Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The praises of this Minister and his department have been oozing through the Chamber this afternoon. I guess I could have some good things to say about the department and the Minister, and I will start off with some positive comments, but I have a fairly strong criticism to make about the handling of personnel matters in the department. These are general comments, and I know they'll be taken in the spirit of constructive criticism that they're offered.

But, getting to the positive first, I do want to underscore the Minister's opening remarks about what I think is a remarkable achievement in the intervention of the NorthwesTel rate increase applications. I think the department and its policy group deserve credit and I would like to say that, as an MLA, I appreciated the cooperation I received from the Minister and his officials to ensure the intervention which came from my constituency -- notably that of the Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce -- was assisted by the resources of the department

and was complementary.

I think, together, a very effective job was done by the government and by various private intervenors, including the city of Yellowknife and other people. It was a remarkable accomplishment. Any less humble Minister would have been arranging great publicity for the feat of having held off a rate increase. I think Mr. Morin was relatively modest about his accomplishments, considering that these days, prices usually go up. It's not often that price increases can be held off. I think it was a very commendable job and I think, really, NorthwesTel was outgunned in those hearings by intervenors, including our government, and that's to our credit.

I also want to say that whenever I have complaints and problems, I am impressed that they're dealt with promptly by the Minister and his officials and taken seriously. I also want to make that positive comment.

However, Mr. Chairman, if the day ever came that I no longer received complaints from employees in DPW in Iqaluit, I would be very surprised. I think it's my observation over 14 years as an MLA, that of all the employees in all the departments -- and there are four or five hundred in Iqaluit -- that I've ever had to deal with, DPW heads the list for labour relations problems, poor management of labour relations, and just ongoing morale problems.

I'm going to take a minute to discuss these, because I think it's an area that the Minister will undoubtedly want to improve. First of all, Mr. Chairman, although I acknowledge there is progress in employing aboriginal people in DPW -- I think the Minister cited a figure of some 40 per cent -- it is not at all clear that this success is resulting in any progress in the management area. Yes, we are hiring Inuit tradesmen, but are we hiring Inuit foremen, superintendents, or project officers? The progress is poor.

Mr. Chairman, let me put flesh to this. I'll just tell a small story. Recently, a very senior long-term employee of DPW in the Baffin region -- and I think Mr. Doherty and perhaps Mr. Morin will know who I'm talking about, he need not be named -- retired. For many years, this senior manager in the department had been working quite closely with a journeyman Inuk in the particular area in which they worked.

When that vacancy arose, I would have thought that a department that would have been conscious of the need to bring forward aboriginal managers, would have said to this long-term Inuit employee with -- as far as I know -- a good employment record, "This competition is coming up. You should know about it," or perhaps, "Make sure you apply," or something like that. Instead, what happened?

The job was put out to competition almost exactly coincident with the Inuk employee's annual leave in a community some distance from Iqaluit. No one in the department ever informed that person the job was coming out for competition, let alone encourage that person to apply. He happened to hear the job was advertised in the newspaper, through talking to a friend from his home community. He happened to apply, and the good news is, he got the job.

But, I suggest, Mr. Chairman, that this a small example of a department that is not making that extra effort to at least inform northern native people and long-term northerners of management opportunities that come forward. I suspect that reflects an attitude that is sometimes typical in this department, at least in my region.

Mr. Ningark just complimented the Minister on how the amalgamation was handled. I heard a very sad story about a twenty year employee, again in the Baffin region, who, first of all, was asked to take a $22,000 pay cut to get a new position within the amalgamated department, accepted that decision, albeit reluctantly, and then got a call from the policy group in Yellowknife saying, "You are back in the Hay Plan after all. Your old salary will be restored and you have been PIO'd." I guess bureaucrats know what that means. I think it is "present incumbent only". The salary was retained. He asked if the information would be confirmed by fax. This was back in May, 1993. He was told, yes. He waited and waited. All other Hay Plan employees got a 1.8 per cent performance increment. This didn't come. The employee was concerned and curious, but his concern was answered in January when he got a notice in the mail saying that this was all a mistake. You have been overpaid. There is a retroactive claw-back. Since there is nothing in writing, we won't honour what you say you were told orally. We are going to claw back the increase over the last six months or so. The bottom line is, the employee got disillusioned, resigned, and came to me to explain the situation after having given notice.

These are two examples, Mr. Chairman, to suggest that, at least in my experience -- and there are many other stories I can tell -- this department needs to do more in the way of good personnel management.

Sometimes, I wonder why there is such a high turnover in the Baffin region. It has been a phenomenal turnover in recent months. Many employees I have talked to feel under seige. Relations between management and workers have always been bad. There is a lack of respect. I think it is reciprocal. I think it is not just the labourers and tradesmen don't respect managers, I sense evidence that it is the other way around. I hear there is an aboriginal support group in headquarters. That sounds like a good effort. But, I wonder whether managers need training in basic management techniques, how to inspire greater efforts through praise and encouragement, not by taking negative action. I don't know what the sources of these problems are, Mr. Chairman. I have, over the years, tried to deal with them, although I feel very awkward because they are usually labour relations matters.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, I would like to suggest this is an area that should be looked at. I think the department is good at building, fixing and contracting, but there is this whole human side of managing. Perhaps it is an example of the axiom that a good engineer does not necessarily a good manager make. I just want to make those comments because I think this is an area in which there could be improvement, affirmative action and just general management-employee relations. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.