Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A few days ago I went back to my office and on my desk there was a Snickers bar sitting there, and all of us here know what that represents. Well, I certainly don’t care who dropped that off, and as a matter of fact, they could drop a truckload of those Snicker bars off and it still won’t change my resolve to the concern about job opportunities unfairly being denied to Northerners.
It’s simply this: This McLeod government continues to fail its people by not providing those job opportunities Northerners need. Over this past month, many Members were shocked to know that this government had 1,150 vacancies, and since we’ve heard from the Finance Minister, they are actively pursuing 571 of those vacancies. I, like many Members, found this very interesting.
When I immediately visited the government’s website, like many people in the public, we found that there were just over 100 job opportunities posted there, why so few? How does anyone actively pursue 571 vacancies when you can find just merely 100?
We, as Members, continually hear about the lack of availability of much needed jobs in every one of these communities. Whether you live in a big community or a small community, jobs are important. But the government says they’re actively pursuing them – those are their words, not mine – so, many Members are concerned about this.
People need these jobs; they don’t need excuses. Can anyone imagine in this modern day that our government tells everybody that, oh, don’t worry, jobs are out there, but when they look, they’re not there. This is a difficult challenge to grapple with.
Again I went to the government website this morning, my goodness sakes, and there are only 71 jobs there. Where are the other 500? Mr. Speaker, what is this government’s definition of actively pursuing?
The average person will tell you it’s energetic, it’s engaged, it’s striving to gain and maybe even to obtain. Unlikely as those words would be, they do not match the definition of actively pursuing.
This government has a 20 percent absentee on their workforce. They say they are pursing 571 jobs, but are they really?
The public and I agree: these jobs need to be listed; these are opportunities that are being denied. At the end of the day, who knows where the money is going? Are these jobs really being pursued to be filled, or is the money being earmarked for projects by… Well, we already know who. Thank you.