Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All of us have heard a great deal over the last few days about the need to save money and our commitment to develop more effective forms of government. We have not heard much about government employees who are already doing their best to provide programs and services to the people of the Northwest Territories, despite budget limitations and impossible deadlines.

Over the past few years our public service has been asked to respond to increasing demands for expansion of services without a corresponding increase in the resources to deliver them. I believe they have done an excellent job, and it will be important to maintain these work habits as we deal with consolidating departments, transferring responsibilities to community governments, and streamlining our decision-making processes.

Maintaining a stable and professional public service is essential if we want to meet the challenges facing us over the next four years, and I want to assure staff at all levels of the organization that their abilities and their ideas are needed.

We intend to provide our employees with many opportunities to contribute to decision-making. They will be involved and consulted in each phase of implementation within their own departments. They will also be asked to share their ideas for change affecting other departments. Our employee suggestion awards program will be expanded to provide awards to employees who make positive suggestions resulting in more effective and efficient programs, services and organizational structures. Some of our staff will also have the chance of working on project teams that will make recommendations directly to senior management. This will provide them with experience to advance their careers. We need their skills to get this job done.

Mr. Speaker, I know there is a lot of anxiety among our staff about how the changes we are considering will affect them personally. Cabinet and senior management recognizes this fact. As a result, we are now finalizing a work force adjustment strategy to provide options for workers who are affected by departmental consolidations. This strategy will help employees find other opportunities when certain jobs become redundant because of organizational change. Hiring preference, retraining, counselling and placement assistance will be the main elements of the strategy. The processes used will be explained through personal contact and in a staff publication dedicated to providing updates on the progress of implementation along with information on human resource issues in general. By taking this approach we will contribute to a reasonably secure public service with all the necessary tools to get the job done. Thank you.