SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Premier Bob McLeod carried out a major cabinet shuffle Friday, changing responsibilities of most ministers ahead of plans to merge at least two departments.
The shuffle, affecting six of the seven members of cabinet, comes less than 10 months into McLeod's second term at the helm of government. He downplayed the timing of the move, which is more often carried out closer to the mid-term of the government.
"We have a good cabinet, strong ministers and we wanted to make sure we balanced out the workload so we can accomplish all of the priorities we've set for ourselves and the government," McLeod told reporters on a conference call Friday.
McLeod shuffled himself out of the key post at Industry, Tourism and Investment, shifting that role to Wally Schumann, who also takes on Public Works and Services from Caroline Cochrane.
There were conflicting events and meetings he had to attend as premier and minister, McLeod said. The change allows him to focus on his work as premier.
It also leaves Schumann with Public Works and Transportation ahead of a planned merger between the two departments, to be formally announced in the next territorial budget.
McLeod said it is one of several department mergers the government is eyeing.
"If we see opportunities where we can restructure ourselves so that we can become more efficient and save money at the same time, we are prepared to do that and we are looking at some options that we will take forward to discuss with our colleagues in the legislative assembly as part of the budgeting process," McLeod said.
Public Works and Transportation together represented 14.7 per cent of the $1.7 billion operations budget for this year.
That figure doesn't include capital spending on things like roads, which is budgeted separately.
Public Works and Transportation have 316 and 293 employees, respectively. Together it would be the largest department based on current staff levels.
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The premier wasn't specific about what job cuts may result from merging departments.
Each department typically has a deputy minister, assistant deputy minister and various other leadership roles specific to the organization. A merged department would likely mean elimination of duplicated jobs.
"Our expectation is that if we make any changes, most or all of (the employees affected) would find other jobs in the government. But we don't expect any significant effects but it's too soon to know," he said.
The Union of Northern Workers, which represents about 3,900 unionized territorial government employees, was told in May the GNWT would assess of the viability of merging Public Works and Services and Transportation to create a Department of Infrastructure, according to president Todd Parsons.
"Department mergers can make our members uneasy, unfortunately, we have been provided no further details or information from the GNWT, which limits our ability to answer specific concerns," he stated Aug. 25.
Asked what the point of merging is if there won't be significant staffing changes, McLeod said there would be money saved.
How?
"There's duplication of effort and so-on," he said without elaborating.
The changes to cabinet portfolios takes Robert C. McLeod away from Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), a department he's headed since 2007.
Cochrane takes on that role while keeping responsibilities for the NWT Housing Corporation and addressing homelessness.
At the same time, the premier announced the deputy minister of MACA, Tom Williams, is being shuffled to the Housing Corp.
Assistant Deputy Minister Eleanor Young will serve as acting deputy minister of MACA.
