The Transportation Department has put GPS units on many of its vehicles and Georgetown-St. Peters MLA Steven Myers wants to know why.
Myers raised the issue during today’s question period when he said the government bought GPS units during the summer and had them installed on vehicles.
“Minister (Robert Vessey) can you tell us why these units were purchased and how many you bought,” Myers said.
Vessey responded that he wasn’t involved in the department’s day-to-day operations but he would get the information and bring it back to the house.
Myers pressed the issue and asked if the units were used to track employee movements to which Vessey again responded he would get the information.
The questions continued with Myers saying a supervisor accused an employee of spending five hours at the Tim Hortons next to the government garage in Charlottetown when that employee’s vehicle was actually parked in the garage lot.
“Why are your supervisors tracking employees’ movements?”
Vessey responded by saying supervisors have a role to do, which includes watching over workers and added that if Myers had information about supervisors doing something wrong he wished Myers would bring it to him so they could discuss it.
“If he wants to try to get cheap political points on the floor of the house over an HR issue, so be it,” Vessey said.
GPS units are so cheap you'll probably find one in your cereal as a prize. Knock a zero off the $1000 I bet in bulk these things may be $100 each or less. I'd say the GPS tracking of government vehicles would save money by preventing waste.