Tom Beaulieu

Our transportation system is harmonized with all the other jurisdictions that have interconnected highways into the Northwest Territories. When we consider removing the requirement for somebody to have a Class 3 and certain size vehicle, we do have to consult with other jurisdictions. So, currently there is a regulation that certain size vehicles need a certain class of licence. At this time, we’re pleased with the way that’s going and it fits in well with the other jurisdictions.

We can look at it to see if there is something we can harmonize with the other jurisdictions, but we can’t make a...

Yes, Mr. Speaker. The intention is to have on-line services for commercial vehicles within the next two to three years.

The plan moving forward and the portion of the plan that we had submitted to the federal government that was approved was for the reconstruction of most of the highway infrastructure across the territory. The Dempster is in there. As soon as we’re able to match the dollars, if we’re able to find matching dollars for the Dempster in 2014-15, then we will be starting year one of the Building Canada Plan work on the Dempster and other highways this year. Thank you.

Thank you. The information I have is that the office space vacancy in the city of Yellowknife will be between 5 and 7 percent, which is considered to be a healthy vacancy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have the cost-benefit analysis of the savings between the construction of this building and continuing to lease office space. What I do have is the initial evaluation when we were going into building this office space. We were looking at the amount of space that we are leasing versus the amount of space that we own and ensuring we have a good balance for the city of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you. The office space construction is not over budget. There has been no requirement for change order. The only thing that we have changed is that we have moved money from the previous year back because the office space construction was ahead of schedule. But the bottom line is that we went in with a certain budget and we’re well within that budget. Thank you.

My understanding is we haven’t created a great amount of vacancy. In fact, we are still looking for some office space for some of the departments that are not moving out of lease space. That building will be filled by Department of Transportation and the Department of Health. The information I have here doesn’t indicate that that building is going to create any hardship at all for any of the office people that provide office space, any of the businesses that are providing office space to the GNWT. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, jobs for Northerners are a priority of all Members of this Assembly. For the Government of the Northwest Territories, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan and the Workforce Planning Strategy provide multi-pronged approaches to build capacity through recruitment, development and retention. I would like to provide Members an update on some of these initiatives being led by the Department of Human Resources.

Partnering with Aboriginal and community governments through secondment opportunities to build capacity is a win-win. Secondments provide employees with the opportunity to become...

Mr. Speaker, I’m going to have a discussion with the deputy on this because I’m not quite understanding how we would be able to do that. When someone leaves the employ of the GNWT then that position becomes vacant. That vacant position, if there’s an immediate requirement, then that position could be filled with a casual. That gives an opportunity for the department to maybe evaluate what they wish to do with that position. As an example, it could be a position that’s hard to recruit. I’m not quite understanding clearly how we would be able to let the public know that we have this many...

Thank you. I don’t think we have a category in PeopleSoft, in our system totally at all that are a category that our jobs are held back for someone else. We have vacancies, yes. There are vacancies that can be held for an individual that’s on a transfer assignment that is going to come back to their home position and then there’s also, on the other side of the coin, there would be vacancies where the department sees that it would be a good opportunity for someone to come into the department on a transfer assignment, those vacancies filled by casuals because they’re having positions that are...