Floyd Roland

I guess, for the record, the Member says it is not right. In fact, it is not wrong. This is following the Public Sector Accounting Board and how we deal with our capital and its amortization. This also has changed since we’ve gone to the New Deal with communities, where the capital program has in fact been transferred.

There are a number of smaller communities that are still in settlements that are an exemption to that, and there are a few projects that didn’t get wrapped into the original transfer. We’ll see less of these in the future.

Mr. Chairman, it’s being reduced so that the overall expenditure of the Government of the Northwest Territories would be reduced by this amount in accordance. The department has worked in this area and won’t be needing this funding for this year but is re-profiling it, and it will come back in through next year’s business planning cycle.

Mr. Speaker, again, my understanding is that the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation has done work on the area of the amount of people they would need. From what I understand, approximately 100 people would be required at any given time.

They’ve looked at that skill set and where they could draw on that. As well, they’ve surveyed the communities in the region to look at the contractors that would be available to take up the work that will be required. So in the southern part of the Territory, Yellowknife as well, the contractors would be made to look at what is available for that construction period.

Though, yes, I sit as the Minister Responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, we still do operate in a consensus-style government. I seek the input of Members on a regular basis about how we do business.

Mr. Chairman, TeleHealth is an initiative that started a number of years ago to work and provide services. For example, X-rays in the smaller communities can be shipped to doctors in our larger centres to help in the diagnosis situation. This piece falls into a different category. The funding started to flow in 2006-2007 and goes through to ’09-10. So it is, again, short-term money in the sense that it is capped.

The Minister of Health and Social Services can also provide more detail to this specific request.

Mr. Chairman, the process that’s used has been used for quite a number of years. It is a common process that we use, even when we go into the business planning development stage and to the main estimates that this House would deal with, with projects that fall into the Municipal and Community Affairs area, where the asset that is being constructed becomes property of the community.

This is a result of direction that was given from the Public Sector Accounting Board in 1997 on the way governments deal with their capital assets, and that is when we came into the amortization era of government and...

Mr. Chairman, the previous lease amount was entered into ten years ago. As we realize and are seeing, the occupancy rate here in the capital has changed significantly since ten years ago, hence, the increase of the new negotiated lease amount. The Member is right: it is for a five-year renewal.

Of course, every government would have to look at its options to see what’s available. The department can look at that. But again, with our tight fiscal environment, coming up with actual capital dollars to build a facility versus leasing is something that is also going to be part of the equation.

I can’t speak for what the previous government had decided on. I know the discussions at times were a negotiation back and forth, and the agreements had to be concluded. From our point, as I requested to sit before committee and deal with the issue of Deh Cho Bridge, requests were made. I made commitments, and I followed up on them.

In this area we must be cautious, as the judiciary is considered a third arm of government. There is the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. The process established, as the Member pointed out, is one that has been in place since 1998. Every four years a commission is established and reviews the compensation for judges. That work is provided to the Minister of Justice for their consideration, to be brought to a business plan process for any adjustments.

This $133,000 breaks into three categories: commission members for this year, ’07-08, $58,400; commission legal counsel, $21,150...

Mr. Chairman, we are hoping to have the framework agreement signed off before the end of this month or very close to the end of this month. The funding arrangement, we’ve yet to get a timeline on that; it could be another couple of months. Thank you.