Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is a new government and a new legislature and the things that we want to be accountable for are, first of all, trying to make sure all of us are going after the same things and finding, and agreeing, to a way on how we should try to achieve those and letting the public know.
That is exactly what it is we are trying to do and to make sure that, in four years, those of us that wish to do so, can go to the polls with absolute confidence that we have done a great job. That is the greatest accountability of all. I have been doing it for a number of years, and it feels great. There is no other way to be more accountable than that.
-- Laughter
Employees and senior managers of government are encouraged or blessed with that. We need to do some work to let the employees know that we are going to set out goals and objectives that are realistic and achievable. That we are supporting them, as good employees, and we are going to find some ways in which to work on making accountability mean something.
The Members have passed a motion in support of a Public Service Commission, with some Members saying the Public Service Commission could mean a whole number of different things. We note that previous Legislatures have looked at it and have decided, for various reasons, to not do that.
We have committed, as I have said, to have Cabinet prepare for consideration in Caucus in September, a full discussion on what the population breakdown is as best we can. The percentage of aboriginal people, age groups, how many people have more than a grade 9 or 10 education, and how many have management positions. I do not know that we could do it. However, we note that there are other large employers now, such as BHP Incorporated, and Diavik will soon be on stream. Oil and gas companies will start to hire some of our people as well.
We do not know how many of our aboriginal people are in the private sector, but we know that Members want this government to show some marked progress, improvements in the number of women and aboriginal people, covered by the Affirmative Action Policy, to show some better results.
I do not know that they are possible. We, first of all, have to know that they are out there. One of the questions will be, is the Public Service Commission, with the resources that it is going to require, willing to be able to give Members assurances that, with the Public Service Commission established, the percentage of aboriginal people in senior management positions in the government is going to climb and accelerate dramatically? Is it going to deliver on increasing the number of women hired and employed at the senior management level as well? Is it going to increase the improvements made in the regional centres and in our communities?
So that will be brought to the Members of the Legislature as well, an estimate on what a Public Service Commission would cost. I note that in the Yukon, it is roughly between $7 million and $8 million. Thank you.