Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Abernethy.

Thanks, Madam Chair. There are many reasons why a position might be declared inactive. By way of example, there was some structural… I’m talking about the

previous page, but just to put some information and context. There were some positions in the directorate, there was a bit of a reorg in the directorate and one of the admin type positions was described, but it was described with slightly different functions but still administrative. It required a new job description and was awarded a new position number as a result. The position number that was there providing similar or like duties was made inactive. So, there are lots of different reasons why positions would be made inactive.

As of October 31st and the information that was

provided to the Members previously, there were 33 positions that were flagged to be inactive. Of those, 18 are still inactive, none of which are funded. Fifteen positions are now actually active, four of them are actually filled, one is filled with a casual, seven are relief positions, one is held while an incumbent is on a transfer assignment, and two are in the process of staffing. So, there are a number of reasons positions would be made inactive. I’m not sure that I gave you everything that you’re looking for.

I’m trying not to ask questions that we already have the information on. Yes, we do have that information. We’ve had briefings ad infinitum with the Minister of Human Resources and so on, Minister of Finance, about the reasons, so I think we have some appreciation for all that. I’m just asking, with respect to the ’14-15 year, if any of these are actually inactive positions proposed to make inactive positions into active positions or vice versa and whether you expect to do that during the ’14-15 fiscal year. Thank you.

On page 8-11 it shows 1,392 positions in the authorities. Those are all established funded positions. The authorities manage their budgets, manage their staff to provide the services that are outlined and they believe they need these positions to do them. I’m not aware of the authorities planning to make any of these positions inactive or to reactivate any other positions, but they may, but that is not the expectation. The expectation is they’ll fill positions and provide the services that are required.

Thanks. That does answer the second part. The first part, I guess, maybe I’ll just leave it with the Minister. If he thinks he could provide more information, that would be great.

The positions specific to these and the question specific to these ’14-15 positions, are any of them representing jobs that will be moved from inactive to active status in any way? That may not be something he can provide off the top, but I think that’s the sort of thing that we’re interested in knowing about. Thank you.

The answer is no, because these 1,392 positions are active. They’re not inactive, so there’s no plan to move them from

something they aren’t to something that they currently are.

I’ll leave it at that. I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate, but I will take the Minister’s word here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Page 8-11, information item, active positions, health and social services authorities. Agreed?

Agreed, thank you. Page 8-13, activity summary, directorate, operations expenditure summary, $10.016 million. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a couple questions here. I mentioned during general remarks that it seems that compensation benefits are going up quickly but I realize that there is forced growth in this area plus some new positions. I’m a little bit concerned about new positions in the directorate. I’m not positive there has been new ones, but it seems like a 20 percent increase over two years is quite a bit if there have not been new positions.

My first question is: Has the directorate been put on notice that a policy of passive restraint is to be implemented for the department in 2014-15? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are a couple new positions within this unit. The anti-poverty coordinator position is in this unit. I’m going to go to the deputy minister for the specific details.

Thank you. Ms. DeLancey.

Thank you, Ms. DeLancey. Ms. DeLancey.

Thank you, Ms. DeLancey. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you very much for that information, both questions. On the first one, I guess I would now have to ask why it isn’t up a lot more. That’s a lot of positions to add for the amount that this department has gone up, a $600,000 increase, roughly, from last year, a little bit less, and I think I counted two, four, five, six positions there. That seems pretty efficient. Just a comment there.

My last question on this page is also related to 8-14, so I’ll be ahead of everybody else by covering two pages at once here. The grants and contributions, $685,000, the second line there. I recognize that $35,000 is for the Tlicho cultural coordinator. Could I get a breakdown by amounts for the $650,000 Anti-Poverty Strategy Framework amount?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The deputy did describe some of the growth, and some of those areas that are growing in the directorate are in direct response to committee and government priorities such as the anti-poverty. A number of positions, as the deputy indicated, are to address moving forward with the Health Information Act and making sure that people understand and that we have the people in positions. It’s about six positions in the directorate. On average, positions are about $100,000-plus, though $600,000 is pretty much the exact growth in this particular area so I think it correlates nicely.

With respect to the Anti-Poverty Strategy and Framework, the $650,000 is broken out into two different pots: $150,000 to day shelters, and for now it’s $75,000 going to Yellowknife, $75,000 going to Inuvik, and then there’s $500,000, which is a fund available for NGOs, community governments, Aboriginal governments to help them address the five pillars outlined in the Anti-Poverty Framework to reduce poverty in the Northwest Territories. We’re currently working on a process with our stakeholders group, and we’ll certainly be having those discussions with committee on the criteria and how we planned to distribute those dollars in a fair process to combat poverty in the North.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. In this process in Committee of the Whole here in the House, this is our process, this is about getting our questions asked and getting proper answers. I just want to mention that if the Minister needs to find a document or have something referred to them, please don’t feel under

any pressure. There is no big time constraint here. I just think we just need to relax and make sure we find the right answers. Sometimes when we’re waiting for the microphone to switch on to the Minister, I’m going to wait until the Minister is ready to answer, because definitely in a department this size and this complex and not knowing where the questions are going to come from, if it takes a moment to locate a document, please don’t feel any stress about that.

Next on my list, I have Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just following up to some of the positions within the, I guess, authorities in general, we have in this part of the department here shared services. We did receive some concerns from some of the, I guess you could say, some of the computer divisions within the authority that there was a presentation given that would amalgamate all the local computer supports from across the Northwest Territories with the TSC, and although there was talk that no positions would be lost, especially full-time positions, the Department of Human Resources said otherwise. I’m just wondering if we can get confirmation today that when we go through the shared services project that no positions are lost within the regional authorities.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Abernethy.