Debates of February 15, 2005 (day 36)

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Braden.

Okay. I think I’m going to want to park this one for now, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to go back and do a bit more investigation into that. The terminology is important to me. Whether it’s rate or base rate gives it considerable flexibility and I’ll come back to the core of my line of questioning which was universality. If there is going to be some kind of a temporary cost-induced increase for some power customers in the NWT and we’re going to rescue them, why aren’t we doing it for everybody? Electricity is electricity. I’m concerned that we’re tinkering here with something that really I think is important across the board. There are some aspects of distributing power costs and things that we have accepted and absorbed. The Power Subsidy Program is certainly one of them. But now, as I say, I just feel that we’re tinkering. But I’ll need to do a bit more research and then I may come back either to committee or the Assembly with some further questioning.

I did have one more point to ask about though in this particular area and it relates to the rate rider. I call it the rescue program, Mr. Chairman, that was recently announced. There are some 22 communities included in here and I wanted to ask why Detah was included, Mr. Chairman. I don’t want to pick on the good folks at Detah, but they are on the same power grid system as Yellowknife and Rae and I wanted to see why it is that they qualify for this area here when Rae and Yellowknife don’t. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’ll have to get that detail for the Member, but again, the way the Power Support Program is run, anybody paying higher than the Yellowknife rate would qualify for the subsidy and that’s the basis that we’re working on here. We’ll get confirmation of that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. We’re going to go to Mr. Pokiak, who has one quick question, and then I’m going to call for a short 10-minute break. Thank you, gentlemen. I know you’ve been there for quite some time. So one quick question from Mr. Pokiak and then we’ll take a break.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Earlier, the Minister indicated that the smaller communities or the communities outside of Yellowknife and the bigger centres here are subsidized up to 700 kilowatt hours. The question I have is how does the department determine the 700 kilowatt hours for the subsidy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my understanding of the program is when the Power Corporation was actually a federal entity it was established back then and has been following along the same program as we’ve taken it over. One of the things we’re doing with our review is to look at that, as well, if that’s the right sort of mechanism that we would use. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you. Just one last one here. It’s good to hear that the Minister and the department will look at the review of the 700 kilowatt hours. I look forward to that coming out. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Roland.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Again, as we go through this and come up with the work, we’ll be sharing that work with the Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Now I’ll call for a short 10-minute break. Thank you.

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Welcome back everybody. We are on page 2-69 of the Financial Management Board Secretariat main estimates. Government accounting, grants and contributions, contributions, $8.307 million. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chairman, thank you. Before the break we were discussing the Power Subsidy Program, and I had raised a question, in my mind, about whether the policy referred to base rates or Yellowknife rates. I had a chance to look at the policy and, for the record, it says Yellowknife rates, which, therefore, of course, gives the FMBS the ability to apply the subsidy according to whatever the rate of the day is. I would take that interpretation of it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to say that I had managed to check into that and that's the finding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The Minister is good. Government accounting, grants and contributions, contributions, $8.307 million.

Agreed.

Page 2-70, government accounting, active positions.

Agreed.

Page 2-71, government accounting, active positions.

Agreed.

Page 2-72.

Agreed.

Page 2-73, budgeting and evaluation, operations expenditure summary, $1.485 million.

Agreed.

Page 2-74 is blank. Page 2-75, budgeting and evaluation, grants and contributions, grants, $105,000. Agreed?

Agreed.

Page 2-76, budgeting and evaluation, active positions.

Agreed.

Page 2-77, active positions, budgeting and evaluation.

Agreed.

Page 2-79.

Agreed.

Page 2-79, Audit Bureau, operations expenditure summary, $1.147 million.

Agreed.

Page 2-80, Audit Bureau, active positions.

Agreed.

Page 2-81, Audit Bureau, active positions.

Agreed.

Page 2-82, corporate human resource services.

Agreed.

Page 2-83, corporate human resource services, operations expenditure summary, $4.419 million. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. Could I just ask the Minister with the centralization of the human resource functions, do you foresee this section being changed in any way and how?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, yes, we foresee this area changing. Right now it's recognizing the human resource services that we have existing. With the structure changing, it will grow accordingly and we'll have to recognize that as we go forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. I can appreciate that, because the regionalization/centralization plan is still at an initial stage. To me, this is a very important part of the whole picture. I would like to know from the Minister if he is planning on bringing to us a more comprehensive plan about how these two functions are going to be combined and interconnected more. Maybe if he could bring that by the business plan session this fall. I would like to see some really concrete plans on some movements that the government could make on a management and training program, or a succession planning program. Right now, for example, Mr. Chairman, there are programs where employees get to go on education leave, for example, but I think it's largely done within a department. It's on a department-by-department basis, and it's largely based on deputy ministers approving these leaves and there is no real comprehensive, rational plan that everybody understands where all the civil servants can apply and such. That's just one area but, as I stated earlier, I am supporting rationalization of human resource planning because of the kinds of things that I like to see here. So I would like to get a commitment from the Minister that he is going to come to us in the fall, during the business plan review session, with that sort of concrete package. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we will be bringing it back to Members with much more filled out area with the direction we're going in. We'll have it to you, actually, before the business plan session. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Back to page 2-83, corporate human resource services, operations expenditure summary, $4.419 million.