Floyd Roland

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, part of the transition we went from our formula financing arrangements which we initially looked at extension of a year and then, as a result of the First Ministers’ meeting, got into a full-blown process that we are now entering into. That is the equalization panel and territorial formula financing. Part of that process was setting a base or a floor for transfers to the three territorial governments. That is what we have been able to build this budget on. We know, for example, that is what benefited us this year, 2004-05, where we got a little bit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct on formula financing. We are, at this time in our life as a government, heavily dependent on transfers from Ottawa, and receive up to 75 percent in any given year of our revenues from the federal government through transfers. We are hoping to turn that around, by the way, but it has been a slow process. The work that has been done recently has been driven by the federal government. Provinces and territories have raised the issue about formula financing and how it wasn’t working and meeting the needs that the initial program was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, governments from time to time find themselves in a position where they have to look at broad cuts across the board. We, as well, have looked at making some reductions and have implemented reductions and also, through this process we are entering into, are entering into more of the same. At the same time, when residents of the Northwest Territories are calling on us to provide more nurses, more doctors, more teachers, more social workers and they are saying we are not able to address the needs that they are being impacted by in their communities because of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, February 11, 2005, I will move that Bill 19, Appropriation Act, 2005-2006, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe there is anything stopping us from doing that. We can begin the discussions in that area. My understanding in looking at the matter is there were some initial discussions in that area for the Government of the Northwest Territories to receive 10 percent and then look at some sort of operation to go out from there. That wasn’t acceptable at the time to the parties involved. For us now, we have to go back to the drawing board to look at what options are viable to us here in the Northwest Territories and what it would mean for us to support...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct that at this point we have booked a loss for the Sirius operations of $3 million, and we entered into a process and had a court-appointed receiver put in place and followed through a process of trying to have the Sirius operation go as what we would call a going concern, meaning that it is a fully operational business, feeling that would be the best value we receive for that. We did enter in that process. The "receiver" entered into the process. It went out for bids to receive those. We looked at those proposals. We, as a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me correct my initial response. We have three positions vacant in the year right now, in 2004-05. It has averaged from three to five, so we are about in the area of four percent average over five years' vacancy rate. Not four percent, but four positions average over the five-year period. We continue to try to attract people to those positions. It has been very difficult. I think if we were to survey those in the private sector, we would find that they are having just as much difficulty in getting that type of professional to come...