Debates of February 15, 2005 (day 36)

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. Paul Andrew from CBC. I would just to remind Members that Mr. Andrew is helping coordinate the media effort in our hockey game that is coming up soon, so we will see Mr. Andrew on the ice. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Could the Minister provide a detailed list of what services will continue to be provided by the Yellowknife and Inuvik offices respectively once the Sahtu Health Authority is fully operational?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services:

What is the plan for the department to establish a long-term care facility for Fort Liard?

What is the plan for the department to expand current long-term care facilities in Fort Simpson to accommodate more patients?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a letter from the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to the Deton'Cho Corporation dated January 7, 2005. Thank you.

I will call Committee of the Whole to order. We have a number of issues. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act, as well as Bill 19, Appropriation Act, 2005-2006, specifically the main estimates for the Financial Management Board Secretariat.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. If the committee is agreed, we will do that right after we have a short break.

Agreed.

Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. The first item on our agenda today is Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act. I would ask if the Minister responsible, Mr. Dent, would like to please proceed with his opening comments. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This bill amends the Territorial Court Act to remove restrictions that affect territorial court judges and deputy territorial court judges when they turn 65. Presently the judges cease to hold office on attaining age 65. However, they may be reappointed on the recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee for fixed terms of three years for territorial judges, and two years for deputy judges. The ultimate requirement that the judges cease to hold office upon turning 75 is retained, consistent with the mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judges and for justices of the peace.

The act is also being amended to remove a five-year limit on the term of deputy territorial court judges, and to provide authority for the first time appointment of deputy judges who are already 65 or older. The removal of the barrier on appointing deputy judges who have reached 65 will assist recruitment, since retired provincial court judges form a significant pool of potential appointees. As a result of these amendments, deputy judges will no longer be appointed for a fixed term, though they will cease to hold office at age 75.

The removal of restrictions that force territorial court judges and deputy territorial court judges to seek reappointment upon attaining 65, and that limit deputy judges to five-year or two-year terms depending on their age, will eliminate the administrative inconvenience and the cost of having routine reappointments approved by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee. Just as important, the removal of these restrictions eliminates any perception that requiring the reappointment of judges limits judicial independence.

The territorial court judges requested the amendments made in this bill.

Madam Chair, I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.

Thank you, Minister Dent. At this time, I will ask the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs to please provide the committee's comments on the review of this bill. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, the Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted its public review of Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act, on December 9, 2004. The committee would like to thank the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill. Following the committee's review, a motion was carried to report Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act, to the Assembly as ready for Committee of the Whole.

This concludes the committee's opening comments on Bill 18. Individual Members may have additional questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Does the committee agree that we ask the Minister if he would like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

Agreed.

Agreed. Thank you. Mr. Minister, if you would like to invite your witnesses into the Chamber, we will have the Sergeant-at-Arms escort them in.

Minister Dent, for the record, could you please introduce your witness?

Yes, Madam Chairperson. I have with me Mr. Mark Aitken, director of legislation division.

Thank you. General comments from Members with respect to the bill. Any general comments? Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I just want to make a very short general comment to say that I support this bill. I think it is a bill that makes sense, in light of the workload that we have to have in the North and with lots of potential for conflict. There is always a need for an additional pool of judges, which we often get from down South on a case-by-case basis. Many of the judges that we do get from the South are retired judges. In light of the fact that retirement age is very flexible these days, I just want to put on record that I support the principle and the details of this bill. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Any further general comments on the bill? We will proceed with the details. If the committee agrees then that there are no further general comments, do you agree to proceed with a clause-by-clause review of the bill?

Agreed.

Agreed. Thank you. Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act, clause 1.

Agreed.

Thank you. Clause 2.

Agreed.

Clause 3.

Agreed.

Clause 4.

Agreed.

Bill as a whole?

Agreed.

Does the committee agree that Bill 18 is ready for third reading?

Agreed.

Thank you. Bill 18 is now ready for third reading. I would like to thank Minister Dent and Mr. Aitken for their attendance on this matter.

I will ask Minister Roland, who is responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, if he would please provide his opening comments on the departmental estimates.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I am pleased to present the Financial Management Board Secretariat's main estimates for the fiscal year 2005-06.

The secretariat's 2005-06 main estimates propose O and M expenditure levels of $30.051 million. This is a reduction of $2.204 million, or 6.8 percent, from the 2004-05 restated main estimates.

These adjustments are due to the following developments:

a $566,000 reduction associated with the elimination of six positions at headquarters;

a $1.238 million reduction associated with the discontinuation of a contribution program that flowed funds to the Workers' Compensation Board and the NWT Power Corporation for superannuation costs associated with federal changes to the Public Service Superannuation Act;

a $15,000 reduction to the grant-in-kind recorded for the foregone interest on the debt due from Deton'Cho Diamonds Inc.;

a $175,000 reduction to amortization expense due to the revaluation of the PeopleSoft system;

a net decrease of $235,000 associated with the reductions to Maximizing Northern Employment program and Staff Retention Program; and

an increase of $25,000 associated with increased systems and computer chargeback costs.

The secretariat's proposed infrastructure acquisition plan includes an allocation of $500,000 in the 2005-06 fiscal year for the completion of the systems selection phase of the government financial information system replacement project.

For the 2005-06 fiscal year, the FMB Secretariat's main estimates include a total staffing complement of 132 positions: 105 in headquarters and 27 in the regions. There is a net decrease over the previous fiscal year of four positions, which is comprised of a reduction of six positions at headquarters associated with the government-wide reduction exercise, partially offset by the addition of two new positions at headquarters associated with the creation of the assistant deputy minister, human resources.

During the last year the secretariat has:

completed the development of a third-party accountability framework;

completed the major department migrations associated with the implementation of the Technology Service Centre;

continued the implementation of the Knowledge Management Strategy as it relates to security, networks, enterprise architecture, software licensing and electronic records;

reached agreement with NWT Medical Association on a four-year agreement on the Physician Specialist and General Practitioner contracts;

along with the Department of Health and Social Services and the Union of Northern Workers, undertaken a review of all health care job evaluations to ensure that work performed by health care professionals within the GNWT is appropriately identified so that compensation is appropriate;

completed the interim public accounts and the 2003-04 consolidated public accounts ahead of the deadlines requested by the standing committee;

had the 2003 Annual Report on the Public Services tabled in June 2004;

completed and implemented the PeopleSoft system upgrade to version 8.3;

completed a business needs analysis of the replacement of the existing financial information system;

coordinated the 2004-05 and 2005-06 budget process;

commenced the human resource consolidation project.

That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Minister Roland. I will ask if Mr. Menicoche, the chairman of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, would please provide the committees comments on the review of FMBS. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight is pleased to provide its comments on the Financial Management Board Secretariat.

During the review of the 2005-2006 Draft Main Estimates for FMBS, the Minister provided an update on the status of the consolidation of the GNWT’s human resource services, including the initial transfer of six human resource positions from the Executive and the creation of a new assistant deputy minister position.

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight is in support of ongoing work to consolidate human resource services and the human resource service centres. Members believe that this initiative will reduce duplication across government and ensure hiring procedures and policies are implemented uniformly and objectively throughout the civil service. The committee looks forward to regular briefings on the planning and implementation of this initiative as it rolls out.

During the review of the 2005-06 Draft Business Plan, some members of the standing committee raised the issue that FMBS has undergone substantial transformation and growth since its inception, particularly with the recent migration of human resource functions from the office of the Executive. It was suggested that it may be time to revisit the name of the secretariat and select something that is more representative of those aspects of the mandate of the secretariat that go beyond its financial responsibilities. The Minister responded that a change in name is something that could be considered.

When the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight initially learned of FMBS’s intentions to eliminate, as a cost-cutting measure, the contribution program that flowed $1.238 million to the Workers’ Compensation Board and the NWT Power Corporation for superannuation costs associated with federal changes to the Public Service Superannuation Act, they sought assurance from the Minister that the pensions of employees of the WCB and the NWT Power Corporation would be in no way compromised, and that they would be legally protected. The Minister responded that as long as employees were eligible under the Collective Agreement, their pensions would be protected.

The Minister explained that when the federal government made changes to the federal Public Service Superannuation Act five years ago, they ceased to subsidize the GNWT. This came into effect April 1, 2000, however they continued to provide term funding for a few years. As long as the term funding was provided, a portion was passed on to the WCB and NWTPC. When the term funding was rolled into GNWT base funding, the decision was made to terminate the grant. The expectation is that as independent corporations, the WCB and the NWTPC should assume their true costs of doing business.

Some Members were concerned that the WCB and NWTPC’s superannuation costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers; employers would see an increase in WCB premiums and power consumers would see an increase to power costs. Members noted that businesses in particular would be hardest hit, as the largest single consumers of these services outside of government. Nonetheless, Members recognize that to continue to absorb the superannuation costs for the corporations indefinitely would compromise their status as independent entities.

During the review of the 2005-06 Draft Main Estimates, Members were surprised and extremely concerned to hear the deal to sell Sirius Diamonds had not yet been finalized. It is absolutely unacceptable that the ongoing financial loss to government has been as high as $250,000 per month in lost interest and receiver fees since mid-August when the loan guarantee was called and Sirius Diamonds was placed in full receivership. Subsequent to the review of the 2005-06 Draft Main Estimates, the committee learned that negotiations with the potential buyer had terminated and the sale would not go through.

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight recommends that the Chairman of the Financial Management Board work diligently with the Minister Responsible for Resources Wildlife and Economic Development to deal proactively with the growing financial and human resource liability and that this issue be resolved in the public interest no later than April 1, 2005;

And further, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight recommends that the GNWT establish a firm position on dealing with diamond mines and resolve the issues affecting the viability of the secondary diamond processing industry in the NWT as quickly as possible.

Madam Chair, that concludes the remarks from the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Does the committee agree that the Minister should be invited to bring witnesses into the Chamber? Agreed?

Agreed.

Thank you. I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses in to the witness table.

Thank you. Minister Roland, if I could please have you introduce your witnesses for the record. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right is the secretary to the FMB, Mr. Lew Voytilla, and to my left is Mr. Rob Taggart, director of policy and finance.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. General comments on FMBS, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don’t have general comments per se, but I do have some questions on the Minister’s opening comments and the first thing has to do with the PeopleSoft program. The Minister indicates that the department has completed and implemented the PeopleSoft system upgrade to version 8.3. Now, I’ve heard about the PeopleSoft program for many years and I’m not really a computer person so I don’t really pay much attention to it, but I’m beginning to worry about the system we have, especially in light of the many problems we have been having internally. I don’t know if it is just within this building, I don’t know if it is government-wide, but we have had problems with this computer network in general lately.

So I have questions on both amalgamation of the TSC work where I think they are in charge of looking after all the computer systems for the government, but also specifically to the PeopleSoft system that looks after employee records and I’m sure that manages more than payroll. I’m sure there are lots of other functions associated with that program. So could I ask the Minister how adequate this version 8.3 is and perhaps he could give us an update on where the government is with the latest glitch they had with the payroll system. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The PeopleSoft upgrade that we have gone to, 8.3, is as normal as routine would have it. Systems change and as time goes by there are newer versions of a product and this is part of an ongoing process. The PeopleSoft program itself is working okay. The problem we had recently was not to do with the program. It was to do with a technical hardware issue -- we had hardware crash on us -- which affected the storage of our data. However, that isn’t related to the PeopleSoft itself. The TSC and S&C work that’s happening is also separate from PeopleSoft and that information that we do collect will remain within the Financial Management Board Secretariat. The TSC, or the Technical Services Centre, will be merged with systems and communications in Public Works as of April 1st. That work is ongoing. Thank you.