Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I am not going to say that I agree with the Minister, because I didn’t agree with that at all.

Mr. Speaker, there is no system to help a small business like a restaurant hire a professional cook who cooks a very special style. There’s no program out there that helps other small businesses bring in foreign workers so they can fill gaps for skilled and semi-skilled workers. He may have a system out there — who knows where — that helps them learn English. Yes, I know there are cases of that. I know that there are a few other things. But there’s nothing to help them...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I respect the Minister’s answer, but while I’m not going to say wrong, I don’t agree with him. The fact is, Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about people trying to get here. I’m talking about small businesses that want skilled and semi-skilled workers here to help do specialized jobs that they can’t get just walking out on the street and saying, “Here, I’ve got a job application. Please jump on board, and I’ll pay you.”

Mr. Speaker, we need talent. Sometimes we have to reach outside the N.W.T. That’s what I’m describing. I’m saying there’s a role for the Department of Education...

In this heated economy many Northern employers face shortages of both skilled and semi-skilled workers. Allowing employers to fill their labour shortages through foreign employees, both on a temporary or permanent basis, is a win-win for our economy, and there is a role for the G.N.W.T. to play.

There are shortages in a variety of industries, and we lack the number of interested people to catch up. Eleven jurisdictions, including the Yukon, have a provincial nomination system that helps speed up the immigration process for skilled and semi-skilled workers who wish to become permanent residents...

I have a number of written questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. They are as follows:

What is the foreign worker assistance program designed to help small business owners fill skilled employment vacancies called?

What is the budget for this program?

When was this program instituted?

How often has this foreign worker program been used, both successfully and unsuccessfully?

What is the average processing time with these applications?

How many businesses have been assisted by this program?

Provide a breakdown of the communities that have businesses accessing this program.

What...

Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear here, because we’re getting these sort of semantic answers. Is the project in or out for this capital budget?

Mr. Speaker, there has been a plan on the books for a number of years to consolidate the clinics in Yellowknife to create a downtown consolidated clinic. There has been a business case made to do this, basically on the principles that we can take our existing staff and our doctors and we can put them all together and provide more services for less money. So what seems to be the problem? There is money in the budget. Where is this plan today?

Mr. Speaker, the system, I hate to say, doesn’t exist to anyone out there on the street. The system must exist under some rock hidden in some broom closet or something, because I’ll tell you, we’ve got small businesses out there that need help filling out the paperwork . That’s what they need. They need someone to help them along with the process. They need someone to help them work with Citizenship Canada. They need that process. Not when they’re here, because when they’re here that’s not the problem. They just want to get them here. So the problem is getting them to the Northwest Territories...

The Premier brings up a good point about the benefits. But I got a call quite some time ago — not recently — from a company that does business in the North, and the majority, the lion’s share, of business that they’ve sort of worked through in their contract has gone south. So what they’ve done is set up a bit of a phantom company, so they can get a Northern image, working with aboriginal organizations. So they give a piece, but we don’t see what is really underneath the name.

If we’re going to do this process, and if you’re reviewing and you’re standing there and saying that we did a...

Thank you, Premier. To continue along the theme of my suggestions and to make sure they’re included…. I got a phone call today from a constituent on two separate but similar matters, so I’ll put them both in the same question.

Mr. Speaker, some of the cost reduction ideas — and I’m glad to hear boards and agencies will be part of this — are negotiated contracts. Negotiated contracts, they’re convinced — and I think they’re right — cost us more than public tenders.

The other thing is allowing employees to use flexibility when they do things like make travel plans. For example, we tell them that...

I’m very proud to say I’m Rotarian. I know former Members, such as Mr. Dent, are Rotarians as well, and different people in the public service are. They give time to go to the schools like Weledeh to read to school children every week. The thing is they have to take regular annual leave. That is the type of thing I’d like to see us continue, yet find ways to work with the employees so they are not sacrificing one way to make it work. The fact is, I’d like to see that spirit continue so we can allow employees to do the good things they do in our community — and that’s only one example.

Can I get...