Thank you. Mr. Todd.

You know, in fairness to my honourable colleague, I want to step back a little bit just so he understands where I am coming from. The Premier instituted a new system that made the Ministers and the departments accountable for their performance and recruitment of affirmative action employees and northerners, et cetera, rather than a department to be accountable, in terms of the old

Department of Personnel. I believe, as the Premier did, that this is the way in which to do it. So, the Ministers have some responsibility and they are accountable to this House for their performance. They have to table on an annual basis from now, how well they have done or others would say how badly they have done. I would suggest to my honourable colleague that in terms of northern employees and affirmative action employees in the GNWT, there has been a significant increase. But it would be fair to say, we have not done as well in senior management and we are working aggressively to try to correct that, Mr. Chairman. There is clearly a political commitment on behalf of the Members of this House and the Cabinet to make that happen. I think everybody was well intentioned in the past, but this policy of bringing more northerners, in particular, affirmative action northerners, into the government is a priority. It is both correct in terms of the way in which we do business; it is financially sound and it is just good business to ensure that the populace has adequate access to the jobs and opportunities this government has. That is certainly our intention and I hope that we will be able to demonstrate to my honourable colleague that, in fact, there has been some improvement in terms of participation by affirmative action northerners in the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. We are dealing with labour relations and compensation services. The time is up. I have Mr. Picco and Mr. Henry. Mr. Picco, to page 2-27.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I note that in the main estimates for the Department of Labour Relations and Compensation Services there is an increase from the mains to the main estimates for 1998-99 from the previous year of $929,000, $929,000 increase, almost $1 million. I wonder if the Minister could inform us of why that increase is there?

Thank you. On the operations and maintenance, Mr. Minister.

Yes, as my honourable colleague knows, when we are in committee that is the dollars that we have set aside to resolve the pay equity issue. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to confirm that, indeed, at this time, how much has the pay equity situation cost this government and if you do not have the actual dollar values I would like to have an approximation of how much it has cost us to date in court cases, appeals, staffing? I know last year we had to hire some extra staff as indicated by the overage at this time in the budget. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

I could not tell you today what exactly we spent. If you want to cut off today, all I know is that we budgeted close to $1.5 million, I believe, and it is ongoing expenditures as we speak. We required consultants, staff time, the usual expenses of travel, et cetera. It would be difficult to quantify today what exactly has been spent, but I can tell you what the overall expenditures that we have allocated for it and that is $1.5 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Todd. Total operations, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am just using my calculator here to check the amounts. If that is the case, the $1.5 million, is that $1.5 million indicated in the main estimates here under the $4,106,000?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

If my honourable colleague would see that the $4,106,000 is salaries and wages and that the $208,000 one is O and M. Therefore, it is probably a combination of both because you have salaries and wages; you have got consultants which would come out of O and M; you have got expenses which would come out of O and M; et cetera so...It is in the $6,187,000.

Thank you. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, earlier in the week, the Minister talked about the job evaluations and so on, and there was some discussion around that. With the ongoing pay equity situation that is in place, the government has done a job evaluation structure for paying employees. I wonder if that job evaluation structure is actually reflecting the gender neutral agreement which has brought about the pay equities decision. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

The job evaluation system that we underwent, which we would like to put into effect April 1st of this year, does ensure that the jobs are then gender neutral.

Thank you. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, so if that is the case, we are not doing that right now, is that correct? That, indeed, there are people working under the principle of equal pay for equal work, equal value and are actually not being paid for that? Is that correct?

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

Mr. Picco.

So I guess then we are acknowledging we are not gender neutral and indeed will not be gender neutral until April 1st and thus, there must be retroactivity if you change on

April 1st, if these job descriptions are changed to reflect equal pay for equal work? Is that correct?