Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister about his attitude toward autonomy with the divisional boards of education. I think the direction was heavy-handed to assume that it would be cheaper for the divisional board to recruit in western Canada than in eastern Canada, whereas I think an examination of the costs will show that it may cost less to recruit and travel in the maritimes than in western Canada. It is well known that southern personnel, who are hired in the Baffin, often come from the maritimes because they are in the same time zone and they feel closer to family and relatives. As long as we have to hire in southern Canada, the policy was rather heavy-handed. Is it not the preferable option to inform the boards that they have a fixed budget for recruitment, that they should spend the money wisely and they should obviously avoid travelling or recruiting from too far a field in order to conserve their budget, rather than giving them arbitrary guidelines about where they should recruit? Is that not a more respectful approach in keeping with the principle that people in the region are quite capable of governing themselves without big brother from headquarters nickel and diming them on every travel warrant?
Dennis Patterson on Committee Motion 78-12(3): To Adopt Recommendation 5
In the Legislative Assembly on March 5th, 1993. See this statement in context.
Committee Motion 78-12(3): To Adopt Recommendation 5
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 4th, 1993
Page 773
Dennis Patterson Iqaluit
See context to find out what was said next.