Robert Hawkins

I’ve been led to believe that a number of unfunded positions exist. Their titles may not be before me, if I could describe them as temporary positions, floating positions, you know, of that type of nature. I’ve been led to understand that some of the positions being kept unfilled; in other words, funded positions that are left vacant are being left on the books in order to fill those positions. Could the Minister provide some guidance and light on that observation?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche.

Department of Finance

Members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations met with the Minister of Finance on April 1, 2008, to review the Draft Main Estimates for the Department of Finance.

Committee members made note that the department is proposing to spend $10,959,000 in operation expenses for the fiscal year of 2008–2009.

Committee members offer the following comments on issues arising out of the review of the 2008–2009 Draft Main Estimates.

Revenue Increase and Stabilization

Committee members found that in order to create long-term financial stability for the...

Mr. Speaker, I compliment Aurora College for having their camp cook program that they operate in their existing programming, but I think it’s time that we can expect more and demand more.

The Minister has said that he would be looking at this situation. When can I get some type of commitment that they will bring down the Aurora College board and the officials to take a serious look at the nuts and bolts of this operation, to see if this is something we can do here in the Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has put an increased emphasis on support for trades training and apprenticeship opportunities over the past few years. What hasn’t been discussed enough, as far as I’m concerned, is the fact that the trades training programs, in my mind, still have a number of gaps.

One area in the trades that is definitely needed in the North is cooking trades, a Red Seal Program. There’s a high demand for certified cooks in our diamond mines, exploration camps and in the food service industry in our North. The demand for skilled cooks will only increase when the...

Mr. Speaker, I came today to make sure my vote got recorded. That was probably the most important reason I came today. I’ve got personal reasons that should be keeping me away today, but my wife is keeping me abreast all the way through.

Mr. Speaker, I’m going to vote in favour of second reading on the simple principle of debate. The reason is — if I may steal the words of another colleague of mine — it’s going to give us the opportunity to fight like hell on a number of the lines, line by line. I welcome that opportunity.

I’m not going to pretend I’m in favour of the budget wholeheartedly. I...

Mr. Speaker, earlier today I talked about raising the bar of our trades programs here in the North by offering training that doesn’t exist today. That training would be the Red Seal Program for a cooking school. I had the chance and the privilege to bring the Minister down to a facility here in Yellowknife run by Chef Pierre, to see his facility and what could be done to elevate trades programs here in the North.

My question to the Minister of ECE is: would he be willing to look at this possibility of moving forward on implementing a cooking trades program here in the Northwest Territories, to...

Mr. Speaker, that’s the approach I’m looking for, so I will say that, hopefully, this will be my last question. Is that a commitment that they will include that into that process, or is that sort of, “We’ll think about it”?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As everyone who owns a house or a car knows, fuel prices seem to continually go up and down, and there’s no stability. Many people are familiar with the issue of last product in, first product out, so that’s sort of the pricing principle. As many people know, especially here in Yellowknife, when the ice bridge went out, no new product was trucked in to Yellowknife — I can tell you that — but the prices fluctuate. Based on that sort of pricing model, it seems completely unreasonable that fuel prices were going up and down.

I wrote the Minister of Finance about some...

Mr. Speaker, the committee is disappointed that the two reports the commissioner had announced during the review of her last year’s annual report had not been received. During the review of the 2006–2007 annual report, the commissioner announced that the report on language services in health care facilities will be tabled during the May-June session of 2008. The commissioner provided no timelines or details relating to her previous announced report on advertising requirements.

As the committee discussed with the commissioner, the responsibility for the promotion of the official languages rests...

Mr. Speaker, in all due respect, I don’t see it as 2 per cent. I see it as 118 families, and that’s the way I see it.

My issue really is, out of this 118 that we’re talking about, how many are up for potential reassignment in other positions? That’s what I want to know. Ultimately, I want to know — and I would hope other Members on this side of the House want to know — how many people are we really talking about that will be ultimately impacted, once this process is jigged out and finalized?