yellowknife, and then there was one position created in Fort Smith. So, technically, five positions have been eliminated as part of this reduction exercise.

I'm not as upset or as disturbed by the elimination of these five positions, as they were all vacant. I'm more concerned on a territorial level about eliminating positions where there are actually...

I was wondering if I can get from the Minister some sort of commitment as to when something might actually happen with these houses. The longer they sit vacant, the more they cost us. At a time of fiscal restraint it seems like a bit of a poor use of our public funds. Can I get some commitment or a timeline on when we might see those assets disposed of in some way?

My questions today are to the Minister Responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation and relate specifically to the houses that were constructed in Fort Res that now sit vacant. It’s my understanding that at least three of these homes were built by the Housing Corp. through the home ownership program and that, once constructed, there were no eligible candidates to actually take over those houses. So they’ve been sitting vacant for two years.

My question to the Minister is: what criteria are used in determining which community these homes are built in, in anticipation that they will be purchased...

In a time of fiscal restraint it's important that the government is responsible with the money and that every dollar spent is spent well and for maximum benefit. I'd like to talk to you right now about an example of where I found government funds are not necessarily being spent in the most logical or responsible way.

On April 28 I was in Fort Res with the Standing Committee on Social Programs doing some public hearings. Prior to our public hearing we went on a tour of the community. As we were walking down the street from the band office to the school, we passed three really nice, brand-new...

I’m actually slightly changing tacks here if that’s all right. I’m looking at your budget. For your compensation and benefits in this section it’s about $2.3 million. There’s been no position change in this area at all, yet when I look at vacant positions under HR Strategy and Policy, I see a business systems analyst that has been vacant for seven months, the manager of human resource information systems which has been vacant for two years and a policy officer which has been vacant for a year. In light of the reductions and finding ways to avoid laying off staff, were any of these three...

The TSC upgrade is included in this budget line — the contract services?

So the increase is mostly around the TSC chargeback area. It wasn’t growth –– was it –– that increased this area back up to $302,000? You found it from within.

Seven additional positions that were identified and rejected? Were they vacant or filled positions?

To the principle of the bill, I won’t be supporting the bill today. When the Premier came to us originally and told us that we were in some financial woes and that we had to redefine how we do business, I was actually quite optimistic. I thought, okay, great, finally we’re going to be able to break into the government — you know, find some efficiency, stop wasting money, stop bleeding out money.

I was also optimistic, when we asked the Premier across the floor, that jobs would be the last resort. I was hopeful that that would in fact be the case. When the Main Estimates came forward, it became...

A lot of Members have already gone on record discussing the proposed budget and the process that has been undertaken today. Given that today we may be voting on the first and second readings of the budget, I thought it would be timely for me to talk about the process as well.

It has been suggested by Cabinet that the 11 Members on this side of the House have been adequately briefed and involved throughout the entire budget process, including the cuts themselves. When it comes to reductions, the 11 Members prepared a list of potential reductions, not focused on job cuts, and provided them to...