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April

18, 2016

GOVERNMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE

Pursuant to Standing Order 68, Derrick Bragg, MHA for Fogo Island Cape Freels,

substitutes for Neil King, MHA for Bonavista, for a portion of the meeting.

Pursuant to Standing Order 68, Gerry Rogers, MHA for St. John's Centre,

substitutes for Lorraine Michael, MHA for St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

Pursuant to Standing Order 68, Tracey Perry, MHA for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune,

substitutes for Steve Kent, MHA for Mount Pearl North.

The

Committee met at 9:09 a.m. in the Assembly Chamber.

CLERK (Ms. Murphy):

The first order of

business is to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations for Chair?

MR. KING:

I nominate the Member for

Torngat Mountains.

CLERK:

Any further nominations?

Any further nominations?

The

Member for Torngat Mountains is acclaimed Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR (Edmunds):

Thank you, everyone.

I will

now call nominations for Vice-Chair, Government Services Committee.

AN HON.

MEMBER :

I nominate Keith Hutchings.

CHAIR:

Keith Hutchings is

nominated.

Further

nominations?

Keith

is Vice-Chair.

We are

going to get started here now. The first order of business is to call the Public

Service Commission sections 1.1.01 to 1.1.02.

I'd

like to ask the Government Services Committee to introduce themselves but, first

of all, I'd like to make two temporary changes, that Ms. Rogers is substituting

for Ms. Michael and Ms. Perry is substituting for Mr. Kent.

With

that, I'd ask that the Government Services Committee to introduce themselves.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Chair, Keith Hutchings,

Member of the House of Assembly for the District of Ferryland.

MS. DRODGE:

Megan Drodge, Researcher,

Official Opposition caucus.

MS. PERRY:

Tracey Perry, MHA, Fortune

Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. HAYDEN:

Veronica Hayden, Executive

Assistant to Paul Davis.

MR. KING:

Neil King, MHA for

Bonavista.

MS. PARSLEY:

Betty Parsley, MHA for

Harbour Main.

MS. HALEY:

Carol Anne Haley, MHA, Burin

Grand Bank.

MR. FINN:

John Finn, MHA, Stephenville

Port au Port.

CHAIR:

Randy Edmunds, MHA for

Torngat Mountains.

What

we're going to do is go with probably 15 minutes for the Opposition and switch

over to 15 minutes for the Third Party. We'll turn it over to the department,

the minister. First of all, I ask that she introduce all of the staff. I'll have

a few more remarks after that and then we'll proceed with the questioning on

Estimates.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Okay. Good morning,

everybody.

What I

would like to do is I'll let the staff, for the benefit of the Committee,

particularly the new Committee Members who may not know the staff from the

Public Service Commission, I will introduce those now, and as we move through

the next pieces for the morning, we'll introduce some of the other people that

are here this morning.

So I'll

turn it over to the deputy who's responsible for the Public Service Commission.

MR. HOLLETT:

Bruce Hollett, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Public Service Commission.

MS. CHAFE:

Ann Chafe, Commissioner, Public Service Commission.

MS. TULK:

Jennifer Tulk, Director of Communications.

MS. TRICKETT:

Wanda Trickett, Departmental Controller.

MS. THOMAS:

Raelene Thomas, Director of Appeals and Investigations.

MS. C. BENNETT:

That would be everybody for

the Public Service Commission.

CHAIR:

Okay, thank you very much.

Now, I

do ask that whoever is responding to questions or asking the questions that they

please identify their names. We don't have video here and we have to give the

media control room a chance to identify who the speakers are.

propose to take, depending on how long the session is going to go for Public

Service Commission, Human Resource Secretariat and Women's Policy Office we'll

go in that order we'll probably take a five-minute break after every hour.

Hopefully, we'll have everything clued up within the three-hour time allocation

here.

With

that, I open up the Estimates with opening remarks from the minister.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you.

Mr.

Chair, just before we move into that, just a quick question. We had planned,

with the permission of the Committee Members, for the Public Service Commission,

the Women's Policy Office and the Human Resource Secretariat I know that's a

little different than what you just read. I'm just wondering if that would be

okay to follow that order, if there are any issues.

I had

mentioned to Ms. Rogers before she left that we do Women's Policy second,

because she asked. If that's an issue, we'll switch, but I just want to clarify

that.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

No, it would be more

convenient if it was third, but that's fine. If you made a commitment to Ms.

Michael, that's fine.

CHAIR:

Okay, that's fine: the

Public Service Commission, the Women's Policy Office and Human Resource

Secretariat.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

CHAIR:

I'd just like to add one

more thing: This is new for a lot of us and there could be some growing pains

along the way. I know some of us have been here before in different roles, but

just to throw that out there.

Minister.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Just for the benefit of the

Committee Members, the Public Service Commission is the arm's-length agency that

supports government's efforts to be accountable and transparent in its hiring

processes and decisions. The Public Service Commission has a legislated mandate

for staffing policy and oversight of the staffing process to ensure fairness and

open opportunity in government hiring and provide a highly qualified,

non-partisan public service for government and the people of the province.

While

the Human Resource Secretariat is responsible for the operational and

administrative aspects of staffing, the Public Service Commission provides the

oversight, monitoring and auditing of staffing processes, as well as

investigations and adjudication of staffing process appeals.

addition to its staffing governance role, the Public Service Commission

administers and chairs the classification appeal process for bargaining,

non-bargaining and management positions; provides administrative investigative

services; administers the Conflict of Interest Advisory Committee; and provide

Employee Assistance and Respectful Workplace Programs for public sector

employees.

It will

administer the agencies', boards' and commissions' application and merit

assessment process and provide support to the Independent Appointments

Commission. The integrity and impartiality required to properly deliver on this

mandate is enhanced by the neutral and independent nature and reputation of the

Public Service Commission. In 2016-17, budget allocations for the Public Service

Commission reflects reduced operational spending and an increased allocation for

EAP counselling to reflect demand and cost pressures.

Mr.

Chair, I turn it back to you.

CHAIR:

Okay, I'd just like to point

out one thing. We have government Members here who have the opportunity to ask

questions if they do wish. We'll make time for that after the 15-minute

allocations from this side of the floor.

Okay.

Thank you, Minister, for your opening remarks.

We'll

now ask if there are any questions.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, we'll start with 1.1.01, Services to Government and Agencies.

If we

could go to 01, Salaries. We see in the budget of 2015-16, $1,521,000. It was

revised in 2015-16, down to $1,496,100. In the Estimates for 2016-17, it's gone

up to $1,566,200.

I'm

wondering about the revised for 2015-2016, there was a reduction there. Were

there positions that weren't filled from the original budget Estimate?

MS. C. BENNETT:

So you're speaking to Mr.

Chair, just for clarity, would you like me to identify who I am every time I

speak? That would be correct, is that the case?

CHAIR:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Yes.

CHAIR:

And, I might add, I'm

assuming I might have missed it, but you're addressing 01?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, Salaries.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The question I believe was

in relation to the $1,496,100 line from the Member opposite. Salary savings

there were generated through an employee on unpaid leave, and the replacement

being a lower step, and employees who are not yet at the top of the

reclassification.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Were

there any positions that were vacant in the last fiscal year, outside of those

you just indicated?

MR. HOLLETT:

There was one position that was held vacant through the full year, but that is

reflected in the original budget line.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MR. HOLLETT:

So other than that, and as the minister mentioned, we had an employee on unpaid

leave. There was a short period of vacancy in that position as well before the

replacement came on.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

The one

position held vacant, that would be because why was it held vacant?

MR. HOLLETT:

The position was held vacant during the year. What we did at the PSC, in order

to try and come up with administrative savings in our funding, was we

reallocated the way we did work within the commission. We moved work around and

we found better and more efficient ways to get the work done. So because of

that, we were able to hold one position vacant through the full year last year.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

In this

year's Estimates for 2016-17, would that include that salaried position or would

that be now taken out?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The $1,566,200 number

related to Salaries for fiscal 2016-17 is an increase due to one-time removal of

salary funded, added back $40,000 and annualized funding for JES which added

$5,200.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

In meeting the mandate of

the commission, in what you just mentioned in regard to a vacant position, did

that impact on the functions of the commission in its ability to do its job and

follow through on those functions that are required?

MS. C. BENNETT:

No.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Just to be clear, in that

vacant position that you indicated was in the last fiscal year and wasn't filled

maybe I didn't understand it correctly. In this year's Estimate, is the salary

envelope for that in this year's Estimate, and will it be filled?

MR. HOLLETT:

Yes, it is. That position we

held vacant last year, and we do have funding for that position for this fiscal

year.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. I just want to be

clear because I think you indicated you had found efficiencies for last year and

didn't require that position, but this year you have it in your envelope for

Estimates and it is required this year. Maybe some clarification on that.

MR. HOLLETT:

That position is a Clerk IV

position. What we're doing with that position this year is we intend to fill

that to help support the Independent Appointments Commission process, so all the

processing of all the applications that come in and maintaining the database.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Obviously, it's a reflection of the Independent Appointments Commission and the

role the Public Service Commission is going to play and what you expect the need

will be, and that position will help fill some of that need. Is that fair to

say?

MR. HOLLETT:

Yes, that's correct. It's

the additional responsibilities while we were able to reorganize

responsibilities and duties last year to move the current functions of the

Public Service Commission around within the staff, what we're saying here is the

additional work with the Independent Appointments Commission, that position will

do the administrative work of that.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you very much.

Just a

broader question in regard to salaries; what's the current employee content for

the Public Service Commission? How many people do we have there?

MS. C. BENNETT:

In the salary, 17 employees.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Seventeen?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Seventeen employees.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'm sorry. Just for

clarification, you were asking how many employees are inside the Public Service

Commission.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The number is 17.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Thank you.

As we

look forward to we talked about the Independent Appointments Commission. Are

there other positions or expectations you have in regard to the role that would

be played, and if that role and those requirements of IAC are met with current

staffing? Or would there be additional staffing that would be expected?

MR. HOLLETT:

What we are doing is we're

essentially reorganizing the way that people do their work. So the other

responsibilities with respect to the Independent Appointments Commission will be

done by people who are there today

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MR. HOLLETT:

and some changes in the

way that they do their work. It's additional responsibilities and finding

efficiencies in the way they perform their other responsibilities.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

In your

current 17 employees and assessing their functions and carrying out the duties

of the Public Service Commission, what capacity are you at now in terms of

functioning and availability of time and to be able to do what they need to do,

would you say? Obviously, you're bringing in new functions with the IAC so there

must be some capacity there for them to take on new responsibilities. Today,

would you suggest you're at full capacity? I'm just what the lay of the land

is I guess.

MR. HOLLETT:

Essentially what we're

doing, we've been looking for more efficient ways to do the work that we do

today. Essentially, if you apply lean processes, et cetera to what we are doing,

finding better ways to do what we have been doing, and we've done that over the

last two or three years.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Thank you.

I don't

mean to repeat myself. Just so I'm clear, new positions for '16-'17 related to

IAC and Bill 1 would be really there's one position that wasn't vacant last

year which will flow in this year. That person's duties really will be directly

reflected on the responsibilities related to IAC really. Then the other staff

will pick up any other requirements. Is that fair to say?

MS. C. BENNETT:

As the deputy said and the

Member opposite is, I believe, understanding, the administrative support for the

Independent Appointments Commission is provided through the position that the

deputy referred to. Additional support and work for the Independent Appointments

Commission will be handled through a re-engineering and repurposing of the

positions that are already there to redeploy and provide opportunity for other

employees to support the work of the Independent Appointments Commission. That's

the plan.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Thank you, Minister.

CHAIR:

I'd just like to remind

everyone, in the absence of video recording, it's important that you state your

names before you begin.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Chair, respectfully,

when we did this before when ministers or the Members spoke, I think they were

able to pick up who was who. Sometimes the staff identified themselves when they

spoke, but that's fine. It is just cumbersome at times repeating yourself, I

guess.

CHAIR:

Okay.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Under heading 01, Salaries,

under Employee Benefits we see from the budget of 2015-16 in the revision, it

dropped down and then again it was readjusted in 2016-17. Can you just give us

an indication of what the Estimate of this year reflects?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

This is

the minister speaking for the Public Service Commission and I asked the Chair,

in light of the Member opposite's question, maybe we can confirm with the

Broadcast Centre whether they actually need those of us who are speaking

frequently to use our names and maybe if it's just staff

CHAIR:

You can use your names.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Pardon me?

CHAIR:

You can use your names.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Okay.

The

question was around G02 Employee Benefits. The $2,300 in the projected revised

budget for 2015-2016 was a saving from professional development that was

curtailed. The difference between the $6,600 and the $16,600 came from a review

through the line-by-line reduction and the discussions we had in Treasury Board

around the details.

It is

our intention to make sure that, as part of the buildup for next year for 2017

under the zero-based budgeting, we'll be able to provide even more transparency

in those expenditures when line-by-line actions have been undertaken.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

I just

wanted to go back to something you mentioned in your opening remarks, Minister,

in regard to the Employee Assistance Program. I think there was a comment made

in regard to greater requirement for those services.

MS. C. BENNETT:

That's correct.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So that would be again

incorporated into current staff complement that's with the commission, or would

that be resourced outside?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The Employee Assistance

Program and the supports that we provide employees in not just the core public

sector, but a couple of other entities that are supported by the Public Service

Commission, handle about 1,200 referrals on an annual basis, which is on par

with a large organization.

certainly want to be prepared for the possibility that there may be an increase

in EAP as a result of the circumstances that we find ourselves in when it comes

to the financial situation of the province. So under the area of Professional

Services, which is G05, you'll notice that there is an increase there. The

majority of this allocation is for the Employee Assistance Program.

As the

Members of the Committee opposite, some of the new Members may not know, EAP's

role is to provide counselling and consultation supports to employees for issues

that are affecting or have the potential to affect the employees' work

performance. Employees are referred on a case-by-case basis to licensed

counsellors, and these private sector counsellors are then contracted by the

Employee Assistance and Respectful Workplace Division.

The

trend over the last few years has been an increase in the number and complexity

of the issues with respect to the employees seeking assistance, and the cost of

counselling services. Hence, the funding for the Employee Assistance Program

has, we felt, been inadequate. An increase of $82,500 has been provided to

rightsize this budget and that came after I, as the minister, had the

opportunity to meet with the team inside the Employee Assistance and Respectful

Workplace Division and had a briefing on the amount of work and responsibility

they have had over the last number of years and how we could be more proactive

in preparing to support our employees in the most effective way.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Minister.

Just on

that note, I am just curious, what would the standard waiting time be, roughly,

for someone who came forward and wanted assistance like that?

MS. C. BENNETT:

About 10 per cent of the

employees that we have now come forward for assistance and the wait times I

would ask the deputy that.

MR. HOLLETT:

When somebody phones and requires EAP, they get assistance from one of our staff

immediately. So it's immediate. Then what they will do is an assessment of the

issue that that person is presenting with and then they will refer them out to a

counsellor who is specialized and an expert in that particular area. There

really is no wait.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

And

those counsellors would be, I guess, positioned all over the province that you

could access them? Okay, thank you.

Just on

Professional Services again, outside of those folks that would do EAP services

for the commission, would there be other consultants involved in that line item

for anything else?

MR. HOLLETT:

No. There is a tiny provision there really for us if we did need something, but

no, we've not engaged any other consultants.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Purchased Services, as we come down through, just again a quick question in

regard to the reduction from what was budgeted in the last fiscal year, the

revision, and that number has been reduced. Just some thoughts on, I guess, the

reduction there and what that reflects.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

The

savings from Purchased Services in the revised budget 2015-16 compared to the

original budget, spending was curtailed on things like training room rentals,

professional development. There was some deferred professional design and

printing of conflict of interest Employee Assistance Program and respectful

workplace publicly available materials.

The

budget for 2016-17, as it relates to the budget from 2015-16, those reductions

came from a line-by-line reduction. Also, I note that $82,500 was re-profiled

from Professional Services to rightsize the budget. So the department, the

Public Service Commission expenses were moved to where they actually are being

incurred, as I mentioned earlier when we talked about the Professional Services.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Chair, my 15 minutes is up. I don't know if there are any Committee Members who

wanted to ask a question, or will I continue?

CHAIR:

Okay, I'll ask if there are

any other government Members who wish to ask questions.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

CHAIR:

Carry on.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you.

I just

wanted to ask a general question with regard to, Minister, the current wait

times for appeals and investigations. I know you spoke in regard to the wait

times in EAP. I'm just curious as well in the appeals investigations, where that

would be?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

MR. HOLLETT:

Really, there are two types of appeals that we would handle or three types of

appeals that we would handle. One is a classification appeals. In classification

appeals, there was a significant backlog. When the responsibility for management

appeals was transferred to the Public Service Commission there was a substantial

backlog, and we're working our way through that backlog. So those are not

currently, they're not all that current. But with respect to general

classification appeals that come in today, we try to get them all completed

within three months.

somebody appeals a staffing complaint, we normally turn that around very

quickly. We respond to it immediately. It may take a month, or two months

sometimes to complete the investigation, just depending on availability of the

appropriate people.

With

respect to the other investigations that we would do; again, we would be able to

respond essentially almost immediately to those, and a normal process. So

there's really no wait-list for those. The only place there's really a wait time

is on classification appeals.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

Now I'm

not sure, the JES classification appeal, would that be covered under the Public

Service Commission or under the secretariat?

MS. C. BENNETT:

No, the JES appeals occur

under the Human Resource Secretariat.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Secretariat. Okay, thank

you.

Just to

come back to some of the initial questions we had in regard to IAC and what

that's going to mean to the Public Service Commission. The merit-based element

in regard to Bill 1, obviously, is significant and would reflect and mirror and

want the assistance of your organization to do that. I think from what you said,

you feel the capacity is there now to do that. Based on reorganization of your

current talent in regard to administration, you have that ability based on some

choices you've made.

there was a greater capacity or greater requirements Bill 1 hasn't passed the

House yet, obviously. If there were greater requirements or there was agreement

to do some amendments maybe, as I said, greater requirements for the

commission would you be able to handle increased capacity, or would that

require additional staffing do you think?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The discussion around the

current view as to how the Public Service Commission will be supporting the

Independent Appointments Commission is based on the information the Public

Service Commission has been provided by government. The debate and the

legislation as you so aptly mentioned have not been voted on in the House of

Assembly yet. Once that happens, the Public Service Commission will be charged

with implementing and executing that work.

It is

our expectation that based on the discussions we have had with officials in the

Public Service Commission and based on the technology mechanisms that we're

going to use for application acceptance and inquiries from those individuals who

are interested in participating in the pool, that will be available for the

Independent Appointments Commission to review for tier one positions and will be

used by the Public Service Commission for tier two. We anticipate that, at this

time, should be sufficient.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

I have

to ask, on 02 Revenue Provincial, in revised we have $100. I'm just curious

what that is.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'm sorry, I didn't hear the

question.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Under the amount to be voted 02, under the heading Revenue Provincial, in the

revised for 2015-2016 there is $100 there.

MS. C. BENNETT:

That was a vendor credit

from the prior year related to a counsellor fee.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

That's

good for me, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR:

Okay.

Any

other questions on the Public Service Commission?

Shall I

call the headings?

CLERK:

1.1.01.

CHAIR:

Shall 1.1.01 carry?

Carried.

motion, subhead 1.1.01 carried.

motion, Public Service Commission, total head, carried.

MS. C. BENNETT:

For the new Members on the

Committee, Mr. Chair, this would be the time that we are actually going to be

voting on these lines. Is that correct?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

You call the question, I

guess.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Yes, once he calls the

question?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Okay.

MS. PERRY:

Can we do that again? Can we

call the question? Can you say all those in favour?

CHAIR:

Okay.

All

those in favour?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

Against?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Nay.

CHAIR:

Carried.

motion, Estimates of the Public Service Commission carried without amendment.

CHAIR:

Okay. Since that one is done

even though it's a bit early in the game, we're going to take a five-minute

break, then we'll resume with the Women's Policy Office.

Recess

CHAIR:

I would ask, where it wasn't

recorded, that the minister goes over the opening remarks and introductions

again.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

Good

morning, everybody. The next portion of Estimates as the Committee is aware

we'll be discussing the Women's Policy Office. This office resides in Executive

Council. For the Women's Policy Office, we'll be discussing the appropriations

that will be provided for policy development and research on issues that enhance

the economic and social status of women and prevent violence against vulnerable

populations in the province.

Appropriations will also provide for support for Aboriginal women's issues;

grants to quality-seeking organizations, including Women's Centres, Regional

Coordinating Committees Against Violence and Aboriginal organizations; and

violence prevention and coordination and awareness activities within government

and the provincial and community levels.

addition, we will also be discussing the Provincial Advisory Council on the

Status of Women and the appropriations of funding provided for the operations of

the Provincial Advisory Council, which extends independent evaluation and advice

to government on issues and policies relevant to women.

I'd ask

now that the officials, who joined me today, introduce themselves.

MS. BALLARD:

Donna Ballard, Deputy

Minister Responsible for the Women's Policy Office.

MS. TULK:

Jennifer Tulk, Director of

Communications.

MS. TRICKETT:

Wanda Trickett, Departmental

Controller.

CHAIR:

Thank you very much.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you.

CHAIR:

We will now go to 2.7.01 and

open up for questions.

MS. ROGERS:

Perhaps we would introduce

ourselves, Randy, do you think, before the questions?

CHAIR:

Okay.

We ask

that the Committee, once again, introduce themselves.

OFFICIAL:

We already did that.

MS. ROGERS:

Well, why don't I do it? My

name is Gerry Rogers and I am the MHA and work for the great people of St.

John's Centre.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

first question is line 2.7.01, on Salaries. In the revised budget for 2015-2016

there's an increased expenditure of $322,800. Can you tell us what that was for?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. That reflects an

overrun from the 2015-2016 budget due to severance costs.

MS. PERRY:

Okay.

So when

you look then for the 2016-2017 Estimates, we actually see a decline in the

budgeted amount for the new fiscal year. Can you explain where that reduction in

Salaries is taking place and what's being eliminated here?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. That reflects a

decrease from the 2015-16 budget related to a line-by-line Estimate review. The

deputy can provide some additional information for you.

MS. BALLARD:

Yes, there are two positions

that won't be renewed for the coming year. There was a vacant communications

analyst position that became vacant around December, which we're not going to

renew that position, and also there is a temporary receptionist position which

is also being eliminated.

MS. PERRY:

Okay, thank you.

terms of Transportation and Communications, we're seeing a decline there as

well. The next line, Transportation and Communications, how were your savings

achieved for the drop from $113,600 down to $98,100?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Those savings you've pointed

out reflect the savings from the 2015-16 budget as it relates to discretionary

spending savings. I'll ask the deputy if she can provide some examples of what

was saved in that line item.

MS. BALLARD:

Transportation and Communications generally, in terms of the travel budget, was

probably somewhat overestimated. When we look at what we're doing next year, the

travel that's required, such as bringing together third-party groups such as the

Aboriginal groups and so forth, we just try and be frugal about how we do that.

Also we do training by doing Train the Trainer, as opposed to doing a lot of

in-person training and so forth. So we were able to reduce there. As you can

see, going forward next year we're going to continue with that.

MS. PERRY:

Okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The other item I think would

be appropriate to point out for the Member opposite is that as the Minister

responsible for Finance as well as the Women's Policy Office, we made a decision

to strategically connect where feasible and practical travel related to

responsibilities for Finance with Women's Policy Office so that we could ensure

we had further savings.

MS. PERRY:

Okay, thank you.

With

respect to Supplies, can you tell us what items are being cut in this line item?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. First, the revised

budget 2015-2016 versus the original budget reflects items related to, as I

said, discretionary spending. The actual budget down to $55,000 reflects the

decreases that were achieved through a line-by-line Estimate review, and I ask

the deputy to provide a couple of highlights for the Member opposite.

MS. BALLARD:

Basically what we're doing there when we look at what we really need, looking at

it from a zero-based go forward, we're just looking for $5,500 for basic office

supplies. That's all we need in that area.

MS. PERRY:

Okay, thank you.

Professional Services, the budget for 2015-2016 was $334,500; going forward it's

$247,000. So can you explain what types of professional services are being

eliminated?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The professional services

that are being eliminated from the original budget, again, as I've said earlier,

these relate to changes in discretionary spending as well as a line-by-line

Estimate review. Under the area of Professional Services, with the $247,000 that

is budgeted for fiscal 2016-17, that would include monies remaining for the

intimate partner Violence Prevention Initiative, which is the joint,

province-wide enforcement effort between the RNC and the RCMP that the Member

opposite certainly would have been aware of from last year.

In the

IPV initiative, police agencies will build on existing work and enhance

responsiveness to the intimate partner violence work. And there's block funding

in there to be used for things like cost-shared services, launches and

integrating services.

MS. PERRY:

Okay.

And,

still in keeping with that same line, the revised forecast for 2015-2016 was

close to $100,000 less than what was allocated. Can you explain why that

happened?

MS. BALLARD:

Of the $247,000 the $244,000 is for the intimate partner violence prevention

unit that the minister spoke of. And then, the others are just a little bit of

flex for professional services. What's being decreased in that area specifically

are amounts of money that were going to be used for a large marketing campaign

on violence prevention, so we decided to go in a different direction with that.

MS. PERRY:

Okay.

So that

explains the 2015-2016 revision or the going-forward number of $247,000. Because

it looks like there were monies allocated there in 2015-2016 for $334,500, only

$236,000 was spent. Was there anything that didn't get done?

MS. C. BENNETT:

marketing campaign that the former administration wanted to spend the money on.

campaign was not something that we thought was prudent to support.

Also,

based on feedback that we able to get from early-stage consultations on the

Violence Prevention Initiative that was launched in October, we were getting

clear indications from community stakeholders that that may not be a place where

current times.

MS. PERRY:

Okay.

Under

Purchased Services, what did you allocate $64,900 for?

MS. BALLARD:

Fifteen thousand of that, we did leave in the intimate partner violence

prevention unit. If you look back from last year there was actually $100,000 for

purchased services specifically for that unit, but it was, again, for a campaign

and now they're going to do as you know, the RNC are very (inaudible) at doing

will remain in that in which they'll concentrate on some Aboriginal training in

Labrador.

There

is money under the Violence Prevention Initiative for some training. We have

found that what we're hearing from stakeholders is that the campaigns of the

past, Respect Aging, those campaigns have been robust in raising awareness. Now

we have to look at action and we have to look at doing some very specific

training. So what we're doing is revising some of our violence prevention

training, targeting at sort of entry level, community based into the colleges

and that sort of thing.

Also,

we want to revise that. We want to bring that out and we also want to be able to

provide we've gone into the community to see what other training is available

from other groups and we've found that it's very robust. The Canadian Red Cross

has some very good training. Thrive have some very good training. So we want to

bring that to our community partners to enhance the training out there. We also

work, for example, with Women in Resource Development and support them in

training that they give; for example, in a Spaniard's Bay situation out into

municipalities, councils and that sort of thing.

MS. PERRY:

Okay.

CHAIR:

Okay.

With

our time allocation we agreed upon, I will now go to the Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much.

It's

Gerry Rogers and also I'm accompanied by Susan Williams from our caucus as well,

a researcher with our caucus.

Thank

you very much for all your hard work in this area. We know that things, in some

ways, have improved in the Status of Women and, in other ways, they have become

more and more difficult when we look at the wage gap for women, the fact that we

do not have pay-equity legislation and that things are tough. In the current

fiscal situation, women may be hit harder with the fiscal situation. So even

more so, your work is so crucial in helping government realize what is happening

to the women of the province. So thank you very much for your great work.

I would

like to go back to the Salaries in the Women's Policy Office. We see a drop of

$402,000 and I don't quite understand. I know that you said and maybe I just

missed it two positions have been removed: the vacant communications analyst

position that was vacant since December and then a temporary receptionist

position.

question is what other positions what were the other adjustments to salary?

Then also part of that, will there be another receptionist?

MS. C. BENNETT:

As I mentioned earlier,

there's a $322,000 amount that reflects an overrun in the budget in the actual

revised. The majority of it relates to one individual. There was a deputy

minister in the department that retired and, as a result, costs associated with

that retirement are captured here and disclosed.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'm sorry; you asked a

second question about will the temporary receptionist be replaced. At this

stage, my understanding is that is not the plan. The plan is to continue to put

the work into the positions that are dealing directly one-on-one with the

community organizations throughout the province. I don't know if the deputy

wants to add anything else about the receptionist position.

MS. BALLARD:

Yes, we're able to cover

that work through the other administrative staff that remains at the office.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay. Can we have a list of

the staff that are in the office, the positions that are in the office now?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I think you will find that

we currently have inside the Women's Policy Office did you want a list of them

now because I can provide that now.

MS. ROGERS:

How many staff positions are

there?

MS. C. BENNETT:

There are six positions

just one second, Donna?

MS. BALLARD:

We have nine staff: one who

is funded through the Opening Doors Program and eight staff.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay. I could get a list of

that after if you like rather than go through it now, if that's okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Yes.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, that would be great.

Thank you.

So we

still see, though, a significant reduction in the salary line. The staff overrun

that we saw, we're still down a significant amount from the budget of 2015-16 to

2016-17. That would account then for the loss of those two positions?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The salary line of $931,700

in comparison to the $1,011,400 number reflects a decrease related to a

line-by-line Estimate review of $79,700. And that relates to the positions that

the deputy has spoken to already.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, great. Thank you.

I have

a little bit of confusion about the intimate partner program that's with the

police. That's under Professional Services or under Purchased Services?

MS. C. BENNETT:

There's some in a variety of

the line items. I can let the deputy minister speak to that.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay.

Then

also would you be able to just explain to me how the money for that program was

allocated. Was the money transferred over to the police from Women's Policy? So

what's happening now then in light of that?

MS. BALLARD:

There are two line items to

cover that unit. It's a joint RNC, RCMP initiative across the province. The RNC,

Women's Policy Office in our salaries envelope have salary money for two

constables and one analyst. That's JV'd through the Department of Justice.

The

$244,000 under Professional Services, that's the money that is allocated to the

RCMP portion. The RCMP portion is a different kind of funding arrangement, as it

is generally with the Department of Justice and the RNC. Again, that gets JV'd

through the Department of Justice to the Women's Policy Office.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay. Is that for salaries

or it is for program delivery?

MS. BALLARD:

Under the RNC, it's only for salaries. Under the RCMP it's a

proportionization.' That's how we do the RCMP. It's the same as how it's done

for Justice, generally, which I can't really speak in any more detail about.

It's more of a lump sum and proportionality, but it's mostly salaries. They also

have two constables and an analyst working on that program.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sorry, with permission, it's

the minister speaking just for the benefit of the Member opposite, what's

being described for the Member is not unique to budget '16. This was the setup,

the process, what was already in budget 2015-16 from last year. The decision was

made to carry that forward until we continue to look to assess how that funding

is delivering the services to people in the province who need it.

I just

wanted to make sure that was clear. It is a '15-'16 budgeted item that's carried

through to '16.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, just so I can be

absolutely clear. The money comes from Justice to Women's Policy and then to the

RNC and the RCMP, or the other way around?

MS. BALLARD:

The money is in the Women's Policy Office envelope. It comes directly to the

Women's Policy Office and then we JV it back to Justice as the invoices come

through and it's paid that way.

MS. ROGERS:

What does JV mean?

MS. C. BENNETT:

It's a short term for what

we refer to as a journal voucher, which is an accounting transfer.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay. It goes from Women's

Policy allocation to Justice and then to the RNC and RCMP?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'd ask the controller for

the department just to provide further clarity because I believe the Member

opposite is correct. I just want to make sure the controller (inaudible) answers

that question.

MS. TRICKETT:

As the deputy minister described, the budget is actually allocated in the

Women's Policy Office. The expenses incur through the RNC or the RCMP,

respectively. When those expenses incur, they will send an invoice over to the

Women's Policy Office, they review those invoices and determine that the nature

of invoice is acceptable and they will then take that cost back into the Women's

Policy portfolio.

MS. ROGERS:

I would like to see a

breakdown of the expenses or the invoice from RNC and RCMP in terms of what

exactly is the money used for?

MS. C. BENNETT:

We would be happy to provide

that to the Member.

MS. ROGERS:

And can we have that from

last year and this year the anticipated contract for this year?

MS. C. BENNETT:

We can provide that; I

believe we can.

MS. ROGERS:

Great, thank you very much.

CHAIR:

Okay, I'd just like to ask

if there are any questions from other government Members outside of the

Government Services Committee do you have any questions?

Okay,

we'll go back to the Official Opposition.

From

here on in now, the switch will be every 10 minutes.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, if we could get a copy of all this information that the MHA for St.

John's Centre is requesting as well?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Absolutely.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you.

I'm

going to pick it up again on Purchased Services. When we look to the 2015-2016

revised budget the original allocation for that was $209,200; the actual

expenditure was $57,400. So I was just wondering what was cut there?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Well, the difference between

the Purchased Services and the original budget reflects savings related to

$50,000 for the Newfoundland & Labrador Statistics Agency, which was not

required, as well as discretionary spending.

So the

Statistics Agency did work for the Women's Policy Office and they did not create

an expense and, as a result, they absorb inside their own area the cost

associated with the work they did for the Women's Policy Office. So there was

$50,000 budgeted for a survey and that was completed through the Economics and

Statistics Branch, and that's why that line item is reduced by $50,000.

MS. PERRY:

Okay. Can we get a list of

these specific discretionary items that were eliminated?

MS. BALLARD:

The other item there that was eliminated was, as I mentioned before, the

intimate partner violence prevention unit that we discussed, had a budget of

$100,000 as well for purchased services, which they didn't use, and that's been

reduced for the year coming to $15,000.

MS. PERRY:

Okay. Would it be possible

to get a briefing because it seems like there are some changes there for us

on the new intimate partner violence program?

MS. C. BENNETT:

There's nothing new other

than an extension of what happened last year with the exception of the money

that wasn't spent. But we can certainly provide more clarity for the Member

opposite, if she'd like that.

MS. PERRY:

Yes, I certainly would like

it and like a briefing with respect to the approach you're now going to be

taking and how you look to achieve results, and I guess the new vision and

approach you're going to be taking with it. I think that would be informative.

MS. C. BENNETT:

We would be happy to provide

some information for you.

MS. PERRY:

Okay. Thank you so much.

section 10, Grants and Subsidies, can you tell us specifically how you're

achieving the decrease of $50,000?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The $50,000 under Grants and

Subsidies from as the Member opposite would be aware, this particular line

item was originally budgeted in last year's budget at $2,541,100 and is budgeted

this year at $2,491,100. We made the decision through the line-by-line Estimate

review, based on the past performance and based on the current financial

situation that we faced in the province, that we would remove $50,000. That

reflects the decisions that were made through the line-by-line Estimate review.

MS. PERRY:

Okay, can we get a written

list of every grant that was awarded for 2015-2016, as well as a list for the

upcoming year 2016-2017 with respect to the types of grants that are going to be

available to be applied to?

MS. C. BENNETT:

We can certainly provide the

list of the grants that were provided as part of '15-'16 because those grants

have been executed and provided to the community.

On the

'16-'17 Grants and Subsidies, we can provide you the plan to date.

MS. PERRY:

Yes, thank you so much.

Okay, I

have another question now before I move into 2.7.02. Will be the Women's Policy

Office have a role in the Independent Appointments Commission and the PSC

merit-based processes?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The Independent Appointments

Commission will be managed and supported managed may be the wrong word. It

will be supported by the Public Service Commission which might be a more

accurate reflection of their role.

It will

be supported by the Women's Policy Office in the context of the recruitment and

the promotion of women's participation in the application process. That's

certainly something that we look forward to providing insight and feedback to

the Public Service Commission. There have been conversations ongoing since the

legislation was brought in, and well before that, to ensure that the Women's

Policy Office has the visibility and the partnership with the Public Service

Commission to be able to ensure that we have sufficient applications from women.

We know

that we have to do things differently to make sure that women are participating.

We look forward to doing that with the support of the Women's Policy Office.

MS. PERRY:

Okay. Moving into 2.7.02,

there's another cut here again of $50,000. So how will you be achieving this

cut?

MS. C. BENNETT:

That change in the funding

for the just for clarity, the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of

Women, I believe that is what the Member opposite is asking about.

MS. PERRY:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

That reflects a decrease

that we related in a line-by-line review. The council's lease is up for renewal,

I think, 50 per cent through the year. We anticipate that as we look to a real

estate asset management plan across government that we will be able to provide

and work with the Provincial Advisory Council to find them space that would

allow them to recover savings specifically related to their rent.

MS. PERRY:

Okay. So in looking at

overall the Women's Policy Office, the overall budget has a cut cost-cutting

measures of $402,500. How do you think this is going to impact overall your role

in services for women?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sorry just for clarity, when

the Member opposite is referring to the $400,000, could she just point exactly

which line item she's referring to.

MS. PERRY:

Sorry, the revised budget of

2015-2016 figure and to the 2016-2017 Estimates. There's a reduction of

$402,500.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Are you looking at the

MS. PERRY:

The total, Women's Policy,

sorry.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The total? Just for clarity,

that's the $4,235,500 compared to the $3,843,600? Is that what the Member is

referring to?

MS. PERRY:

Yes, I'm looking at the

no, I'm looking at the $4,706,300 from last year,

whereas this year the budget

is down to $4,261,600.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't

looking at the consolidated number. My apologies.

MS. PERRY:

Yes, and that is the total

of the whole office.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Correct.

MS. PERRY:

So I guess my question is:

With $400,000 gone from your budget for the Women's Policy Office, how confident

do you feel that the women's issues are going to be addressed, at least in an

equivalent manner as they were in the past?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Well, as we've explained

during the Estimates discussion, the $400,000 that the Member refers to on the

Opposite side is a combination of savings in rent inside the Provincial Advisory

Council on the Status of Women. It's a savings on severance of in excess of

about $320,000.

I would

suggest that savings on rent and savings on severance will not have a material

effect on our ability to support the mandate of this department. I'd further

suggest that based on the consultation we have already begun in the province on

the Violence Prevention Initiative, that the early days and the early learnings

will allow us to be even more nimble and efficient in responding to the needs of

those organizations on the front line.

MS. PERRY:

With respect, then, to

groups such as the Aboriginal women's group, the violence against women

committees, with a reduction in travel how are you going to be able to

compensate for the loss of networking abilities they will have?

MS. BALLARD:

If you look right now at the travel for 2016, the $98,100 which we've allotted,

what we did is just looked at what we think we need for the coming year. One of

the things, for example, that we spend a fair amount of money on travel is for

the Aboriginal groups, for example. We bring together a conference. It's been

very successful over the last years.

little bit of change in direction on that one, for example, is that we have

the women have come forward and want committees specific to particular issues

which they have identified: funding, for example, violence prevention, mental

health and those sorts of things. So this year looking forward we think the best

use of our money there is to bring those groups together in smaller groups so

that we help provide support to them to start moving forward, and to also help

them with targeting some funding for the federal government. That would be an

example. Instead of having a big group get together, smaller groups get

together.

Also,

we're working with the learning and development entity here at government to see

how much we can do in terms of training through the Internet, for example,

instead of necessarily having to bring people together a lot.

We're

reducing the travel, but the specific travel that we think, the targeted travel,

is still going to be there.

MS. PERRY:

Okay.

CHAIR:

For time allocation, I'll

turn it over to Ms. Rogers.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

I'm

sorry I missed a bit of this. I was called out with an unexpected issue. So if

I'm asking something that's already answered, please forgive me, but I want

every bit of your brilliance.

If we

go back to Women's Policy Office, the Grants and Subsidies, there's a reduction

of $31,300. Can you tell me what kinds of things would be affected by that?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The actual reduction from

last year's budget to this year's budget, just for clarity, is $15,000. The

reduction from the projected revised is the $30,000 that the Member opposite

mentions.

MS. ROGERS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Based on the review of the

grants that have been paid in the past and used in the past, the feeling was

there was an opportunity for us to there have been grants in the past that

haven't typically gotten out the door, historically. We felt that budgeting

money that actually wasn't intended to get out the door was probably not in

light of the current fiscal situation the best thing to do.

It is

our intention certainly, we can provide the Member opposite the list of the

grants that were paid in fiscal '15-'16 for her review as well.

MS. ROGERS:

Great. Thank you very much.

I find

it curious, because all the Women's Centres that are getting grants are just

hanging on by a thread in terms of they haven't had a 5 per cent increase since

2011. They are starving for money. Many of them are working at wages that are

below what they should be getting.

So how

is it grants that are available are not getting out the door? Why do you think

that might be? Because I know the need and the demand is beyond what is being

allocated. For instance, the Multicultural Women's Organization gets $100,000.

They're dealing with multicultural women from all over the province. They are

trying to staff an office. They don't have a charitable number. How could it be

that there are grants available that aren't getting out the door?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I can't speak to the former

administration's process on grants. What I can speak to is our intention going

forward. Part of our early announcement this year on the grants, such as

operating grants, but specifically operating grants, was that we needed to take

a review of all of the grants that are going out to make sure the right

proportion of money is getting out to organizations that are providing critical

services on the front line. That would be something we will be working on

through the course of this summer.

MS. ROGERS:

My other question would be

if in fact you feel there are grants that aren't getting out the door. We know

the situation. I know, Minister, you are very familiar with the situation of the

Women's Centres across the province (inaudible) the Multicultural Women's

Organization with a paltry $100,000. I would think that rather than cutting the

amount of grants that are available, you would at least keep status quo. So

what's the rationale for cutting, if it's possible that the reason not all the

grants were spent was not because of the Women's Centres, but because somehow

the system's not working?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Just for clarity, too, some

of the issues related to getting the grants out the door is that portion is

related to needs-based grants. There was a lack of applications that were coming

into the department.

recognize what the Member opposite has said with regard to the global needs

around supports for initiatives that are undertaken and supported by the Women's

Policy Office. Certainly, as we go forward this year we'll continue to look to

have dialogues with those organizations that, on the operational side, are being

challenged.

MS. ROGERS:

For the $2,491,000 in Grants

and Subsidies, is that where the money for operating grants for the Women's

Centres, et cetera, comes out of? Does it come out of that allocation?

MS. C. BENNETT:

In addition to a portion

that is related to needs-based grants as well.

MS. ROGERS:

Can you explain what that

is, needs-based grants, in this circumstance?

MS. BALLARD:

So the grants, you're correct. From that envelope with the grants there is the

Provincial Advisory Council, there are the Regional Coordinating Councils, there

are the Women's Centres, there's the Transition House Association of

Newfoundland and Labrador, the Newfoundland and Labrador Sexual Assault Crisis

and Prevention Centre, the Newfoundland Aboriginal Women's Network and the

Multicultural Association. Those envelopes are the same. They've turned over,

they're all the same.

Last

year and I can only speak to last year there was also a portion of money

that was what we call needs-based. So that if someone came in and applied for

something specific oh and sorry, there is also the Aboriginal grants which are

also separate; $200,000 for Aboriginal women, $30,000 for Aboriginal grants.

Those have turned over as well and we're going to go out for those. All of those

grants remain the same.

There

was a small portion, $50,000 that was into needs-based grants. We were getting

some pressure on those for things like conferences, perhaps buying tables at

functions, those sorts of things. But we didn't use it last year and then, as

the minister said, there was a decision to not renew that particular grant

envelope.

MS. ROGERS:

I know that the Women's

Centres from across the province have asked for a provincial conference. I know

that the Multicultural Women's Organization has asked for funding equal to the

Women's Centres across the province because of the specific work that they do

and, again, they get only $100,000.

Now

they asked to be put on par with the other Women's Centres which would then be

$29,000. I could see that money being used out of $31,000. I know that the

Women's Centres have asked for what they had traditionally gotten, a 5 per cent

increase. They haven't gotten that since 2011. So I would imagine that is

rather than cut, to at least use the money that was there.

The

work they are doing they are doing incredible work with the very, very limited

money that they have. So I cannot see how taking that money out because it

wasn't used, there's a problem. If there is such a great need and it's not being

used, and then to take it out of the allocation, even for the Multicultural

Women's Organization.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Certainly, the Member is

well known for her passion and her support of the women's organizations as I

hope to be. I would suggest to the Member opposite that in the context of the

$2.7 billion problem we were faced with as a result of the budget work we were

doing for '16-'17, that our commitment to look at the grants that are being

distributed to community organizations for operating costs, and our commitment

to have those conversations and dialogue with organizations is one that I take

very seriously and one that we intend to do. We've committed to multi-year

funding to provide those organizations with clarity.

I'd

also suggest that in the context of making sure that public money is spent in

the most targeted and strategically located places, rushing without the

consultation that this government needs with those entities is not something

that I was prepared to do as the minister. And certainly we look forward to

dialogue with those organizations over the coming months as we establish what

the multi-year grants are going to be.

MS. ROGERS:

Well, thank you very much,

Minister. I appreciate that.

I also

would like to say that I know that $31,000, in the realm of a $2.7 billion

deficit, seems so minimal; yet $31,000 for an organization like the

Multicultural Women's Organization means whether or not they can hire another

person. That's how much that little bit of money can really affect them.

MS. C. BENNETT:

As it does mean as well

retaining positions in the public sector.

MS. ROGERS:

So at this point I assume

then the request for the Multicultural Women's Organization to be increased, to

be at par with other Women's Centres around the province.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I think the multicultural

association, my understanding, would have had clarity on that. The women's

association would have clarity on that several weeks ago, I mention to the

Member. They would have known the situation and we would have communicated to

them the circumstances going forward.

CHAIR:

Okay. We'll go to Ms. Perry.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm

going to echo MHA Rogers's comments. Certainly, having spent some time with

these groups, I can attest to the fact that they're doing phenomenal work for

very low amounts and how they've survived, thus far, is actually quite

astounding. They're incredible.

Organizations like that, all of them certainly, but those which Nicole Kieley

works for, these are women in very stressful positions. In terms of wage parity

with equivalent positions or with male counterparts, they are certainly

underpaid. I think, going forward, we need to give a lot of consideration to

correcting that.

They

can do with $10,000 what some people can't do with half a million. So it's quite

incredible the work they do and they certainly deserve accolades. In going

forward, we need to keep an eye to being able to give them more, if we possibly

can.

wanted to ask about what the plans are for the family violence court moving

forward in 2016-2017.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The courts that the Member

opposite referred to really my understanding now resides with Justice.

During the Estimates for Justice, they could provide even more clarity on the

status of those courts.

I will

share anecdotally from my conversations with stakeholders on the West Coast, as

an example, that the work that's being done in Stephenville is certainly being

seen as being very positive.

MS. PERRY:

Okay, thank you for that.

terms of the elimination of the apprenticeship program for women, how do you

anticipate being able to have a strong impact in ensuring that our women are

continuing to enter non-traditional occupations?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'm sorry

MS. PERRY:

Again, it's the AES budget,

so this is more of a philosophical question related to WPO. With the

apprenticeship program gone from AES, what measures will WPO be undertaking to

ensure that employers in this province are still recruiting women and that

women's opportunities are on par with men?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'm not 100 per cent sure

that this isn't the scholarship that the Member opposite is talking about versus

the actual funding. I would suggest that maybe the Committee provide questions

to the Department of Advanced Education and Skills when they come in. It might

be best placed with them.

MS. PERRY:

Okay, we'll certainly relay

that one there as well.

final question I have relates to mental health and wellness initiatives. Given

the austerity of this budget, I'm anticipating we're going to see quite a spike

in mental health and wellness issues. Single mothers, in particular, are going

to really be struggling. Will the Women's Policy Office be taking any extra

measures to deal with the fallout in mental well-being of families in this

province, particularly women?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I think the Women's Policy

Office is clear in their mandate. It has an accountability and responsibility,

from a policy perspective, to overlay the lens as it relates to women's issues

across, not just the area of mental health and wellness in the province but on

all areas. It is my expectation as minister, that's exactly what the Women's

Policy Office will do.

quote a famous feminist, they will lean into all discussions as it relates to

providing a lens for women's issues, not just in this specific area that the

Member opposite mentioned but in all areas. As minister, I will encourage them

to continue to do that.

MS. PERRY:

Okay, thank you, Minister.

That

wraps up my questions.

CHAIR:

Okay.

Ms.

Rogers.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

I am

wondering: What is the situation of statistics around the status of women in the

province, in terms of updated statistics? When I go on the website for the

Women's Policy Office, I see stats that reflect 2004, 2006. Oftentimes, the

stats aren't reflective specifically of the province, but they're gleaned from

federal Statistics Canada.

Does

the Women's Policy Office have a handle on the status of women of Newfoundland

and Labrador in terms of the profiles of violence, the level of poverty, the

number of children in lone-parent households that are headed by women,

employment rates specifically around women? Do we have anything more recent than

2006 in terms of the statistic overall that really gives us a good picture of

what's happening in the lives of the women of Newfoundland and Labrador?

MS. C. BENNETT:

While I haven't had a chance

to read it in detail, the department does have access to a survey that was

completed in 2015-16. This was a survey that was done by the Newfoundland &

Labrador Statistics Agency. It was developed and implemented as part of the

first-ever Violence Prevention Initiative.

The

survey design was finalized by the Newfoundland & Labrador Statistics Agency in

consultation with Statistics Canada, and the data collection is currently taking

place. So that information is currently being updated. It actually is the survey

I referenced earlier that the Economics and Statistics Division is doing, as

opposed to contracting out a public opinion survey. The Statistics Agency is

working on that information now.

MS. ROGERS:

When can we expect the

results, do you have any idea?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'll have to check with the

Economics and Statistics team and provide the answer to the Member opposite once

I have that information there.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, thank you very much.

I would

also be interested in some of the numbers in terms of the issues that are

reported in the annual report. It talks about, for instance, that you committed,

by March, 2016, to collect more information about women in leadership roles. Is

that kind of information available; if not, when will it be available? Was that

work undertaken? I guess there are a number of issues here, like for instance

around economic security. Do we have that information yet?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Just for clarity, for my

purposes, the deputy may already be assuming the answer, but I just want to

clarify are you speaking to the annual report the department is responsible

for providing here in the House?

MS. ROGERS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Okay, so I'll ask the deputy

to provide some insights for you.

MS. ROGERS:

That was from the annual

report of '14-'15.

MS. BALLARD:

Right. As the minister indicated, that work is ongoing and certainly we can

provide you with what we have available.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, great. Thank you very

much.

regard of the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women, how often did

the advisory committee meet in '15-'16?

MS. BALLARD:

I'm going to say quarterly because they usually do, but I would have to check

their annual report.

MS. ROGERS:

Their term now, when is the

next advisory committee going to be assigned?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The actual individuals who

are on the board?

MS. ROGERS:

Yes, the advisory council.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Okay.

MS. BALLARD:

They've recently been renewed for three-year terms.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The renewal took place prior

to November 30.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, thank you very much.

What is

the process of appointing people to that council?

MS. C. BENNETT:

As our government would

hope, under the Independent Appointments Commission it would be expected that

the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women is I have to

double-check, are they tier one or tier two?

OFFICIAL:

(Inaudible.)

MS. C. BENNETT:

Tier two. The Public Service

Commission would be responsible under the new legislation for supporting the

appointments. The current renewals on the council were completed prior to

November 30. Certainly I've had the pleasure of meeting with the new directors

recently as part of their quarterly meeting, and I know they have the work plan

established and are working hard on the mandate of the council.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, thank you very much.

I guess

we've asked for a list of the grants and subsidies that were allocated last

year. Then can we have a list of applications for this year?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I can provide you a list of

where we are so far, year to date. There are three separate amounts of money

that represent that full line item. We can certainly provide you with where we

are year to date.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay.

The

applications for last year, did they supersede the amount of money that was

available to be allocated, aside from this $50,000 needs based?

MS. BALLARD:

The applications I described earlier who we fund, I guess they are rollovers.

Sometimes they come in and ask for a little more, but generally the amount is

stagnant. It's the Aboriginal grants that are specific to applications, so those

were recently announced for last year. So we can provide you with the applicants

there.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, thank you very much.

I don't

believe I have anything else, except for the new violence prevention action

plan, and that would be Violence Prevention Initiative. Do you feel that, at

this point, the finances that are needed in order to operationalize this and

fulfill the recommendations and commitments are in place?

MS. BALLARD:

Yes. With the Violence Prevention Initiative, as you know, there are 67

particular recommendations which are very broad under the four pillars. What

we've been doing over the last couple of months since I took on my position,

which was just after the announcement as the minister came on, is we're going

back out into community. We've had a number of consultations already in Labrador

and on the West Coast. We have consultations planned for Central and St. John's.

What

we're looking to do is focus on the areas where we think that we need to put in

our efforts. So far, what we're looking at are things like training, which I

described earlier, things like how we get into the schools, for example. So, as

you may know, restorative justice is taking hold in the schools and so we're

working with that particular organization which is where we want to go; social

media, training, those sort of things.

I think

what we're doing now is going back out into community and what we're going to be

doing as a review of community grants, which the minister has described that's

happening across the board, but with the community grants that we represent

we're going to be going out over the next months and talking to community

organizations on the ground in terms of how we can best help them with the

limited funds that we have to deliver the programs that we need.

So I

think there needs to be some more coordination within government in terms of

departments and so forth to ensure that the right services are delivered and

also coordination among the groups themselves. You may find areas, for example,

where you have funding for two or three groups that may be providing the same

services. Is there a way we can consolidate that? Is there a way we can bring

groups together? So that's our focus.

Right

now, in the budget we have left some heavy money in the travel so that we're

able to complete that. We've left some money in our training so we can pull that

together. That's going to be our focus over the next year. So I think we're set

to do that for this year coming.

MS. ROGERS:

Donna, for that work in

terms of looking at is there duplication of services, is there some

consolidation that can be done; there is the Provincial Advisory Council on the

Status of Women. Where does the advice come to Women's Policy Office from the

community? How does that happen for any of those kinds of decisions?

MS. C. BENNETT:

When we started in December

looking at I can't speak prior to November 30.

MS. ROGERS:

Yes, I understand.

MS. C. BENNETT:

In December, when we started

to look at the feedback that we were being provided by community on the Violence

Prevention Initiative, as it was launched in October, the consensus was that the

for a number of reasons, including the fact that some of the material and data

that was used to create the plan was driven from information as far back as 2012

and 2013, that it made sense for the very first organizations and people for us

to talk to would be those working on the front lines.

That's

why early this year we met with stakeholders in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. When I

say we, myself and the deputy have met. We've met with Aboriginal leaders. We've

also met with stakeholders on the West Coast with the understanding of saying

here is the plan, what are the parts of it that are working and not working, and

how can we rapidly adjust to reflect what the needs of people on the ground are

saying.

As the

minister has given some examples, what has been a consistent theme is that there

needs to be a coordinated effort across departments. Some of the community

organizations are finding it's hard to do the work when they have multiple

departments that are not necessarily aligned.

So when

I go back to my comments about the mandate of the Women's Policy Office, I would

suggest that, in addition to a policy lens, there's a very strong accountability

for breaking down perceived or real barriers that are disadvantaging community

groups from getting the information and the access to changes they need, to do

the work on the front line.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay, thank you.

I have

two quick questions

CHAIR:

The Chair would like to

point out at this time that the Member for Fogo Island Cape Freels, Mr.

Derrick Bragg, is substituting for the Member for Bonavista, Mr. Neil King.

To come

back, I understand Ms. Perry has another question.

MS. PERRY:

I just wanted to ask if I

could get a copy as well of the survey information that MHA Rogers has

requested.

Thank

you.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Just for clarity, the survey

is not complete yet. I just wanted to make sure everybody understands that it's

ongoing. When it's complete, we'll certainly provide the feedback.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you.

Two

quick questions I was out of the room so I may have missed this. Do I

understand that the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women is moving

out of their current offices?

MS. C. BENNETT:

We have asked them to look

at ways of reducing their operating costs not related to their salaries.

MS. ROGERS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

And we're going to support

them to look to relocate, to look to achieve savings on their rent. Government

has huge access to a lot of real estate and a lot of rental space, and we're

going to do what we can to provide them support so they can do some savings. We

want to spend money on services, not on real estate.

MS. ROGERS:

Okay.

second question is that we know how important the role of the Women's Policy

Office is in gender-based analysis and applying that lens to all legislation and

policy. How has that been working?

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'll let the deputy go

first.

MS. BALLARD:

I think that in all areas of gender analysis we've been successful, but we need

to continue to work on that. It's one of the priorities that I have in my

office, to ensure that there's more input on the ground level in terms of

educating people from the policy level up on gender-based analysis. But

certainly we are very involved in the review of Cabinet papers, for example.

I've

been very successful over the last four or five months, with the minister's

support, to ensure we have been working very closely with departments on

gender-based analysis. As the minister had indicated earlier, for example, on

the Independent Appointments Commission we were in on the ground early on that

one, and have had continuous discussions. We are a part of the committee that's

looking at the review and the revitalization of the Harassment and

Discrimination-Free Workplace Policy, for example. So we're working horizontally

with departments, and also understanding that we need to target some more

education at the policy level as well.

MS. ROGERS:

I guess what I would like to

know is: What is the policy for the gender-based analysis? Rather than Women's

Policy having to chase everything and everyone down, is there a requisite, in

fact when policy, legislation, and regulations are being reviewed that there is

automatic communication with the Women's Policy Office.

MS. C. BENNETT:

There is an expectation and

a responsibility to all departments, agencies, boards and commissions,

particularly as they support legislative changes, that Women's Policy must be

included. And that is

MS. ROGERS:

How are you going to enforce

that? Because I'm not so sure it has been.

MS. C. BENNETT:

We continue to follow up on

a regular basis. As the deputy has said, I think as a minister as any minister

would and should take the responsibility very seriously and ensure that

mandate is fulfilled.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much for the

time and for your wonderful work.

Thank

you.

CHAIR:

Okay, any more questions?

Do you

want to call the subheads?

CLERK:

Subhead 2.7.01.

CHAIR:

Shall 2.7.01 carry?

All

those in favour?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

Carried.

motion, subhead 2.7.01 carried.

CLERK:

2.7.02.

CHAIR:

2.7.02.

Shall

it carry?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

Carried.

motion subhead 2.7.02 carried.

motion, Women's Policy Office, total heads, carried.

motion, Estimates of the Women's Policy Office carried without amendment.

CHAIR:

We're going to take a short

break again. When we resume it will be Human Resource Secretariat.

Recess

CHAIR:

We shall call to order the

continuation of this morning's Estimates with Human Resource Secretariat. And I

would ask that we go through the line by lines first and then any probing

questions, in the interest of time, come afterwards. Hopefully, we can clue up

before 12 p.m.

Okay, I

think we're ready to start.

CLERK:

Subhead 3.1.01.

CHAIR:

Subhead 3.1.01.

I turn

that over to the minister and, once again, I ask that she introduce the

department heads and then continue.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

To be

expeditious, I'd ask the new Members of the House of Assembly you can read the

mandate of the department, as we go through the Estimate lines, it's

(inaudible). So to speed things up, I'll just make sure that you're reading

that. And I'll turn to the deputy and ask him to introduce the officials now

that are sitting at the table.

MR. COOPER:

Bruce Cooper, Deputy Minister, HRS.

MS. TRICKETT:

Wanda Trickett, Departmental Controller.

MS. FOLLETT:

Tina Follett, Assistant Deputy Minister of Compensation, Benefits and Staffing,

Human Resource Secretariat.

MR. MILLER:

Brian Miller, ADM, Labour Relations, Human Resource Secretariat.

MS. PENNEY:

Wanda Penney, Assistant Deputy Minister of Client Services, Human Resource

Secretariat.

MS. TULK:

Jennifer Tulk, Director of Communications.

MS. C. BENNETT:

And we turn it back to the

Chair to begin questions.

CHAIR:

You can have the floor for

opening remarks and then

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'll pass on opening remarks

to provide more opportunity for the Member to ask questions.

CHAIR:

Okay.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr.

Chair, in regard to your comment about the time, are we restricting it to 12

p.m. or when we report on Estimates in the House, will we have an opportunity

if there are further questions to ask them in Committee?

CHAIR:

We'll try and clue it up by

12 p.m., if we possibly can.

MS. C. BENNETT:

With the Chair's permission,

depending on the amount of questions that are left, certainly if we need to come

back in Committee to have further discussions this afternoon we can certainly

consider that, if that's something that the Member opposite is open to.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

It's just going through with

line by line and not being able to ask particular policy questions, I think it

takes from the process.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'm comfortable to approach it in the manner that the Member opposite is

comfortable with, but we certainly want to be expeditious in moving through.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, I agree. Thank you.

Subhead

3.1.01, Executive Support, we see there in the salary allocations that pretty

well it's constant when we look at the budget last year and the Estimate for

this fiscal year. So I'll just conclude there are no changes here in terms of

staffing. It appears as status quo.

MS. C. BENNETT:

That would be the case.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So the announcements in

budget in regard to 650 FTEs, would this be an area where there would be

consideration here, or how does that work?

MS. C. BENNETT:

On the details around the

core government agencies, boards and commissions number that was released last

week? Is that

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Do you want to provide some

context around that?

MR COOPER:

Certainly.

Can I

have the question restated, please?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

In the budget there was

reference to 650 full-time equivalents that were part of going forward in terms

of some of the steps that government is going to take in taking them out of the

public service. In regard to the Human Resource Secretariat and Executive

Support, are some of those positions being reviewed for that 650?

MR. COOPER:

Well, executive positions are, of course, the purview of the Premier's office

and Cabinet Secretariat in terms of the machinery of government. In our

three-year plan, we do have a plan to reduce by one executive over the

three-year term through our attrition.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Through attrition?

MR. COOPER:

Yes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

If we

move down to Transportation and Communications, we see a significant drop there

in regard to the prior budget and this year. I'm just looking for an explanation

on that drop.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. The change in the

revised budget over the original budget reflects savings from the 2015 budget

and discretionary spending reduction.

The

actual change from the budget last year to the budget this year reflects the

line-by-line Estimate review in addition to savings related to telephone costs

that were identified through the Government Renewal Initiative.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

The discretionary savings

here, would that flow up into a number, Minister, that you presented in the

House in regard to $25 million? Would that be something that would be part of

that?

MR. COOPER:

Also included in the savings number here, part of our discretion pertains to

travel. When we looked back over past years, we had been reducing the amount of

travel and moving more towards Web conferencing and teleconferencing as a means

to carry out our business. You'll see that kind of theme emerging throughout a

number of the expenditure headings.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So when we see

Transportation and Communications, as you're saying, that's probably a general

theme through how you're delivering services.

MR. COOPER:

Right, there's a general theme that we're moving towards more teleconferencing

and Web conferencing throughout HRS as a means to try to carry out our business.

So the lion's share of our transportation and communications cost really comes

down to phones these days. That's the biggest item.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

The

Human Resource Secretariat, is that responsible for producing the

Departmental Salary Report in

conjunction with the budget?

MR. COOPER:

Yes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Has there been a

change made in that regard or was it always done that way?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Has the

MR. HUTCHINGS:

The preparatory work for

that.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Historically, has the report

been generated by the Human Resource Secretariat?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

My understanding is yes.

This year we intend to use the PeopleSoft software as a way to provide that

information going forward. It is efficient and provides a quick, efficient use

of technology that's been purchased to make sure that we have public sector

employees focused on public services as opposed to generating reports. It's very

transparent.

If the

Member opposite has questions, we can provide that to him today.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Just a

general one, as we finish up this

section here: What role does the Human

Resource Secretariat play in the release of information in regard to the

sunshine list in regard to government employees? What role would the secretariat

play in regard to legal action that's taken in regard to information that was

released under ATIPP? Would you play a role in that or ?

MR. COOPER:

We are the keepers of the information on payroll and human resources. If the

question is what role would we play in helping to generate a list, we would be

working closely with our client departments to generate a list to make sure the

information we have is accurate. So we would certainly be the hub of the wheel

when it comes to the production side of that information.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

There

are human resources personnel elsewhere in government. So how would that work

together with the secretariat?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sorry?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

There are human resources

personnel in government, directors that work jointly with various departments.

I'm just wondering: What is that relationship?

MR. COOPER:

So HRS is currently a mixture of a shared-service approach and a

centre-of-expertise model. We have Strategic Human Resource Management units,

and I think this is what you're referring to.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MR. COOPER:

There are six on the books. We have them organized by sector or department, if a

department is large enough. We have all HR services that a department may need

coordinated through currently five directors and a variety of staff. We're

introducing some change in this year's budget to the way that model is set up

and we'll be sure to get into that when we get through the line by

line here.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. So those six outreach

in other departments, there'll be some modifications or changes to those?

MR. COOPER:

Yes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, so 3.1.02, Employee

Relations. This, I'm understanding, would be the entity and resources for public

sector negotiations, those types of things, obviously. Busy times coming up.

I'm

looking at 01, Salaries. When we look at a significant reduction in the salaries

from the budget of the previous fiscal year to what's being estimated this year,

I'm just wondering if I can get an understanding of that.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. The difference between

last year's budget and this year's budget reflects a decrease consisting of a

$100,000 transfer of funding for one position to the Employee Wellness Division.

It includes a $58,400 transfer of funding for one position to the Policy and

Planning Division. It also includes removal of funding related to the JES

program, as those processes and work have been absorbed into the Human Resource

Secretariat now. It also includes a $38,000 savings as it relates to attrition

targets, and an additional $435,700 cost, restated of funding from the

Department of Finance for nine months for the JES project office.

Bruce

is going to provide some additional information for you, should you need it.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, just on the JES piece,

Minister. I understand, if I remember correctly, I think there was a March

deadline for those that were red circled and that we're appealing.

How

many appeals have you done to date and how many are outstanding?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Bruce.

MR. COOPER:

We've completed 200 appeals to date, impacting 870 or so employees. We have a

little over 730 JES reviews outstanding, with a number of those being

red-circled employees. Those are the current statistics.

The JES

system was a big change for government with over 32,000 employees affected and

70 per cent of the workforce in the core public service.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Minister, you mentioned

something, I think it was just in terms of salaries there, some reallocations of

some dollars. That's reflective of the needs you're going to have to meet under

the JES and appeals going forward?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The intention is that all

the work that needs to be done to conclude the JES appeals would happen inside

the the resources inside the department. So there have been some additional

changes to be able to accommodate that to happen in the best way possible.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Did you want to add

something Bruce?

MR. COOPER:

Yes, just further to the minister's point, we are moving to because JES is now

not a project, it is the way that we do classification. So we're moving to

create capacity within the classification area to take over the work of JES when

the project element concludes. We'll be concluding that project in the last

quarter of this year.

As we

go, staff in that area are excellent and they're improving their efficiency all

the time. We're going to be starting work with them this week to work on process

improvement to try to address the backlog and get through this as expeditiously

as possible and drawing upon other resources if need be.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

So just

to be clear, I think you indicated the last quarter of this year you expect to

have the appeals heard or the current ones (inaudible).

MR. COOPER:

Our goal is to conclude our work in this area in the last quarter. We are

certainly working towards that.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

Just

then, finally, obviously the appeal; if an applicant won an appeal there could

be a redress of a lump-sum payment or something of that nature. Is that included

in the budget allocations?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The historical costs related

to JES, we've seen gaps where there are places where departments have not

budgeted for JES. Certainly that's one of the problems in the past that has been

challenging when you go to look at the expenses and the total costs associated

with JES.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

section 3.1.02, Employee Relations again, just to get an explanation in regard

to Transportation and Communications, and the reduction there from last fiscal

year and the Estimate for this fiscal year coming.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. The difference between

the original budget and the budget of this year relates to removal of the

funding related in this particular area specific to the JES program. In

addition, savings of $6,100 related to the line-by-line review, as well as

savings associated with the Government Renewal Initiative that related to

telephone cost savings in this area.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. When you say telephone

cost savings are you talking about a current contract that was in place and you

reissued a new contract? What would that be exactly?

MR. COOPER:

So the initiative here is to just go through and honestly review every one of

our lines to ensure they continue to be live lines, that they're needed and to

look at the options. Sometimes there are people it's actually surprising the

amount of money that can be spent on add-ons that are on the bill you don't even

realize; voicemail and things like this. So we believe there's money there

through just reviewing our needs.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

MS. C. BENNETT:

And making sure that

everything that government is paying for is actually being used by somebody.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, indeed.

Again,

just that same

section in regard to supplies. We've seen the original budget

Estimate, what was actually spent went up and then that's been adopted this year

for the budget.

MR. COOPER:

The employee relations area

is heavily involved in working on arbitrations and different investigation

issues. What we've seen is a trend when we did our review is that supplies are

up because we are producing more paper reports in relation to arbitrations and

these sorts of things. That's why we've snapped the budget to our actual

expenditure because this is what was actually required.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

It's just reflective of your

operations for the past year, basically.

MR. COOPER:

Yes, it's what they need to

run it.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, that's great. Thank

you.

The

next one is Professional Services, the $170,000 was there for last fiscal year,

it wasn't achieved or wasn't required, and now this year that's adopted again.

Could you just give me a comment on that, please?

MR. COOPER:

This has to do again with

the work of arbitrations and working on conflict resolution. What you see there

was our actual requirement last year. We expect to have a similar trend for this

year coming.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Just for clarity, I was

confused by what the Member said opposite. The budget last year was $170,000,

actual costs are about $130,000 and the revised budget is $129,900. Was that the

line you were asking questions about?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Okay.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Within that line as well,

would that be consultants within that particular line item as well?

MR. COOPER:

Yes, they would be charged

as consultants but they would be largely you were talking people with

expertise in the area of labour relations.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Arbitrators, those

MR. COOPER:

That's correct.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, okay.

We'd

have a standing list or a standing offer list that we draw from.

MR. COOPER:

Yes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, okay.

That's

tied to the work you do. You can't really I guess you just go on past

experience of what you've seen and you continue to

MR. COOPER:

That's right.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, okay. Thank you.

I have

nothing further on that section, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR:

Does 3.1.01 carry?

Carried.

motion, subhead 3.1.01 carried.

CLERK:

3.1.02.

CHAIR:

3.1.02.

Carried.

motion, subhead 3.1.02 carried.

MS. C. BENNETT:

So that's carried, I assume.

Did I hear that, Mr. Chair, I wasn't sure? Yes?

CHAIR:

Carried.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Okay.

CLERK:

3.1.03.

CHAIR:

3.1.03.

Shall

it carry?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

No, we haven't done that

yet. I don't think we have, have we?

CHAIR:

Okay.

Mr.

Hutchings.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Nice try.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

Subhead

3.1.03, Human Resource Policy and Planning; in this

section here Salaries, we've

seen somewhat of an increase here in regard to last year and this year in the

Estimates. Can I get an explanation with regard to the increase there?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Yes, and with the Member

opposite's permission, it will make more sense to discuss this area in context

with some other areas that we haven't gotten to because they kind of link

together.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Sure, yes. Okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

It might make it easier for

the deputy and I to clearly, openly and transparently explain.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Bruce, I'll let you dive in.

MR. COOPER:

There are a few things up at operation here inside this heading. First of all,

in HRS we have what's called the ODI Fund, the Organizational Development

Initiatives Fund. This was a fund that traditionally lived in two places. Part

of it lived under the Centre for Learning and Development and that was focused

on staff training throughout government, legislative compliance training and

these sorts of things. Then part of it was in the Strategic Human Resource

Management units. So it's spread out to departments to support department

specific training.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MR. COOPER:

What we've done this year are a couple of things. We've consolidated all of the

ODI funding under the Centre for Learning and Development. That is because we

are also consolidating all of the training within HRS, all responsibility for

HRS training is coming into this area. So there are going to be some individuals

transferring out of their SHRM divisions into responsibility under the Centre

for Learning and Development.

That

explains why you see a significant increase in the Salaries budget, because

there's a transfer in of $900,000 related to a reorganization decision we've

made. It's actually a little more than that, about $960,000 when you look at an

information management position that we're also transferring in there.

What's

behind this is we've seen great efficiency through the Centre for Learning and

Development through the increased use of distance learning. Thus, we've seen

significant travel savings in different areas because we're using more web-based

approaches to learning.

We're

moving training under here so that we can also try to generate some of the same

savings within departments through that approach. So we believe by having a

consolidated, singular approach to training it's going to be more efficient and

better for the client. That's at play inside the salary growth and in some of

the other lines you see here.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

Just so

I understand; that transfer, is that all within the Human Resource Secretariat

or it just comes from outside? Is any coming from outside or just all within?

MR. COOPER:

No, it's all within HRS.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So all those training

components are just being consolidated, I guess, under one heading.

MR. COOPER:

Correct. Yes.

There

are some resources transferring out of what comes up later under 3.1.05.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

there's no reduction in positions as a result of that, is there? They're all

pretty consolidated.

MR. COOPER:

No, this is a consolidation.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

Under

Transportation and Communications again, there's a reduction in regard to last

year's fiscal amount and what's been estimated this year; again, if I could just

get a comment on that.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Yes, it would be a similar theme to what you've heard already. The difference in

original budget and the revised is a result of savings by reducing travel

requirements, leveraging technology, compliance with the directive that

government implemented on discretionary spending in December. And the

comparative number of $40,000 to $28,400 on the Transportation and

Communications in fiscal '16-'17 comes from $10,800 worth of savings from a

line-by-line review, and more savings, $800, coming from the telephone cost

savings that we spoke about.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Thank you.

Purchased Services, again, has increased from what was budgeted last year, and

then the actual was way down from what was budgeted. This year it's up

significantly again in the Estimates. Can I get some information on that?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

The

Purchased Services increase includes $903,600 for GRI budget reallocations from

other areas related to the consolidation of training that the deputy minister

just spoke about. There is a $903,000 cost and there's a $372,700 savings from

the line-by-line review of the Estimates that we did. So the net amount there is

$530,000 that you will see that line item increasing. It includes the

consolidation, the increased spend in training that's now in this area and it

includes $372,000 in savings.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

So you

pulled in

MS. C. BENNETT:

Pulled in nine

MR. HUTCHINGS:

the accompanying purchased

services from the other areas and then, within that, you had a savings and a

reduction.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The training came in at

$900,000 and the savings of $372,000 came from the line-by-line review that we

did.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Bruce, did you want to add

anything?

MR. COOPER:

No.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Down in same

section 3.1.03

if we come down to 02, Revenue Provincial there's federal and provincial

revenue there, if someone could tell me about that.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. This relates to

funding that's received for the French services. So the revenue now appears in

this particular line item because there's revenue associated with providing that

service.

Bruce,

is there anything else you want to add?

MR. COOPER:

Yes, this is related to the

consolidation of training. We're going to have the French language training led

by the centre now, so there's some federal revenue that comes from that.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Is that new because it

doesn't appear in prior years?

MS. C. BENNETT:

It would have been new for

this area.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MR. COOPER:

It used to be part of the

Office of French Services we've transferred

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So it would have showed up

and now it's been transferred here.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Right.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

We'll

move to 3.1.04. If I could, when we go to 3.1.04, just on what we just spoke of

in that

section 3.1.04, when you get down to revenue for federal and provincial,

that number there would be added to the number above because that's the heading

for French Language Services. Has the overall amount increased or has been

constant?

MR. COOPER:

We receive funding from the

federal government and I think it is a three-year agreement.

OFFICIAL:

Five.

MR. COOPER:

Oh, sorry; it is a five-year

agreement. So yes, it's a constant funding rate. We do have the ability to

generate some revenue from the offering of French language training; and we do

expect actually to see, through arrangements with the federal government and

their employees, some increase in revenue this year associated with service

provision, aside from the reimbursement through the grant.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. So who would avail of

that service and who would pay for it? Could you explain that to me? You said

you could generate the revenue; how would that work?

MR. COOPER:

Some of the French language training that we offer, we have a contract with

Eastern Health. As you know, they provide service to Saint Pierre et Miquelon.

So they actually offer training to their staff and we get reimbursed for that

training to support that contract.

And

federal government employees, of course, there's a great incentive to

bilingualism in working in the federal government, so some people will

some with employer support and some with their own money might come and seek

the support of the Office of French Services for French language training.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

And they would pay the fee?

MR. COOPER:

Well, we do charge fees, but not for our own employees.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

No, okay. Thank you.

In that section, 3.1.04, French Language Services, on the

Salaries line, the one last year was $589,900 and this year the Estimate is

$328,800. Could you just give me some details on that one?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. So there's $248,700 transferred funding related to the reorganization and

training the deputy spoke about earlier, and then there's $12,400 related to

attrition targets savings from the attrition.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

I'll just ask, where you spoke attrition, what's the

attrition target for Human Resource Secretariat for the upcoming fiscal year?

MR. COOPER: We

have an annual target of five positions.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Five positions annual?

MR. COOPER:

Correct.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

So your Estimates for this year obviously reflect those

five positions?

MR. COOPER:

Correct.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Right?

MR. COOPER:

Yes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Professional Services, under that heading, we've seen a

reduction from what was budgeted, what was the actual for the fiscal year and

next fiscal year. Maybe just give me some comment on that as well.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. Specific to the

$135,800, that's $500 in savings from the line-by-line review, and $64,500 from

GRI savings resulting from the streamlining of the French language program.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. So would there be

consultants in that amount to be used?

MR. COOPER:

Yes, some French language training is done by individuals in the community who

are hired as consultants. It's not your traditional kind of advertising

consultants or anything like that, but these are teachers, people who come in

and offer evening classes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, sure. Thank you.

Purchased Services again, there's been somewhat of a significant increase from

last year's budget to this year's Estimates. Just get a comment on that as well.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. The significant change

there is $50,000, and that reflects an increase of costs associated with hosting

the national Francophone conference that the former administration would have

committed to and we're hosting this year.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, okay.

I'm not

sure if I already asked I asked about the federal-provincial revenue there.

There was some on the provincial side in the prior year, but this year there's

nothing there.

MR. COOPER:

This is the revenue that we transferred over. So it still exists, but it's over

under the CLD.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, great. Thank you.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I just wanted to make sure

that what I thought happened was actually what happened before I jumped in.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

It's always good to check.

those two sections, Mr. Chair, I'm fine with those, unless anybody else has any

questions.

MS. C. BENNETT:

So maybe we could call for

the vote on those two sections so we can

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, sure.

MS. C. BENNETT:

So 03 and 04?

CLERK:

3.1.03.

CHAIR:

Shall 3.1.03 carry?

Carried.

motion, subhead 3.1.03 carried.

CLERK:

3.1.04.

CHAIR:

Shall 3.1.04 carry?

Carried.

motion, subhead 3.1.04 carried.

CLERK:

3.1.05.

CHAIR:

3.1.05.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, 3.1.05, we'll start

with the Salaries line again. We see somewhat of a reduction, somewhere in the

range of $600,000 for what was budgeted last and the Estimate for this year. I

wonder if we could get some explanation on that one.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

Bruce,

do you want to provide that?

MR. COOPER:

The revision from last year to this year relates to the transfer of funding, the

transfer out to the CLD of some of the trainers. We transferred the trainers out

to create that new centralized training function. That's the lion's share of the

reason.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. I think it was SHRM

coordinators you referred to. How many of those exist? How many positions?

MR. COOPER:

The directors?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MR. COOPER:

We have six positions. We currently have five filled.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. There's one vacant but

you've budgeted for the six positions, I guess.

MR. COOPER:

Yes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Thank you.

Transportation and Communications again, there's a reduction there from budgeted

(inaudible) and what has been estimated for this year.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure. That difference, as we

referenced before, would be primarily related to savings achieved through the

line-by-line Estimates review, as well as the GRI telephone cost savings.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

Purchased Services as well, there's a significant reduction there in regard to

what was budgeted in the prior year and what's been in the Estimates for this

year. Can we get some comments on that, please?

MR. COOPER:

This is where we transferred out training money from the SHRM to the policy

head. This is the ODI funding, in large part.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So there's no reduction in

the fund, it's just a transfer pretty well?

MR. COOPER:

We did transfer out, but there was a slight reduction. We've had historical

slippage in that area of a very significant level. So we're confident we have

enough to be able to meet the needs.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

Under

that same heading 02, Operating Accounts, overall we've gone from almost $1.6

million to $387,000 for current year.

MR. COOPER:

Again, we're almost at $1 million associated with the ODI funding, transferring

out. So that's a significant portion of the change.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

Just

above that, Property, Furnishings and Equipment, that seems to have gone up from

the prior year. Would that be related to some of that reorganization you're

doing?

MS. C. BENNETT:

That would be related to

higher-than-anticipated expenditures. So year over year from the budget to the

actual, that would have been related to expenditures as a result of ergonomic

assessments. And the budget this year for '16-'17 would be related to a

combination of the savings that were achieved, as well as expenditures under the

Strategic Human Resource Management Division that would relate to expectations

of a spend based on what happened last year.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MR. COOPER:

And just to add, we also, in the spirit of consolidation, took responsibility

because much of our PFE money is going for ergonomic assessments. We've moved it

under this heading in order to engage the Employee Safety and Wellness Division

in that work. So it just makes for better use of the money if we have people of

that expertise overseeing it.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So that's ergonomic

assessment throughout the public service?

MR. COOPER:

Throughout the public service.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Is that the core public

service?

MR. COOPER:

Actually, it's throughout HRS. I'm sorry, throughout HRS, our own operating.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Just HRS?

MR. COOPER:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

It's comparable to the same

amount of people as would have been availing the service last year or the same

lines of accountability. So there's been no shift in that.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Thank you.

We'll

move to 3.1.06, Payroll and Compensation Benefits.

CHAIR:

Okay.

First,

we'll call for the subheadings.

CLERK:

3.1.05.

CHAIR:

Shall 3.1.05 carry?

Carried.

motion, subhead 3.1.05 carried.

CLERK:

3.1.06.

CHAIR:

3.1.06.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Did we do 3.1.06?

MS. C. BENNETT:

We're just about to do

3.1.06.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

3.1.06,

Payroll and Compensation Benefits; the Salaries here are fairly consistent from

or not a big change. So I conclude that the staffing requirements are

consistent from the prior year in this division.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Yes. It's about a difference

of $57,000 there.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Some of that is related to

the Government Renewal Initiative re-profiling some savings of about $50,000, a

little bit from JES and about $500 from the line by line. So to answer your

question, before I gave all that information, I should have just said yes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Transportation and Communications on that line, that seems to have gone up. I'm

just wondering if I can get a comment on that.

MR. COOPER:

One of the changes we're

going to make this year is the implementation of a service centre. So we need

some money to buy the technology. This is related there are a few occurrences

of this where as we move to set up a service centre we need to buy the right

call centre technology. We needed a bit of extra money in that line this year.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

What was that centre again?

Could you explain that to me?

MR. COOPER:

Service centre is something

that we're moving towards as we restructure. It will be a place where employees

and our clients can call to ask any HR-related question at a tier-one, tier-two

level, your commonly occurring and occasionally occurring questions. We already

have some of this sort of approach at play in this area but we're expanding it

and going to move other HR services under that umbrella.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So that would just be a

realignment of your human resources to specifically meet that.

MR. COOPER:

That's correct. It's a new

method of delivery. We think it's going to be more efficient and more

user-friendly for the clients.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So now you may call in and

you may go all around a whole bunch of places, correct?

MR. COOPER:

Yes. That's precisely the

issue.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, good idea. Thank you.

Professional Services, that line, we've seen nothing there in prior or current

usage during this fiscal year but we're seeing funds added in there for the next

fiscal year. I'm wondering what that would be.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Those would be the new costs

that we anticipate that would be related to the service centre.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

I don't

have anything further on that section.

CLERK:

3.1.06.

CHAIR:

Shall 3.1.06 carry?

Carried.

motion, subhead 3.1.06 carried.

CLERK:

3.1.07.

CHAIR:

3.1.07.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, 3.1.07, Benefits

Administration.

I guess

this is where the new pension corporation this is overseen here in regard to

public pension? Can I just get an update on where that's to in terms of the work

of the corporation?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The work of the corporation?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'd have to provide some

information after Estimates to make sure that it was current. The last update I

had is maybe a week old, and rather than providing information that's not

current I could certainly get that for you.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, fair enough.

Thank

you.

MS. C. BENNETT:

You can always ask the

corporation as well. I'm sure the Chair would be happy to provide an update on

where they are as well.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, maybe I'll touch base

and see what's happening.

3.1.07, the Salaries, we've seen a reduction there from what it was the last

fiscal year and what's been estimated this year. I'm just wondering if I could

get an update on the change there.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Absolutely.

MR. COOPER:

We had money in the budget last year to support the transition from Desjardins

Financial Services to Great-West Life, that included money for some staff and

there were some other costs you're going to see throughout here. Now that the

transition is complete, we don't need that money anymore. We actually had three

positions that we had for fiscal '15-'16 only, removing them for next year is

$150,000 of what you're seeing there.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

I'm just curious, how did

that go overall? Because it was a big undertaking, I think, in terms of the

transition.

MR. COOPER:

I think the overall transition there are always issues when you're

transitioning from one to another. I think overall the transition went well. I

certainly hear that employees appreciate some of the more modern features of

their coverage or the client service side of Great-West Life. Naturally there

are always in any transition there are issues that need to be worked out but

we've got a good line of communication with our employees and through the group

insurance committee, and are proactively working on matters as they come up.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, good.

Thank

you.

If we

could just go to Professional Services in regard to funding that was allocated

the past fiscal year and nothing for this fiscal year. Can I get a comment on

that?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

It's

the elimination of the budget that was required for the group insurance

changeover.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. Fair enough.

MS. C. BENNETT:

So there was no spending

required anymore.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Purchased Services as well, would that be related? Well, there was little spent

this fiscal year.

MR. COOPER:

Originally, there was a plan to move the pension staff out of HRS. We were going

to consolidate all client functions on Mundy Pond. With the movement to the new

pensions' corporation that rent money was no longer necessary. So the move is

not taking place for that group.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

So the intent was to move

them to Mundy Pond but

MR. COOPER:

That was an original plan. There was money carried in our budget for that, and

then with the decision to go to the pensions' corporation we won't be doing that

anymore, obviously.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Again,

the Revenue line; maybe give me some commentary on that and what that reflects?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Sure.

Bruce.

MR. COOPER:

The revenue relates to, we provide a variety of services around the pension

administration, and, as well, we provide services on behalf of the group

insurance process. So there's some revenue that we realize as a result of that.

MS. C. BENNETT:

This would be similar to

cost-recovery models for work that is being done by government on behalf of the

pension corporation or on behalf of the group insurance plan.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

MS. C. BENNETT:

The group insurance one has

been standard, something that has been happening for a period of time, and the

cost recovery as it relates to the pension corporation, my understanding is that

was agreed to between the pension corporation and government before I got here.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, okay. Thank you.

That's

it for that section, Mr. Chair.

CLERK:

3.1.07.

CHAIR:

Shall 3.1.07 carry?

Carried.

motion, subhead 3.1.07 carried.

CLERK:

3.1.08.

CHAIR:

3.1.08.

I'll

just start off saying we've gone beyond our three hours now, and we have two

subheadings left. If we can conclude it up quickly, we'll do it. The other two

options are to reconvene or to not meet again and deem the two subheadings

carried.

So if

you have, and if it's fast

MR. HUTCHINGS:

I don't have a lot more

questions. If you want to, maybe we can try 10 or 15 minutes and see how we get?

MS. C. BENNETT:

How long do you figure?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

It will be 10 or 15 minutes.

MS. C. BENNETT:

I'll leave it to the Chair.

CHAIR:

Ten minutes.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes. So if I don't get

through, what's the plan?

CHAIR:

Well, with just these two

headings left, then we'll deem everything as carried.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

And reconvene, or

CHAIR:

No.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Can we do it in Committee?

MS. C. BENNETT:

Why don't we

CHAIR:

No, it cannot be deferred

outside of this Government Services Committee.

We'll

see how it goes and then we'll go for somebody (inaudible).

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay.

3.1.08, this looks at recruitment of staff in the public service and, obviously,

looks at conducting a merit-based competitive process. I'm just wondering, in a

general sense will this overlap with the Independent Appointments Commission and

the Public Service Commission's work? Will there be anything there'll be

nothing, totally separate still, will it?

MS. C. BENNETT:

No, there's no interaction

with this unit.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. I'm just curious

that's all, because the merit-based competitive process was mentioned.

MS. C. BENNETT:

No.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay, thank you.

Just a

general question in terms of the overall Government Renewal Initiative and some

of the announcements in the budget in regard to full-time, year-round

equivalents and the reduction in the public service; in a general sense, how do

you foresee that rolling out over identifying positions and that process as we

move forward?

MS. C. BENNETT:

The information that was

released on the FTEs as it relates to the ABCs Agencies, Boards and

Commissions would obviously be a question, and that would be best left to

them. Inside the core government, there are a number of the Government Renewal

Initiatives that are public, that you can certainly review, that have

implications on staff complements in 2016. Those individuals that have been

impacted by the early activation or current activation, as some of those ideas

have been communicated too.

I'll

ask the deputy if he has any other comments that he wants to add.

MR. COOPER:

No.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Okay. So those that were

identified within the core public service, some have been notified of what their

future would be but others, that would roll out over future months?

MS. C. BENNETT:

All of the decision points

and all of the decisions that have been made have been communicated publicly. As

of Friday, we released the list of offices that would have been impacted as a

result of the total changes that are happening.

Bruce,

is there anything you want to add to that? Everybody has been notified.

MR. COOPER:

Yes, everyone affected by

decisions that are implemented as of this month have been notified. So, there

was a