Employment task force promised

Press, 25 September 1989, Page 4

Employment task force promised

Canterbury Labour regional councillors will ensure the establishment of a regional employment task force to increase employment, says a Canterbury Labour candidate for the regional council, Mr George Lucking.

Councillors will make sure a regional employment task force is set up to address the urgent need to increase employment and co-ordinate work-generation initiatives in the public and private sectors. It will also encourage the head offices of business and special industries to relocate in Canterbury and encourage the extension and diversification of the region’s production and technology.

The council itself cannot create employment, he said. “That is outside its mandatory functions. However, because of its neutral role as being re-

sponsible to all sectors in the region it is well placed to act as a facilitator, an advocate and a catalyst.” Canterbury Labour would support the development and co-ordina-tion of comprehensive and accessible information.

Such inforamtion could be gained from a computerised Geographic Information System containing all the land information in the Department of Survey and Land Information system, Mr Lucking said. It would also include some of the information collected by the Statistics Departemnt and other “water, land and people information” required to make sound investment and planning decisions. Mr Lucking said under this system all such information could be gained from one source for regional, district or local use.