Floyd Roland

We could create policy on the fly here if that’s what Members like. There’s a process for dealing with policy and there’s also the Financial Administration Act that’s in place that stipulated levels of authority for contracting. There’s a Financial Administration Manual that is a part of the process. That work is actually ongoing from the Department of Finance looking at the Financial Administration Act and the FAM, as we call it, or Financial Administration Manual. That’s being looked at overall in the government how we contract. For the actual policies themselves, there are issues and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my left is Mr. David Stewart, assistant deputy minister, executive operations; and to my right is Mr. Alan Cash, assistant deputy minister, secretary to Cabinet. Thank you.

Well, a supply of unlimited resources would help. We know that’s not a possibility in today’s environment. Because it is such a challenging environment and the different interests at the table, at times, as it’s negotiations, it's a tough process to come up with the right balance and from the different interests and different perspectives, at times, but we eventually get there. In fact, we’ve stepped it up, as we highlighted as we went through this process at the last main estimates review, of increasing our presence and getting the dollars. So we’re at 15 tables now in trying to help with the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that’s the work that we hosted the second National Aboriginal Women’s Summit here in Yellowknife. We hosted about 300 aboriginal women from across Canada as the second part of that program and that was helping us offset our food costs, as well as the feast that was held for the group, I believe at the Yellowknife River. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, on a normal course of business, when a deputy minister wants to inform the Minister of different contracts being issued that might cause some concern, they raise it to that level. So, yes, the Minister’s office can get involved in issuing a contract as the process allows for. Thank you.

I am pleased to present the 2010-11 Main Estimates for the Department of Executive. The goals for the Department of Executive are centred around our role in ensuring effective coordination of government activities, supporting informed decision-making related to policies and programming, and coordinating implementation of strategic initiatives that advance the priorities of the 16th Legislative Assembly.

The overall proposed budget for the department is $14.306 million for 2010-11, which is an increase of $1.910 million or 15 percent from the 2009-10 revised estimates. The overall increase is...

Mr. Chairman, usually on the land use plans that are developed, they are developed and the principle is set up in, for example, a land claim agreement. Those are the ones we have examples of, and then, as they’re signed, implementation then goes into developing the actual land use plan. But we’ve also had tables that are in negotiations now working on a land use plan at the same time or, in fact, have probably got the land use plan further ahead than actual negotiations of the main table, in a sense.

For, again, different aspects, as the Member highlighted and I responded earlier, as ENR helps...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Liquor Commission doesn’t fall under the Executive, that falls under the Finance department and if it was to be accounted for it would be accounted for in that area, but probably under the Liquor Commission Revolving Fund is a possibility of that but not under Executive. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when departments fall within the policy that is in place, there is no purpose for it to come to Cabinet except, for example, negotiated contracts and, again, depending on the dollar value of that. Let’s be clear so we don’t muddy the waters when it comes to the Olympics. There was an RFP, is my understanding, for that Olympic process that went out there again in conjunction with our partner territories. But when it comes to department initiatives, if they fit within the policy and the approval limits, then that’s just normal course of business that’s out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue of the department’s human resource plan and affirmative action, more specifically, has been one that we’ve dealt with for some time, some initially would say, and challenged us to step up to the plate here and make some changes in the area of delivery. I must say that, or sometimes I would say, the concern about our aboriginal affairs status or percentage of employees is one that we’ve taken to heart. Although, I must say that our success has also been our challenge in the sense we’ve had some of our managers go through here and then get picked up by other...