Madam Chair, I would like to say that, I guess with this budget, we are getting much closer to seeing this

department be completely independent and a full functioning section of the department. I believe that this is a very important thing. I like seeing this happening at the rate that it is. I have been here long enough to remember when there used to be a Department of Personnel on the fifth floor of the Courthouse where everybody went to get jobs. I guess they were much simpler days then. I don't know what the rationale was for splitting them up, but I think that having gone through separated personnel and human resource functions, we were able to see the downside of all these things being split up. I am hoping that, with this amalgamation and more focussed work on the part of the management of this new department, we will be able to make some inroads into addressing some of those shortfalls. Some of the areas that we are aware of are the areas of benefits and pension specialists. Those are very complex fields. I think that those are areas probably there are very few people in the country who could be really centralizing that. We need to make sure that we start having our own workforce who can be very well trained. I am sure there are people out there. It is just that there are so many spread around and there have been lots of grievance from employees who've had the documents being delayed. In some cases, something as simple as a record of employment wasn't being handed out. We cannot just make too many mistakes on people's benefits and pensions. These are just too important.

I think that the new department would go a long way in working on the morale of public service. I mean, I think the public service has always been an important and major employer in the North, but it's no longer the number one choice to everybody and it has to become competitive. Human resources are a scarce resource in Canada and in the North. I think we live in a very good time to have such a demand for human resources. That's more important resources than others; you know, diamonds, oil and gas, none of that. It's the skilled people, no matter what skill it is, is the most important thing and we need to make sure...I think with this new department I would like to, would look forward to seeing what we can do and what this department can do to really focus on how do we develop the human resources, how do we recruit human resources from the South, how do we keep them here, how do we maximize the human resources we have right in our backyard. So I look forward to seeing that.

I look forward to seeing this as a one-stop centre for most needs where people can come to look for jobs, look for training opportunities. It will be very helpful for student employment. It will be very helpful for specialized employment, health care professionals, or any other human resource needs that we're not even aware of right now that would need to be addressed depending on what's happening in our economy. So I expect to see this department being an expert in that field.

One special area that I have much interest in is the area of providing and setting up a program for people with disabilities. I'm pleased to see that it's been mentioned in the opening statement, but I think this is something that we haven't done enough of and we really need to focus on. We are just not doing enough to incorporate and make places and find places and maximize the skills that people with disabilities have, and to address the employer's duty to accommodate. In many cases, they can be accommodated; it's just a matter of priority. So I look forward to seeing what this department will do in that regard.

I think affirmative action, for me, I was quite amused to hear during the last federal campaign from some talks and that really showed me misunderstandings about affirmative action. The fact is, affirmative action is entrenched in our Constitution and Charter. Affirmative action is not a special treatment for any group. It means it's accepting that there are some sections in our society who are not being given a fair chance. When you have a hundred people that are made up of all colours and all backgrounds and all genders, and when you see 90 percent of the people that are getting jobs are of one sector, then, in fact, there is an affirmative action for the dominant class. Affirmative action is not special treatment, but it is about understanding that there are people in society who are not being treated fairly. I think, in this regard, that we need to refine and enhance affirmative action, but also there is a need for communicating what affirmative action is, because I often get calls from people who feel that they didn't get a job because of affirmative action or because they should get a job because of affirmative action. I don't think either is reflective of what it was meant to be. I look forward to seeing this department looking after that complicated area.

I know there are issues with appeals and grievances that need to be also split up and I think all those things, I think having everything pooled where the resources even within Human Resources department can be managed better will go a long way in standardizing and enhancing the training level and performance of everybody that's working in the department. Because I'm sure, I know for a fact that the employees of this department have been really working, you know, flat out to make this happen. I think, in fact they probably are overworked and they need some help, too. But they're working to help the whole government. So I'm looking forward to seeing that area being improved.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the succession planning of this government is. It's funny, because I used to think the deputy ministers were so much older and grey-haired men, but I'm seeing the deputy ministers are getting younger and younger and I think that says that all the old-timers are about to retire. There are great opportunities. We're already seeing a lot of vacancies of deputy ministers, and ADMs, and senior management level. If we are going to be able to provide the services that we need to for the people and become, I mean, stay being the priority employer of the Territories, we need to be competitive and we need to do very good succession planning. Of course, I'd like to see that being reflective and showing the gender balance and regional balance and the balances that we have come to accept and understand and expect in our society.

The last thing that I want to say for the remainder of time is, I'd like to see this department doing a cohesive effort on performance measurement and employee satisfaction, employee morale. I have to tell you that I was very impressed with the work that this deputy minister-designate did on the North Slave Correctional Centre employee situation. I like the questionnaires that went out. I think we got the information that we needed to add it there and I think we got a lot of work done on that.

I'd like to see a similar thing done for Stanton hospital because we are hearing a lot of issues coming out of there, as well. There's always morale issues in any organization and I don't want to just, I'm not saying that Stanton is...I don't want to imply any negative aspect to that, I'm just saying that I think it's a cohesive entity where

we hear pension issues and hiring issues and grievances issues, and especially because of the shortage of health care professionals and use of so many locums. That's one area I'd like to see that happening.

But overall, I would really like to encourage the department to engage in ongoing, some kind of a feedback system, whether it be a questionnaire or employee suggestion. Anything that gives an indication as to where our public servants are and our civil service is, because they are the engine of the work we do and we need to make sure that we do well in that regard.

But more specifically, I would like to see an established exit interview for employees that leave the government for any reason. It's not to look for trouble, but it is, I think, very important and I think it could be a very useful tool for the human resource management of the government to see where we are as an employer and what can be done. Maybe there could be really good stuff and then some stuff that needs improvement.

So I think that's my general statement for now and I may have some questions later. Thank you.