Government promises jobs for graduates
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 22/01) - Young people who stay in school, particularly those who stay in teaching and nursing school, will have no trouble finding a job in the North.
Premier Stephen Kakfwi on Wednesday said the government intends to guarantee jobs for all graduates of teaching and nursing programs.
"In addition, by the end of March we expect to have a program in place to guarantee a term position to every new NWT post secondary graduate qualified in certain other priority areas," Kakfwi said.
Identifying those 'priority areas' is part of the work of a ministerial committee chaired by Education Culture and Employment Minister Jake Ootes. The committee to maximize northern employment is composed of Ootes, Kakfwi and Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Joe Handley.
The term positions would be with the territorial government, Ootes said. Helping northerners get qualified for trades and professional work is one of the biggest challenges the government is facing right now, Ootes said.
"We have many (training programs) already in place, but people need access programs, for example, those who can't get into apprentiship programs."
The northern employment committee is one of three new bodies cabinet created two weeks ago. The others, also made up of ministers, are focusing on the social issues and political development and revenues.
The huge increase in resource development over the last five years has failed to reduce the unemployment rate in the Northwest Territories, which hovers at approximately 14 per cent.
Positive reception
The employment guarantees were made during Kakfwi's summary of the accomplishments of his first year in office.
The speech rang with the same positive pitch of addresses the premier has delivered this year at chamber of commerce luncheons, oil and gas conferences, press club luncheons and at meetings with federal politicians and officials.
Though they did not share Kakfwi's unequivocally positive assessment, most Northern leaders polled said they were satisfied with the government's performance.
Enterprise Mayor Winnie Cadieux, also a member of the Northwest Territories Association of Municipalities, said Kakfwi's government effective in unifying the North.
"The GNWT's biggest achievement over the last year has been their recognizing that it will take partnership with the aboriginal people, governments and all residents and communities of the NWT to have good government and a healthy environment in which to stimulate economic growth and well being," Cadieux said.
NWT Chamber of Commerce executive director Bob Brooks agreed the government has done a better job than previous legislatures in communicating with aboriginal leaders and business, and praised it for developing and following a strategy that resulted from that communication.
"They're trying to take advantage of the economic opportunities that are out there," said Brooks.
He said that the government failed to bring predictability to the regulatory process for resource development. Brooks said the process established by the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act is more cumbersome than the process it replaced.
Yellowknives Dene First Nation chief Peter Liske takes some comfort from the number of aboriginals on cabinet, but said bureaucrats are still proving difficult for First Nations to deal with.
The government has failed to generate the revenues needed to maintain and expand its programs, Liske said.
