Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee's feeling was that these are public dollars that we are talking about, and the public has the right to know. We are talking most particularly in reference to Hay Plan employees, who would not necessarily be covered by the collective agreement, which might have in it some privacy provision.

The Minister may be aware that, in the first session of this Legislature, I tabled a report which showed how a majority of provinces in Canada do, in fact, table this kind of information in their Legislatures, and make this kind of information public. I do not think it is unreasonable to think, if we are spending public dollars, that there has to be a public awareness of where they are going.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to confirm with you Mr. Chairman, we have already voted on the motion which relates to tabling of the employees salaries. Okay, our next resolution has to do to with cost savings in the department.

The Department of Personnel informed the committee that it was successful in reducing the cost of recruitment travel $1.218 million, or 75 percent, from $1.632 million to $414,000 during 1991-92, for which they should be congratulated. Departments that announce these types of savings without adversely affecting needed public programs should be encouraged. Of course, it does raise the question why were these savings not realized before, and the committee does not wish to see any deterioration of the travel situation and savings. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move that the committee recommends that the government should use the cost savings actions by the Department of Personnel as a model for further budget reductions by other departments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The final committee resolution has to do with measuring the output and effect. The committee wishes to know what the department will accomplish with the money put into personnel programs and services. Further, the Minister indicated, to the committee, that there is a high level of morale amongst staff. The committee agrees that employee morale is a key indicator of success, of how this department does its job. However, there was no measurable evidence provided by the department that employee morale was indeed high, during a period of dramatic change.

Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Personnel report, as a minimum, the following performance measurements on a government-wide basis in the 1993-94 main estimates:

1. Employee morale;

2. Employee turnover rates by departments and regions;

3. Employee absenteeism rates;

4. User satisfaction with personnel services;

5. Affirmative actions statistics; and

6. Progress towards a G.N.W.T. human resources management system.

Mr. Chairman, that completes the resolutions, coming from the Standing Committee on Finances' review of this budget.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I can provide the Member with my own individual copy. Do other Members want it, as well? In that case, we will make copies right now.

Mr. Chairman, when we negotiate agreements with the unions, the union takes account of who it is that there membership is, and that is what decides what type of benefits they seek.

There is an increasing number, a high number, of northern, and aboriginal, people now present in the work-force, they are members of the unions, and we have served notice that we expect the type of resources, the type of money that we put into benefits for employees, into collective agreements, to start changing.

For instance, removal benefits, how you can use vacation travel assistance, housing, these are a few of the items we think will start to change dramatically. For instance, terms that would cover the kind of removal costs and assurances that southern hires want, are going to largely disappear if we hire mostly from the north. Any resources that are presently allocated for that can be re-allocated by the unions for others, and that was one of the offers we made this year. If there are areas where money was allocated in previous years, that the union feel is not a priority for the membership, they are quite free, within the total allocation that they felt they had available to them, to ask to re-allocate it. I think the trend is that way, as the Members suggest, to make sure that the type of money we provide to Members through collective agreements, as benefits to government employees, that it is negotiated, and taken into account that a larger percentage of the work-force are going to be aboriginal northern people.

Mr. Chairman, could I ask for witnesses to come in, so that we can have some real experts in Personnel.