Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As indicated, that is a transfer to the Housing Corporation. So that amount will show up in the Housing Corporation envelope as they take on the last part of that program that used to exist. So you will see that exact amount show up in the Housing Corporation budget.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, again, I will commit that we will get the numbers together from all of the departments. We will pool it, we will pull it together and provide that to Members on the HR side. Specifically for our department, for FMBS, we have one human resource person and then we receive services through our pooling in the Executive corporate services division. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I believe there are about 25 units that were transferred over, and they range from a number of communities: Fort Liard; Fort Resolution; Good Hope; Paulatuk; Deline; Tuktoyaktuk; and, Fort McPherson.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It would be more a reflection of prior year adjustments that would show up in your 2002-2003 actuals. Our concern is that we continue to be affected negatively. As stated, the estimates of this year coming from Canada are reflected on previous year's corporate tax numbers and personal income tax numbers. So that accounts for some of the changes in the numbers you see here.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The last check we've done, we feel we're still secure. One of the reasons that we end up holding these guarantees is because it is considered a new industry in the Northwest Territories and the banks themselves are nervous to go in and loan without the backup of our government when these companies go forward. So we've done what we feel we can with due diligence and ensuring that we're protected, but there is risk attached to that and we see the result of one of those occurrences where we've had to make an agreement to receive the principal back but forego the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As announced yesterday, the Honourable Joe Handley will be absent from the House today to attend the federal/provincial/territorial Intergovernmental Affairs meeting in Montreal, Quebec. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The actual reduction of the six positions, a number of them were cost shared with Nunavut. So they wouldn’t be fully burdened costs on our part. So the reduction of those isn’t the total amount. When you take into comparison the average increase as a result of the collective agreement changes, the net difference is still an increase for the number of employees we have within the Financial Management Board Secretariat. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just briefly, again how we work with our departments and deliver the programs and services to the communities is critical. I think you’ll see a better example when you go through Municipal and Community Affairs because they deal in municipal services and they can show fluctuations and changes for costs that weren’t planned for, but had to come up with the money to help address those concerns in the communities. Health and Social Services is the same thing. One of the other tools that’s out there is the supplementary appropriation where there has to be additions to it...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The change is a result of how the federal government treats that. Initially, it was combined under the Canada health and social transfer. They have now broken it down into the two pots there: the Canada social transfer and the reform fund. The actual breakdown and the lesser amount equates to the treatment that it receives under the formula and the taxation situation. For more detail, I will have Ms. Melhorn give that.