Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct in what we need to do with the government. It is our duty to ensure that the money that we are spending on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories is spent in an effective and efficient manner.

What we are doing here, as I see it, of the human resource service centres, is to put a more coordinated approach in. Once we have the mechanics of this done right and have the policies to make sure that we are doing the job that we need to and have to do, once we have that in place, then, yes, it would be much easier to focus...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the prior year costs -- that's for 2004-05 -- $183,000, that's the business plan look at what we're going to need. For 2005-06, $500,000 is the system selection. We're going to have to make a decision at that point what system we're actually going to go with. So for 2006-07 and 2007-08, these are estimates that we feel are in the ballpark of where we're going to get and need. But until we actually make the 2005-06 system selection, we're going to be in the area of ballparking. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right is the secretary to the FMB, Mr. Lew Voytilla, and to my left is Mr. Rob Taggart, director of policy and finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My understanding is the process is moving along and things are moving at the normal pace, whether some may accept that or not. It is moving along and it’s a matter of scheduling the actual hearings. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess as being a Member of the Legislative Assembly for as long as I have, the capital planning process has always drawn attention from Members of the Assembly about the selection process; what gets approved, what gets deferred, what project seems to move up on the order paper in a sense.

It has been recognized and there have been a couple of attempts to try to address those concerns. The real difficulty we have found around capital programs began in the mid-1990s when the government was faced with a huge deficit situation. Large reductions were made...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, yes, we foresee this area changing. Right now it's recognizing the human resource services that we have existing. With the structure changing, it will grow accordingly and we'll have to recognize that as we go forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, it’s underneath government accounting and within our Financial Administration Manual where we set these guidelines up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I agree with the Member that, as she laid it out, the first socioeconomic agreement can be interpreted a number of ways. It's not very tight. We've learned from that. From a GNWT perspective, we have tightened it up to better reflect where we want to go and see things as the secondary industry develops. But at the same time, we, as a government, have to look at the big picture. The resources that are coming out of the ground are resources that belong to the people of the Northwest Territories, if we're going to believe in land rights and that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my understanding of the program is when the Power Corporation was actually a federal entity it was established back then and has been following along the same program as we’ve taken it over. One of the things we’re doing with our review is to look at that, as well, if that’s the right sort of mechanism that we would use. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that work is now part of the human resource service centres that we are working on and the pay and benefits side has been incorporated into that, so that work is proceeding. From the headquarters end, we are looking at amalgamating the pay…I guess it comes down to the ability to write the cheques to one location so we have consistency in that area. That work is, again, part of the process we are in now through the human resource service centres. Thank you.