Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I support the idea of looking at how we attack the budget process cycle, planning, whatever we call it. At the same time, we have to realize that some of these actions also require a lot of initiative and workforce to refocus what they’re doing and come up with the numbers that we’d want as Members. Unfortunately, it does take, sometimes, a long time to turn things around. Again, there’s to and fro back in the House. Some plans are good, some things are changed. But we’re willing to sit down and try to work things through and come up with a way that we can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware that the federal government has formulated a draft terms of reference. They haven’t been finalized as I am aware, at least I don’t have a copy of those. We are plugged in, in a sense, through federal Finance. Once we have that and we are able, from federal Finance, to share those, I would gladly share with Members of this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the decision to go ahead on the panel was moved by the federal government, we were asked to supply names to the federal government. We put forward names, along with the Yukon and Nunavut, on the formula financing side. We haven’t had confirmation as to the names on that side, that would be plugged in. But from the other side of it, as a government, we will continue to make sure whether it is going to be to the panel as a government or sending our staff to make sure that they are very aware of how we think the formula should work and the impacts...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am one of the Members and I have had a fair bit of history with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Quite a number of years ago, we went through the exercise of huge reductions. For example, we got rid of the Department of Personnel and told departments at that time they would have to fund from within and find a way to take care of human resources within their own department. We realize now by being disjointed in that fashion that that is not working. We are not meeting the needs of our own staff, as well as those who would come to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, information that we provided since division that would include health boards and education boards were more in the range of 3,740 employees in March of 1999. In March of 2004, we were in the area of 4,500 people employed by the Government of the Northwest Territories. A large part of those were in the area of departmental increases, such as 14 percent of the growth in education; 51 percent of the growth in health services; and, agencies like the Housing Corporation and WCB were about 17 percent. We took in a lot of the operations that were outside of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a great pleasure to recognize my family who is here in the gallery and a man that helped guide me as a young fellow to where I am today, my father, David Roland, and the woman that stands behind me and keeps me going, my wife, Shawna, and four of my children. There is Samuel…

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…stands beside me. Sorry. She is holding me up is the picture I want to portray. All right. There is Samuel, Mitchell, Quincey, and my daughter Courtney. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just have a short budget address.

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Mr. Speaker, Members of the Legislative Assembly, people of the Northwest Territories, as I deliver my second budget address, I am pleased to advise this House that the fiscal circumstances of the GNWT are much more positive than when this Legislature met last year.

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A year ago, as a new government, we faced serious and pressing challenges. We faced significant pressures on government programs and services, resulting partially from the impacts of resource development and economic growth. While this growth...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 19, Appropriation Act, 2005-2006, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make operations expenditures and capital investment expenditures for the 2005-06 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek with unanimous consent to proceed with first reading of Bill 19, Appropriation Act, 2005-2006.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government and as we begin the process of planning for budgets and the budget cycle, there is a lot of work. A lot of it is based on existing programs and services as departments come forward for more money; forced growth, as we call it. As calls are being made on departments for new programs, those are the areas we call new initiatives, to try to find the money for those. As we set our direction, the fiscal strategy, of trying to reduce the growth of government and keep our spending in check, we have to reprioritize from within. There are initiatives...