The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

If my memory serves me correct, I understand they have done work in Manitoba, Ontario, some of the maritime provinces and I believe British Columbia. They have also done a variety of work for the private sector, not just governments. I know for sure Ontario, Manitoba and I believe some of the maritime provinces. I could get a full description of their government work, for my colleague, if he so wishes. They certainly have significant national/international experience. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister could also at that time provide information as to job evaluation systems that they have done in other governments as to how they have worked out and how long they have been in place. I also note on this particular document, Mr. Speaker, it talks about the government explaining the new job evaluation system to employees. What provisions does the Financial Management Board have in place to respond to employees who have concerns about this new job evaluation system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

I do not think there is any doubt that some employees whose pay level is going to be reduced would be concerned. Of course, the employees whose pay level is going to be increased will be pleased with that in terms of the job evaluation. I have talked to Mr. Voytilla and indicated to him that we have to deal with this on a one-to-one basis. We will. We are trying to communicate to the best of our ability as to why some things have happened. I did have a discussion early this morning, with my colleague from Inuvik, Mr. Roland who has a number of concerns. We will try to address them on an individual basis. I hope we are going to be able to demonstrate to our employees that we treat people in a fair and reasonable way. I believe there are more employees who will be getting a more pay level increases, if you want rather than those who are being reduced. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you, Mr. Todd for that. You will agree the more information people have the better informed they can be and the easier it is for them to accept some conditions especially if they are well informed. Would the Minister consider setting up a position, for at least a two-week period, where employees can call in and dedicate an employee who is well informed about how this evaluation system was done? Would the Minister consider setting up and dedicating an individual employee or a member of the Hay Plan to answer questions that the government employees have with regard to how the evaluation system is done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

These are extremely important questions my colleague asks and I concur there is clearly a need to communicate with our staff and explain both positive and negative ramifications of the job evaluation system. I will be meeting with my deputy minister at noon, during the break. I will see what would be an appropriate process to give the employees access to either somebody or a group of people to try an answer their questions and will be in touch with my colleague and advise him what we are going to do. I will try to do it as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Roland.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know the exact number of dollars we do have in support of marketing in the Northwest Territories. I do know that we market the Northwest Territories and we do have programs to assist tourism and people to market the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be pleased to work with the Member as well as the Minister responsible for marketing of tourism in the Northwest Territories, to look at how we are doing and whether we can do a better job or not and sometimes we can do a better job possibly, without spending more dollars. Maybe it is just the way we are doing our marketing. We are doing a fairly good job on marketing. My understanding is tourism numbers are increasing by the year. I see there a lot of down-filled red jackets in Yellowknife throughout the winter months. By talking to those tourist operators and marketing of northern lights, tourism has grown from where it started off at approximately 400 tourists and then it jumped to 1,200. Last year it was 1,800. This year it is 4,000 with a good potential of growing to at least 10,000 tourists a year. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The people who are involved in the tourism business as well as aboriginal groups who are involved in the marketing of tourism are talking and dealing with the Minister on creating a new marketing plan for tourism for the western Arctic. The eastern Arctic and Nunavut area have already embarked on marketing Nunavut and tourism over there. With marketing in the west, it is a matter of all the partners coming together to develop a marketing plan. Those marketing plans should also include all the regions. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.