Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, we still fail to seem to get the answer to why these 800 jobs are, what I would say, a relative secret. Why would we be hiding these employment opportunities to Northerners? When you go to the website and you don’t see them there but it is okay to take the show on the road to Ottawa, and maybe make one northern stop, what’s the government’s benefit of keeping them a secret? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am well aware of the government doing placement opportunities, giving Northerners a chance. I hear from the public and they are concerned that these job opportunities are being held away from them. In other words, that they’re not seeing these opportunities and benefits. Of course, at the same time as the last point is, they start to ask themselves, why bother to live and invest here with their families in the future if this government shows little interest in them.

I want to know what this Minister is going to do to show that these jobs matter, and that Northerners matter, and...

I’ve been contacted by public members who have gone to the job website and are not seeing them there. Of course, it’s a huge concern of theirs that they feel that the government is slapping them in the face when the first whistle stop is Ottawa. What’s next? Vancouver, maybe Edmonton, before Inuvik or Hay River or even Yellowknife?

My question now to the Minister of Human Resources is: What is he going to do to demonstrate that he’s in charge of this file and showing that he’s actively looking for people in the Northwest Territories for these jobs? Because right now, as everybody knows, these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the public becomes increasingly aware, the ideas and concerns of Regular Members seem to matter little with this government. I ask anyone to show me one recommendation from Members and the committees in this budget.

However, the interested public here watching us do our work certainly get to realize that we learn things all the time, such as these job vacancy rates.

I have to give credit to MLA Blake and certainly MLA Groenewegen the other day, who certainly got it right. When it comes to those 800 vacancies, the public wants to know, where are they? This government...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What can the Minister do to show us where that money is going? This Legislature votes for that particular money to be allocated for a very specific purpose. I don’t know the FMB rules that tightly to be able to say if you take that money and spend it somewhere else, you’ve breached that. I can’t say that today, but I am certainly going to look into it. How do we account for that money? If it’s not going to these jobs, the public sees it, rightly, as a slush fund to do whatever they want. So how do we know the money is going exactly to what it was designed for and passed...

Can the Minister say for certain that every one of these, whether it is 500, 800 or 1,000 jobs that are open today, that we know they are actively campaigning, because I am sure they are not flying around the country wasting people’s time.

Can the Minister guarantee that every one of these jobs is posted on our careers website, encouraging people to apply far and wide? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. WHEREAS people of the Northwest Territories and Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly take great pride in the three young Olympic athletes from our midst: Jesse Cockney, Brendan Green, and Michael Gilday;

AND WHEREAS these athletes are building on the tradition of past NWT athletes who became fine Olympians and world champions;

AND WHEREAS our Olympic competitors inspire all our youth to success, to participation in the Arctic Winter Games and excellence in the endeavours they pursue;

AND WHEREAS the Town of Hay River has designated Friday, February 7, 2014, as...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I give notice that on Monday, February 10, 2014, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that this Legislative Assembly officially proclaim its support for all three NWT Olympians, and wish them resounding good luck and success in their competitions at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

At the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion later today.

Sorry, Madam Speaker. I thought it was my third question, but the Speaker is always right. Even when the Speaker is wrong, the Speaker is still right.