The Minister for Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, not as a result of the recent resignation of the Chair. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the present time as the Members are aware that we have gone through business plans with them of how our government is proceeding with next year's development of our budget. I do not know whether it would be proper of me to say, at this time, what would be happening in the future until we have our budgets approved by this Assembly as well as committees. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the current positions in the 1997 business plan of these there are eight. Two are vacant at the present time and six are staffed. Of the six, two are on transfer to assignments, one person is on leave prior to retirement in a position in Fort Smith. This, in no way, takes away from the responsibility of the Personnel Secretariat and the Personnel Secretariat is still responsible for auditing, training and human resources support to every department. The whole thrust of the government has been that we would put the responsibility of hiring and personnel training in the hands of the department, within the

management of that department and hold them accountable and that seems to be working quite well. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was never any intention of the Personnel Secretariat functioning at the same level as the Department of Personnel was functioning. That was never the intention. It was always very clear. There was open communication with the Members of this House that we were no longer going to have two different departments involved in the training, hiring, the recruitment, and the career pathing of government employees. The managers of every department were going to be responsible for that function, and they were going to be held accountable as well. I do not see any downturn in any services to our employees. It is fairly straightforward and it seems to be working a lot better. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, a year or so ago, the Cabinet saw fit to do away with the Personnel Department which had been, I guess, monitoring affirmative action, monitoring the interviews and hiring practices of this government. When that was done, we were informed that the onus would now be on the deputy ministers and the Ministers to ensure that affirmative action was properly implemented. What I would like to know is, has the numbers of employees with affirmative action status increased since we put this onus on the managers? Thank you.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have the FMBS chairman answer that, he is in charge of that. Thank you.

The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have the actual numbers with me today, but direction was given by the Premier to the Ministers that this was a priority of this government, and they would be held accountable in this House for their actions. We are, and were confident that by putting the political responsibility on the Ministers, that we would get a greater participation by aboriginal people in the Government of the Northwest Territories. I can provide my colleague, probably later next week when I speak to Mr. Voytilla, as to the results of our efforts to date and the future plans we have in relationship to increasing aboriginal northerners in the civil service. Thank you.