Bob Bromley

I’ll leave that for now, but I believe there is a difference between a National Building Code and a National Energy Code.

I’d like to just ask what role Public Works and Services has played in establishing a new market for wood pellet energy in thermal communities where they didn’t exist before, through the establishment of territorial infrastructure that demands wood pellet energy. Are there any cases that we can point to where we have achieved that? I know the work we do in switching here has been very important in that respect, but I’d like to know what communities that didn’t have that...

I appreciate that information and commitment. I think the Minister and deputy minister have got where I’m coming from and I’d appreciate that information. What’s the Environmental Liabilities Fund? I’m afraid I’m ignorant of that. Is it just within this department or is it a government-wide fund? Where does it lodge itself? How much is it?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a very important division. Asset management looks after all our building infrastructure and so on. It looks after maintenance. We’re currently doing some good work and making some serious gains there. It’s also where Public Works and Services focuses on helping the GNWT achieve their government-wide energy efficiencies and greenhouse gas reductions, reductions of fossil fuel consumption, et cetera. I would just like to get on that topic generally.

I believe there’s a new Model National Energy Code for buildings. Can I just get where we’re at with respect to that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I notice that environmental management is part of the responsibility of the division and I’m wondering what sort of costs we encounter. Or do we have a few years of information on the sorts of costs that we encounter for environmental management? I assume that would include things like proper storage of fossil fuels, cleanup of fossil fuels, transportation. Let’s start with that one.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance.

What factors are taken into account in managerial review for approval of travel requests to ensure managers determine with certainty that travel is required and that business cannot be carried out by alternative means before travel is approved?

On the basis of a thorough analysis including a review of controls used in other jurisdictions, what policy and procedural improvements could be introduced to ensure that travel is approved only after verification that other communication means have been considered and determined to be...

I didn’t hear the timing of the three months’ work that’s happening now or the future, but I think the committee would be interested in how that pilot goes. What is the schedule? I think we heard in the Department of Health that the plan is to incorporate all of the health authorities. Is that true for all authorities in Education and so on? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, thanks again to the Minister’s commitment. I appreciate that. I do note that this year’s travel budget projections are slightly down from last year’s, in line with what the Minister was saying. The Minister will acknowledge that $17 million in annual travel costs is a big bill for half of our civil service. Even an efficiency of 10 percent would free up major dollars for other needs. Some departments seem to have extraordinarily high travel costs, in comparison to others, with no obvious explanation. We need a challenge and verification method for ensuring travel is being...

Presumably they used to cover that from their own funds and they did their own thing. Are the chargebacks, do we know, covering these new costs as we take them over, or are we having to fill in a bit? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions follow up on my Member’s statement earlier today with questions to the Minister of Finance. Obviously, not every employee travels. The $7,000 per person is an average travel cost across the entire government, but for every employee who never travels, there is another average employee spending double that, or $14,000, and every one of them has a boss who is signing a travel authorization.

Does the process for putting forward an approval request for travel include the requirement to demonstrate that alternatives to travel have been considered and found...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to just ask a little bit about our TSC services for authorities. I noticed that this division provides services to the Deh Cho, Sahtu, and Stanton Territorial Health Authorities. First of all, how long have we provided that service to them? Thank you.