R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Ministers have in front of them how many students have been hired. I was wondering: would you be able to tell the committee the number of summer students hired in Hay River over the past couple of years compared to a similarly sized Inuvik and Fort Smith?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In previous years, the department was totally evergreened and all of our systems are up to date, so funds were internally reallocated this year to cover compensation and benefits because the evergreening for all of the computer systems was done in previous years. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

Are we agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, I would just like to ask who in the department is working within Hay River to develop a plan for homelessness, to address homelessness in Hay River. I'd like to be of any assistance I can. I'd like to offer that to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I understand that Yellowknife is almost a magnet community for homelessness, so I understand there is a great need here. Could the Minister elaborate on the $750,000 thirdparty social housing, the money going to social housing, thirdparty social housing providers? Who are these providers and what type of social housing are they providing, and is there any of that in Hay River?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to speak briefly about the resignation of our fellow Northerner, Hunter Tootoo, from his position as the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and his decision to seek help for substance abuse issues. I do not know all the circumstances surrounding his resignation, and likely, only the people closest to him do. I do know that this decision must have been one of the most difficult of his life. He knew there would be extensive media coverage, that it would be discussed on every channel, in every newspaper, and in thousands and thousands of private...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Human Resources, are they in contact with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority regarding summer students? Is there any sort of encouragement to hire summer students? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Yes, and I see that traditionally Hay River has far fewer summer students than either Fort Smith or Inuvik, despite having a larger population, significantly larger, especially including the reserve when it's compared to Fort Smith. Why is that? Is it a reflection of the fewer number of overall government positions or is there some issue that needs to be addressed regarding summer student hiring in Hay River specifically? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is part of the reallocation of the marketing communications budget from strategic human resources, so the contract services went up to 212 as the Minister indicated, and then we had internal re-allocations for the purchased services budget to move up into the contract services as well. The answer is both. It is part of historical expenditures, as well as re-aligning some of the funding to re-allocate those services into an area management recruitment services from strategic human resources. Thank you, Mr. Chair.