Wendy Bisaro

Mr. Chair, thanks to Mr. Kalgutkar for that. My other question has to do with the program review office. This is being or has been transferred, will be transferred into the Department of Finance from the Executive where it now sits. I read the description of the program review office on page 5-20. It doesn’t really read the way that I thought the program review office was described to us in the 16th Assembly. It seems to be less a section or a division to find efficiencies in government and more one which is going to sort of assist departments with evaluation and accountability and so on. I...

Mr. Chairman, so I just thought I heard the deputy minister say this current budget year for these two projects. Could I get clarification on that? I was asking about ‘14-15. Is this $1.1 million coming out of ‘13-14 or ‘14-15? Thank you.

Thanks to the deputy minister. Just to confirm, Mr. Kalgutkar said the infrastructure in 2014-15, but it’s infrastructure in 2015-16. Is that right? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the action plan should be out in May. I thought I heard that there would not be any money in the ‘14-15 budget for the ERI Action Plan. Is that correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for reminding us that the budget cycle is never ending. That’s not for Members; that’s for staff, and I appreciate what they do.

When I asked questions yesterday of ITI, I was asking about the recorded $120 million in resource royalty revenues and the revenue is recorded in ITI. I asked where the corresponding expense was recorded because we don’t keep that $120 million; we get $60 million, give or take. So of the $60 million, I see a line item here for $15 million, which is the net fiscal benefit going to Aboriginal parties, but the other $45...

You mean we might have a slush fund to play with. That’s a humorous comment, Mr. Chair.

My question has to do with the increase in our power rates and with consumers not being subsidized anymore, because we’ve been subsidizing, I think, 7 percent, 7 percent, 7 percent, 5 percent. Is there a relationship between the loss of that subsidy on our power rates or the increase on our power rates and will there be a corresponding increase on this Power Subsidy Program because our residents are going to be paying the full rate now? Thank you.

Thanks. That’s great. That’s all I have.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I need to ask a question here with regard to the Power Subsidy Program and the subsidy that we are paying out. I’ll start by saying I notice a doubling of the amount between our actuals in 2012-13 to what we estimated in this current budget year and the budget year we are now discussing. So why is there such a large increase from actuals to estimates? Thank you.

Thanks. That’s great, glad to hear. Is the Minister at liberty to tell us what kinds of changes are likely to be proposed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a question with regard to the huge increase in compensation and benefits. I presume that it’s for the transfer of employees into Finance from elsewhere. Can I get an explanation, please? Thank you.