Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the option of doing nothing would not be the responsible option of government because the fire marshal would, based on the discussions and the requirements that we need to do to keep this facility open for a couple of years until we get to a new facility would be, for example, they require having a plan in place to either bring the building up to code or to vacate the building. The fire marshal at any point here can step in if they feel the minimum upgrades don’t begin ASAP, they may be directed to vacate the building. Closing the building has also been...

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to introduce Bill 1, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 2005-2006. This bill requests authority for additional appropriations of $850,000 for operations expenditures for departmental over-expenditures in the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

The request is being made to comply with the authorization process for over-expenditures of appropriations as provided for in the Financial Administration Act. Details of the over-expenditures are as follows:

$620,000 for the Department of Justice, which represents the over-expenditure resulting from higher than anticipated costs in...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we've been told on a number of occasions, do it from within in-house. We get told to go out to the private sector. So we try to accommodate as much as we can on both sides of the scale. I just believe no matter how much homework we do, it's not going to be enough for the Member.

The fact is, we do have people who monitor our assets, our lease arrangements. But the fact is also, we weren't counting on one of our leased facilities that houses four departments to be shut down because of structural reasons, and spread the rest of the departments over a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Speaking to the motion that’s been put forward of wanting to delete that amount for environmental assessment and prepare a remediation plan for the buildings that have been surrendered on the land and property known as Icicle Inn at Sachs Harbour. The department is requesting $100,000. This fell into their lap in a sense through a process that involves property taxes and the amount there. The Government of the Northwest Territories, due to arrears on that property, took that property over. There are a number of buildings that were built by the federal government...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as all work we would do, once the work is completed, then we would get a stamped approval or a letter of occupancy or certification. At that point the clock would start ticking. The work would be done once we get approval. If approval is granted by the House, there would be a contract issued for the architectural engineering and then other work would begin once that is done. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time I will not commit to looking at an independent review process. We’ve got a lot of work to do within the amalgamation to complete it before we can do a final review. But at stages, as we are in this case with the Hackett Group, looking at the processes we have, the operating environment and seeing where we need to improve on that, and once we have that established would look at the next phase of how we go about this. But as I said, throughout the amalgamation process and the work we’re achieving, I would be happy to continue to inform...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the simple facts are that the Department of Public Works can’t go out there and request or go and on the sly get an amount from any contractor. The money is not there for approval to go out and spend that type of money. This is a result of the office building that the Department of Public Works, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Transportation, Financial Management Board were in a building in Inuvik and safety concerns came up and we had to remove all personnel from the top three floors of that facility. The main floor is still being...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the process is the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs was tasked with dealing with the land remediation out at the Con and Rycon trailer court area. One of the reasons why it was proceeded with is it was based on the initial plan that there was going to be a recovery to that. This is the area on the land that is multiple use or not specifically on each property. Each property owner would have to take care of their own. This would deal with other common areas within those areas. It was established that there would be a recovery to this. That...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is not a result of the FMB or FMB process. This is a result of a plan that was tried to be worked out with the community and the client department, being Education, Culture and Employment, looking at a number of options. What was presented wasn’t satisfactory with the community and a revised plan was worked on, put forward. Unfortunately the situation has gone on that the fire marshal has said this is the minimum requirements that are required at this point. So, Mr. Chairman, I don’t know how many times I’ve got to say and repeat, the fact is there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are tracking the work that has been done as a result of the amalgamation and, as well, looking at further process that we operate under and are working to improve them. That’s one of the reasons why we have the contract with the Hackett Group, is to further look at our processes and how we’ve aligned ourselves, how we’re using our computer environment to ensure we’re being most efficient in what we do, and there are changes coming about. I will be tabling information on the work around the human resources in this House later in the session. Thank you...