Tom Beaulieu

Is there work being done on ensuring that the affirmative action is being followed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to increasing work and continuing to meet with the other social development Ministers of the GNWT to reduce poverty in the NWT?

I'd like to ask the Minister how he is exploring options to leverage funding for increased investment in anti-poverty initiatives?

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, [English translation not provided]. Marci cho, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, Maclean's magazine reported that the federal government is setting up an advisory committee on poverty. This team will take the lead role in creating a poverty reduction strategy.

It is made up of top researchers as well as experts in the fields of business and social services, and significantly, people who have actually lived with poverty in this country, and it will evaluate ideas that come out of public consultation.

The committee's work will also be tied to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This has got me confused. Did the Minister say there were 14 positions in -- okay. According to this there was a huge increase in the amount of positions. I wonder if the Minister would like to clarify what he means by 14 positions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was looking for a bit of clarification on an item here on page 206 on the expenditure category on compensation and benefits over the past two fiscal years, gone down slightly from almost $10 million down to $9.6 million down to $8.3 million, but the positions are exactly the same. I was wondering what the difference is? If we are still paying 58 people benefits and compensation, why is there such a big drop in the amount? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that such a program would be greatly welcomed by people in small businesses trying to hire summer students for the various jobs that they do. I think that I could help the Minister of HR take a look at the vacancy rate if you're looking for money to hire summer students. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very pleased to hear that. I'd like to ask the Minister: what is the strategy of working with the other departments? I know that it has always been a difficult task to give to one Minister when all Ministers are responsible for their own hiring, or the departments are responsible for their own hiring of summer students. I want to know if the Minister has any coordinated plan with all departments on the hiring of summer students.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as Regular Members in the House, we are in the process of asking government to put more money into the anti-poverty movement. Today, the Minister of Health had laid out all of the work this government is doing to combat poverty; however, most of those initiatives had been there for years, and we will have a very high percentage of people in poverty in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker.

I wanted to get up quickly after the speech that the Minister of Health and Social Services made to respond to it quickly because I don’t want people to believe that $438...