Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan to amalgamate the Personnel Secretariat into the Department of the Executive; the principles of that plan are recruitment will be the responsibility of the departments, boards and agencies of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Recruitment will be carried out in accordance with established guidelines, procedures and policies of this government. The Personnel Secretariat will establish and distribute appropriate guidelines and procedures, the Public Services Act and regulations, the affirmative action policy, the official languages policy and guidelines, and the human resource manual will also govern the manner in which staffing is conducted. The secretariat will conduct regular audits of the departments' staffing activities that will be frequent at first. Annual audits should be significant after the first year of delegation. Audits are intended to determine compliance with established procedures. Audit results will be provided to the deputy ministers and will contain recommendations to correct procedural deficiencies. Any complaints will be investigated. The secretariat will also be available to investigate specific staffing complaints when necessary. For example, there is no appeal mechanism when a position is excluded from the UNW bargaining unit, and Ministers regularly receive enquiries from fellow MLAs as well as from constituents. So we would investigate those complaints.

The Personnel Secretariat will provide specialized training to department staff at both headquarters and the regions for the first year or two. Departments will then recruit their own staffing in a normal manner. Training and support for selection committee members will continue to be provided on an ongoing basis, Mr. Speaker.

During the transition period, the Secretariat will continue to provide recruitment services until the Minister of Finance delegates authority to the individual deputy ministers. Those deputy ministers will then be held accountable.

The secretariat will provide support and assistance to departments, when requested, during the transition period. This includes coordinating summer student employment, casual employment, assistant and senior management, Hay

Plan recruitment activities, maintenance of staffing priority lists, and also for laid-off employees.

Beginning immediately, training will be provided to the department staff which will enable individual departments to conduct recruitment activities. Training will include group sessions and short internship. While in completion of the training program, departments will assume full staffing responsibility.

The Personnel Secretariat will continue to be available to departments on a consultative and advisory basis, should the need arise. As departments' training needs are met, staffing authority will be delegated by administered departments. Departments will then be fully accountable for their staff decisions, rather than sharing the accountability with Personnel.

It is intended to sunset the four positions as the need for training and assistance is reduced, no later than the end of this government's term of office. We will sunset all the other positions in Personnel and then the departments will have full responsibility.

Departmental staff have received practitioner training. The Personnel Secretariat will continue to provide a recruitment service. However, departments can expect to be more involved than they have in the past. These recruitment actions will be used as a training session and will facilitate a smooth transfer of the authority, Mr. Speaker.

Departments will assume full responsibility for casual employment. Applications for casual work will apply directly to individual departments for employment. Similarly, summer students will also apply directly to departments for summer employment opportunities.

The secretariat will play a coordinating role for student and casual employment by referring candidates to the departments and meeting with individuals to discuss employment. As well, Mr. Speaker, compliance with the policy and procedures, the secretariat will review all staffing appeal decisions to determine if departments have misapplied policies or failed to follow established procedures. Corrective action will then be recommended, Mr. Speaker. Complaints that cannot be addressed through the appeals process will be investigated by the Personnel Secretariat. Appropriate reports and recommendations will then be prepared.

The Minister of Finance who is responsible...