Robert C. McLeod

Thank you. I don’t think it’s a question of 86. The workload is going to be different. There’s going to be some changes. We’re inheriting the 33 folks, so we’re inheriting folks from MACA. So the workload will be different. So I can’t say or agree that it’s going to be 86 that came over doing exactly the same work. You’ve got to look at the quality of work. I mean, there could be a number of different reasons. So we’re making sure that we’re prepared to hit the ground running and not try to learn this on the fly, but I think there’s a difference there. Thank you.

I’m just committing money here, so I can’t be Minister Miltenberger.

The Member is correct; there is one pot of money divided into two. The $500,000, when we get to 6-41, is regional programs and the $675,000 is territorial initiatives, so there are regional initiatives and territorial initiatives. It’s the same pot of money and I know you are going to ask the question, well, can’t you just combine them. If we combine them, you will tell me, well, can’t you break them out and provide us more detail. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The information, I think, is contained within the MACA website. Again, as I said before, we recognize that we need to improve it, so this site is going to be specifically for the drinking water. We have a project team that’s put together. The launch date is June of 2014. So right now you’d have to navigate through the MACA website, but we’re trying to make it more user-friendly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You’re going to have to bear with us as we try and get some information here because we didn’t expect some of the questions here. So we’re still trying to get our heads wrapped around the money that MACA collects and the money that the federal government collects and recognizing the land quantum, the fees could be different. This time next year we should have a better idea of how we balance the two numbers because the federal government, their fees, I know even for cabin leases, were a lot cheaper than what our fees were.

So there are some moving parts here and I think...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I totally agree with the Member that we are seeing a number of our athletes compete at a higher level now, and again with the fact that we do have the Canada Games coming in 2023 – and it seems like a long time away, but as we all know, it will come awfully quick – I think there are opportunities there for us to develop a lot of our high performance athletes, starting with the community level and as they go through the system.

During the upcoming business plans, there are opportunities there for us to have this discussion as to whether we could increase this or not...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We only mentioned the 19 because we haven’t told the twentieth person yet. No. Nineteen are funded, the twentieth one was an unfunded position. We didn’t feel we had to report it.

The property assessment, we are keeping that function within MACA because it was lands. We are transferring that function. It’s going to the directorate, I believe, because they will still be responsible for doing the assessments and all the Commissioner’s land within community boundaries, so we thought it was important that we retain that part of it within MACA. That’s what you see the internal...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have to my left Mr. Mark Warren, deputy minister-designate for the Department of Lands effective April 1st; and to my right I have Brenda Hilderman, director of finance and admin with the new Department of Lands. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, there are changes to some of the criteria for the gas tax funding. We use every opportunity we have to share it with communities if we can get them to get it through NWTAC AGM and that. We’ll ensure that all communities are updated on some of the changes to the criteria. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My understanding is that O and M did go with it, so they were fully-funded positions.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair and I will read them as soon as I find them.

---Laughter

I am pleased to present the Department of Lands’ first operations expenditure budget, totaling $26.830 million for 2014-15. This includes funding for compensation and benefits of $17.737 million for 143 positions, with 51 of those positions in regional centres, funding for contributions of $680,000, and other expenses of $8.207 million.

The department will be responsible for the management and administration of both Commissioner’s lands and Territorial lands, under the Commissioner’s Lands Act and the Territorial Lands...