Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for four days, we discussed this supplementary appropriation and the Members made it quite clear that they were concerned with a number of items and, as we hear here today, the process as well.

Mr. Speaker, the process that we used is one that is established and as the Premier said earlier, we will gladly sit down with Members to discus how we would go about this. This bill was put together within the rules we operate by. Yes, there are a large amount of special warrants within this supplementary appropriation. Forest fires, which were in the summertime...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess we can send a directive out that all light bulbs will be no brighter than 40 watts, but we are doing our work on a daily basis and trying to address the very issues the Member has raised. The problem is that we cannot build into a budget exercise anticipated costs where we might see some of those double. But on the ongoing basis of daily program services, how long a vehicle idles for, what type of fixtures we use in buildings, hours of operation, we’ve done those things. Departments have put those things in place. When we set targets for departments...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on an annual basis, we work with the departments to try to come up with their costs they will need to run the programs and services identified for that year. One of the things we do, again, is we do our work and look at the existing costs of services out there. The Member is right, though; we will be having to look at and address the issue of the increased price of fuel. That is something we have directed the departments to live within their means at this point because we knew that the prices were changing quite substantially; either on the high side or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 13, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2004-2005, be read for the third time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I started out in response to the Member, the Government of the Northwest Territories has, on an annual basis, as well as targeted for future cost initiatives, looked at the way we do business, looked at what type of fixtures we use in our offices, lighting fixtures, for example, as well as looked at vehicle operations, and looked at the appliances that were being put into the Housing Corporation units to ensure that they were cost effective and knew that we would see a savings. So we have done a lot of those things on a daily basis, in a sense, to try to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government, we have on a number of occasions through budget exercises, looked at the consumption of our resources, whether it be heating oil, electrical, water and sewer; we’ve looked at those in areas and targeted areas we think we could have some savings in. The Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development has done some work in the past. The Housing Corporation has done some work in the past in trying to save the precious resources we have out there. As the Government of the Northwest Territories, we do have a number of other things...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Hawkins on October 19, 2004, regarding the Aurora College lease in Northern United Place.

The lease at Northern United Place is administered by Aurora College in Fort Smith. I have been advised that the lease expires on August 31, 2007, and has two five-year renewal options.

My department has been working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to review various accommodation options for Aurora College. The discussions are very preliminary and no decisions have yet been made. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the Yellowknife office space for medical staff support, that’s to do with the Frame Lake Medical Clinic expansion to make room for more doctors that have been hired here in the capital. So it’s to make room for them.

The one for Inuvik is not with the existing hospital. Right now, those services are held outside in a different facility and they are doing renovations to fit in the 17 positions that have been there, but they’ve used other office space that they are now trying to upgrade to match the needs of the work being done. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I would like to thank the member for raising questions around this issue again so that I could provide committee with information as to the actual process and to clear the air that, in fact, estimates were done but they were not used. As a result of the questions that came out from members of concerns raised and some very strong suggestions that something should be done, we have gone back and requested more information and I would be willing to provide committee members with the responses that we received from the Department of Health and Social Services. I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. As a result of this we did go back and look at our operations from the Public Works side and reviewed the practices that were being used, looked at other buildings in the territory that were constructed at the similar time, that had similar design and looked at, again, the operations that we did of O and M or maintenance. Those that we’ve felt that we had to have a closer look at, there was further inspection just to make sure that we did not find ourselves in that area, and maintenance procedures were looked at. In those places where we felt that there may be a...