Thank you.

No further questions. Calling Human Resources, directorate operations expenditure summary, activity total, $4,547,000. Agreed.

Moving onto page 213, Human Resources, directorate, active positions, information item. Any questions? Mr. Thompson, go ahead.

I agree to ask a question. The Ministers talked about the assistant deputy minister being removed, was this part of the cost reductions or is this part of retirement or what was it? Was it planned or not planned? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the elimination of that position is part of the reduction exercise. The position was vacant and has been vacant for some time.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Any further questions? Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As it was in Directorate and it appears to be here in labour relations, over the last couple of years there seems to be an increase in contract services and just quickly jumping ahead in management recruitment services, there seems to be a significant increase under contract services. I wonder if the Minister can please give an explanation to the House as to why the department's overall contract services appear to be going up and maybe we can get a description on what Human Resources requires contract services for. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if we were to take the main estimates and spread them out over a long period of time, you would notice in the Department of Human Resources in this particular area every four years or so you'll see an increase in the amount of contract services. It is directly related to collective bargaining. The Government of Northwest Territories is currently involved in a number of collective bargaining discussions with the UNW, the NWTTA, the medical association, although it's not completely related here, but those costs will spike every couple of years as those negotiations come to the end of their term and we have to get the experts, the lawyers, and others that are going to help us through the negotiating process. So that is what that is specifically for. They will likely go down if and when we conclude our negotiations for a couple years depending on the length of the negotiated terms, and then they might spike back up again.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne. Questions? I see none. Moving on to page 215. Human Resources, labour relations, operations expenditures summary, activity total, $3,310,000. Questions?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree to ask more questions. In regards to your fees and payments, I notice a reduction, almost a 60 per cent reduction, in your amount of money here. So what is the rationale for that?

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the fees and payments program management budget were re-profiled to support increased compensation and benefits, so you'll see a slight increase in that area. There was also a decrease to the budget which reflects the historical expenditures once again what we're budgeted for compared to what we spent. So we were moving to have these more in line with what we have spent traditionally or historically.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So historically, is that over the number of years or just last year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.

The department looked at past actuals over a number of years to try to determine what we're actually spending as opposed to what was budgeted and there was some variances, so we've moved them down accordingly.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.