N.W.T. government plagued by software problems

A software upgrade to Northwest Territories government computershas caused serious problems, including exposing private banking information, an MLA says.

Jane Groenewegen, the MLA for Hay River South, said departments have been plagued with problems since the upgrade earlier in the year.

"I have heard my constituents complain about their personal banking information being exposed, requests for leave being published across the government e-mail system that's if they're even able to enter leave at all as the system has been down so very frequently," she said.

Human Resources Minister Charles Dent, who has previously denied the upgrade caused any problems, apologized to Groenewegen and other government workers on Wednesday as the legislature gathered for the last time before the Oct. 1 election.

"I would like to apologize to all GNWT staff for any inconvenience," he said.

Dent also said the government may not be responsible for the extra costs to get the system working.

"We have a significant dollar figure in outstanding invoices to the contractor who was to deliver the system in a working state to us and we are in the process of ensuring that we are satisfied that we have a working system before we would consider paying those invoices," he said.

"We are also tracking our extra costs so we think that we have some protection."

He said eight provinces currently use the program for managing human resources.