Wendy Bisaro

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have to ask a question here with regard to the NGO Stabilization Fund. This amount for this fund has stayed the same, certainly for these three years that we can see, and I don’t think it’s been increased since its inception. I think the Minister is well aware, and I think the department is well aware, that there are huge demands from our NGOs for extra funds over and above what they either fundraise for themselves or manage to get from various and sundry program grants or other grants elsewhere.

I’d like to know, first of all, whether the Minister considers the demands for...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just two questions here. One has to do with the Audit Bureau. We have, in my experience, been struggling to fully staff the internal Audit Bureau for a number of years now. I just wondered if I could get an update. Do these numbers in this budget reflect a fully staffed Audit Bureau?

Thanks to the Premier for that. So if the consultation is only being done because of a legal requirement for Aboriginal governments, am I right in assuming, then, that non-Aboriginal peoples will not be consulted? They will simply be provided with information. Is that correct? Thank you.

Thanks Minister. Mr. Moses is done, I have nobody else on my list. We’re on page 9-31, committee.

Just a comment here, I guess, in response. To the Premier, I would suggest that you seriously consider making it a public document. We talk about wanting to be transparent, we want to be accountable to residents and so on, and there’s this sort of perception out there, rightly or wrongly, that the government is a great big bureaucracy, and inefficient, and wasting money and time and effort and so on. So this may be one way that we can show NWT residents that, yes, we are actually efficient and these are the things that we’re looking at. Again, it may be an opportunity for us to get something...

What is the budgeted amount annually for the Not Us! drug awareness campaign?

My next question has to do with assets which have been downloaded, so to speak, from GNWT to municipalities. As municipalities have taken over their own control of their communities, many buildings have been devolved from GNWT down to the municipalities. In terms of insurance and risk management of those buildings, do we have any hand in that or is that totally the responsibility of the municipality?

Thank you, Minister. Next on my list is Mr. Moses.

The other thing I wanted to ask here, is I had gathered that the PRO, program review office, has established a work plan. I’d like to know is it an annual work plan or is it a multi-year work plan.

Thank you to the Minister for that. I don’t necessarily need the specifics, but I was looking for what the end goal was. I think the more we can have things available to our residents on-line, it allows people from communities, for instance, who do have access to the Internet. Once we get the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic link up and running, that should make life wonderful for far many more of our residents.

In my view, we need to be transparent and accessible as a government, and I think this is one way that we can show that. Just a comment, but I applaud the department for moving in this...