Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present the main estimates for the Department of Human Resources for the fiscal year 2007-2008.

The department's 2007-08 Main Estimates propose O and M expenditures of $31.591 million. This represents a $2.354 million, or 8 percent, increase over the 2006-07 Main Estimates. The net increase results from Collective Agreement adjustments and forced growth changes to reflect medical and dental travel assistance, database administration and software licensing costs.

The Department of Human Resources' main estimates includes funding for 171 positions; 46 in the service centre offices outside Yellowknife and 125 positions in headquarters. There has been a net decrease of 17 positions from fiscal year 2006-07.

Over the past year, Human Resources has built on the transformation efforts started in May 2005. Significant work has gone into implementing recommendations from the review of the people, processes and systems needed to provide a consistent human resource service to help managers effectively manage our human resources. Refinement of roles and responsibilities based on Canadian and North American best practices is well underway.

While there is still work to do, there are a number of indicators of more consistent human resource

management across the organizations. Some indicators are more consistent evaluation of jobs through interdepartmental review committees, common recruitment approaches, a greater consistency among managers in dealing with issues of employee discipline, and accommodation of medical issues. In terms of backlog, the benefits backlog is caught up to a point where few files are more than two months old. On the pay side, part of the organizational change has resulted in a group focussing on current pay and another solely on old files. Not only is the current team staying up to date on files coming in, the termination team has dealt with more than one-quarter of the backlog in less than eight weeks.

In addition to the transformation efforts, programs that make a difference in the public service continue to show strong results. The government is committed to building a northern public service. With solid student employment opportunities in all departments, boards and authorities, we are introducing over 300 students a year to government. When they complete post-secondary education, opportunities are also supported, both in government and in the private sector, for employment in the northern graduate's field of study. For northerners who are already in the workforce, we have introduced limited competitions and under fill some positions in order to allow the GNWT to consider local northern residents on a priority basis. This also allows us to support northerners who may need some additional training and mentoring on the job for the first year to be fully qualified for a position.

Madam Chair, fair and consistent GNWT recruitment and retention practices are critical to the success of our programs and services. With this budget, we look forward to continuing our improvement of human resource management practices across the public service in all communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.