Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On my right is Darryl Bohnet, acting deputy minister of Personnel, and on my left is Mike Cluderay, who is responsible for operations.

Thank you. Welcome to the committee. General comments from the floor. Mr. Gargan.

General Comments

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, by the year 1999 we will have dealt with the issue of division. I presume that with division will come transfer or attrition, one or the other. Has your department come up with a strategic plan with regard to that movement? I assume, if you have 8,000 public servants, they are not going to be all here in Yellowknife. Nor do I see that you need that many people for 28,000 in the western Arctic. How are you addressing this issue?

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my understanding, that is one of the things we deal with in the

strategic plans we make at the end of each Assembly. I will get my DM to elaborate on your question.

Mr. Deputy Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the Department of Personnel is involved in the division review committee, which is an internal committee of deputy ministers who are looking at coordinating activities and plans for review. The Department of Personnel is also on the human resource planning subcommittee, which is chaired by the deputy minister of Education. The other member is the secretary to the Financial Management Board. The three of us are involved in human resource strategic planning development at this stage.

Thank you. Department of Personnel, general comments. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask if you have any restraint measures right now. Right across the country, from St. John's, Newfoundland to Victoria, BC, there are governments implementing measures where they have made a freeze, made a reduction, or come up with different strategies for benefits. I'm wondering how much of an effort your department has made with regard to this whole issue? I disagree that we should allow nothing to happen up here while the rest of the country is making their share of restraint measures.

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Personnel.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do have measures that the department takes. One of them being, wherever possible, instead of bringing the people in for interviews, interviews are carried out by telephone because that reduces costs. Also, because of the restraint measures that the department has taken, we'll be 15 per cent under budget.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Deh Cho.

In your definitive objectives, you did say you had the work-force adjustment program. Is that where you are doing it?

The honourable Minister of Personnel.

Mr. Chairman, can the Member clarify his question? I didn't understand it. Or, rephrase his question.

The honourable Member for Deh Cho.

It's on page 06-5.

Thank you. I believe the honourable Member is referring to the activity of staffing. To provide guidance and support of departments affected by the work-force adjustment program. I believe he is referring to that. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the work-force adjustment program is in our definitive objectives.

Thank you. Honourable Member for Deh Cho.

Does this also include the ratios? In other words, public servant population ratio, or student/teacher ratio. Maybe the ratio in the western Arctic is substantially higher than in the east, so you might want to come up with some kind of a balance with regard to the ratios. Right now, the way I see it is that you're reducing...During the last few days, I've listened to Members expressing a concern with regard to teacher reduction based on ratio. I'm just wondering whether you would be looking at...if you're going to reduce the ratios, that you do it at the headquarters level as opposed to the community level.

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Personnel.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe what Sam is talking about is the mandate of the divisional boards of education. We only assist in hiring. In my opening remarks, I mentioned that we are responsible for administering the work-force adjustment program. This program provides benefits for these employees affected by government initiatives, such as decentralization, privatization, consolidation and community transfers.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Gargan.