Yes.

Mr. Speaker, this is a response to a question asked by Mrs. Marie-Jewell on December 13th, regarding re-advertisement of job competitions. In 1991-92 eight competitions were cancelled and re-advertised. Of the eight, five competitions were cancelled as the only qualified candidates declined job offers, one competition was cancelled due to an irregularity in the screening process and two competitions were cancelled after a decision was made to reclassify the jobs.

Of the two cancelled for classification reasons, the first resulted from an inability to find a qualified applicant in the North. The description was rewritten to allow qualified Northerners to apply. The second was due to the discovery after the competition was advertised that the job description being used was badly out of date and did not describe what was actually being done. There were no situations identified where reclassification was done to suit a particular applicant.

Mr. Speaker, I have said earlier in the House that we are talking about something that happened in the life of the last government. The Member wants to dwell on something that she has a personal motive in pursuing. I said, as far as this government is concerned, and the last one for that matter, the matter is closed; it is finished. We had a look at it. The conduct of those people was not, in my view, unreasonable, and there is nothing to suggest that we should revisit it.

Mr. Speaker, I am not suggesting that at all. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I believe there is a need for employers and employees to have some sort of oath, given that it is a public government, that there are certain duties that employees are agreeing to live up to. But I think the main word I am trying to use here is: What is the reasonable expectation of these people? If people drop a piece of information in the garbage can, is that an unreasonable act? Are they sharing with the people who go through papers at the garbage dump? There has to be some measure of reason given to govern the behaviour of people. In the case that this Member is dwelling on, I believe that the actions of these people were reasonable.

Mr. Speaker, the reason as I recall, in the heat of the summer -- there were a lot of reasons given -- the reasons the staff of government shared certain information with the unions was because they felt afraid for their jobs and their personal well-being, and they turned to the unions for some protection and advice. The unions decided to use the information given to them in a way that no one agreed with, perhaps. But that is the way things happened. In my view, the behaviour and the action of the staff seemed to be reasonable, given the circumstances that they found themselves in.

Mr. Speaker, I would hope that by the next session of the Legislature I should be in a position to give the Members that information. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yes I would take that into consideration. Thank you.

No, only if you are being interviewed by politicians.

---Laughter