Yesterday in the House of Assembly Eddie Joyce, MHA for Bay of Islands District, upon questioning Minister Loyola Sullivan received proof that there will be layoffs and office closures in the Premier’s own district of Humber West, in the City of Corner Brook.

The exchange is below.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that an unfulfilled commitment caused such a stir, Mr. Premier.

My question is for the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board. During the election, the Premier stated, repeatedly, there will be no layoffs in the public service. The ad in The Western Star, on October 17, Mr. Speaker, signed by the Premier, confirms that there would be no layoffs. Will the minister now confirm to the House, and to the people of Humber West, the Premier’s own district, and to the whole West Coast, that the Department of Finance office in Corner Brook is closing?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will confirm that there were four people employed in the audit division in Corner Brook. There will be one remaining who will work from his home. There is one other person who worked from the government space there and we have hired, also, auditors for gasoline. We have added new employees because we feel that there is a significant amount of revenue out there that we have been informed through the 1-800 line and other means that there is a significant amount of opportunities, that we could be losing millions of dollars in audits. It was discontinued by the former government. We put one back in Corner Brook area. There is going to be one in Central, one here in the St. John’s region, so we have added, basically, three new positions and one of them has gone to Corner Brook.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, in the documents that are supplied by the Clerk of the House, there are four positions, actually, so, once again, we see another position.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister, seeing that there is a gas audit position for Corner Brook, the Department of Finance office, according to the managers and the staff, is actually closed in Corner Brook. Can I ask the minister: Where is this position going to be? Where is the office space going to be, when the actual office is closed in Corner Brook, in the Premier’s own district?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a possibility that it would be working out of government space that is already there. That is an issue being handled by my department. I spoke with my deputy on that only a couple of days ago, on this specific issue, and there are two positions retained: one new one and there is one of the current positions maintained there, if there is government space to do it; otherwise, there is an arrangement that they can work out of their home if there is not government space in the area to do that.

We will be carrying on an important vital function of government in that position as auditing and we expect to get hundreds of thousands, if not in the seven figures, revenue over the course of the year from doing those audits and then adjusting them back for a period of time where somebody may not have been reporting and using marked gasoline. We think it is a revenue issue. The union had called and said before that we eliminated them and it cost us a significant amount of money. I received that in submissions through NAPE and others, and we have acted on that -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister now to complete his answer quickly.

MR. SULLIVAN: - and I am glad to say that one of the positions is going to be in Corner Brook.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A final supplementary, the hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, I cannot wait to see this ad coming out: Wanted in Corner Brook, a gas tax auditor to work out of your own home. I cannot wait. That is going to be a great ad for Corner Brook.

Mr. Speaker, as recently as this weekend, the individuals laid off at the Department of Finance in Corner Brook, and even the managers, were not aware of this position. Will the individuals who will receive their pink slips have the first opportunity to apply for this new position, yes or no?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Anybody, in terms of the collective agreement signed and under the redeployment centre that has been set up for the Public Service Commission, every single one of the 217 people who received notices that qualify will go through a procedure, and the Public Service Commission has set up a redeployment centre to be able to put people in the areas where they meet qualifications.

We hope, over the course of the next several months, that many of the positions will be picked up by attrition. Initially, the number we had anticipated was more like 352 and we only had to make announcements of 217. We hope, over the next few months, that the attrition process will get a lot of these people who are qualified back into positions and the layoffs will be minimized as much as possible.