Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is my pleasure to present the comments of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure regarding this department.
Committee Members have noted the way in which the regional and area directors' positions have evolved. In the past, regional directors wielded quite a bit of administrative power in regional offices. The standing committee felt that the positions of the area director would no longer be needed. Therefore, the standing committee recommended that area director positions be eliminated by March 31, 1996.
The standing committee also recommended that the Executive prepare a detailed review of the remaining regional director positions by March 31, 1996. This is getting a little late now.
However, the government decided instead to eliminate all area director and regional director positions without a review. Committee Members expressed concern regarding this proposal, as regional directors often have the important task of coordinating community efforts in transfer initiatives and of coordinating interdepartmental initiatives in the region.
The effort to reserve $555,000 of the savings from the elimination of the regional director positions to alleviate the difficulties that might arise did meet with some agreement from the standing committee.
Personnel
The outgoing government directed the creation of a number of government structures and process review options, which provided some very broad direction to the 13th Assembly. Incoming Members reviewed these options and, in many cases, recommended their implementation. One recommendation of this exercise was that the responsibility for staffing functions be transferred from the Personnel Secretariat to individual departments and that a small policy unit be established within the Executive to develop and monitor policies and coordinate interdepartmental initiatives. The standing committee recommended that this option be reviewed by the government. The government has now implemented the change and it is reflected in these main estimates. Some elements of the Personnel Secretariat have been retained in the Executive in order to ensure that departmental staff be appropriately trained and to ensure that affirmative action and other relevant policies are followed by government departments.
Concerns were expressed by committee Members regarding implementation of this initiative at the regional level. The standing committee wants to ensure that regional implementation of this amalgamation does not end up being less efficient and more costly.
As well, committee Members had some concern that, if adequate controls were not in place, this initiative might lead to less compliance with the affirmative action policy and more opportunity for nepotism. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.