Health and Social Services, appropriation authority required: $76,349,000.
Health and Social Services, $76,349,000 approved.
Department of Justice, appropriation authority required: $23,371,000.
Justice, $23,371,000 approved.
Education, Culture and Employment, appropriation authority required…. Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Chairman, I just noted in the justification here the reasoning for the renovations to the Lahm Ridge Tower that…. Oh, sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself, Mr. Chairman. Excuse me.
We are under Education. So, Mr. Bromley, if you have a question under Education.
It’s for capital.
Okay.
Education, Culture and Employment, appropriation authority required: $86,516,000.
Education, Culture and Employment, $86,516,000 approved.
Department of Transportation, appropriation authority required: $26,756,000.
Transportation, $26,756,000 approved.
Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, appropriation authority required: $14,958,000.
Industry, Tourism and Investment, $14,958,000 approved.
Page 5, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, appropriation authority required: $27,623,000.
Environment and Natural Resources, $27,623,000 approved.
Operations expenditure appropriation, appropriation authority required: $381,275,000.
Total Interim Appropriation for Operations Expenditures, $381,275,000 approved.
Schedule 2, Capital Investment Expenditures, Legislative Assembly, appropriation authority required: $540,000.
Schedule 2, Capital Investment Expenditures, Legislative Assembly, $540,000 approved.
Department of Executive, appropriation authority required: $7.5 million. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to ask a question. I made reference to the contracts-over-$5,000 report that comes out. I think the Minister made reference to the fact that it comes from ITI. Could we not look at, like…? If we are going to spend $7.5 million on, finally and thankfully, getting this system up to a standard where you can actually do something with it, can’t we look at migrating the reports that are generated — like that contracts report — over to FMBS so that they can print it off in a format that’s useful for anybody looking at it?
Mr. Chairman, I’ve been informed that that is one of the areas that’s targeted as a potential migration over to the FIS system. So it is one of a number of areas that we’ve worked with. All the departments in this…. FIS is coming up with a new system that would work with departmental equipment as well as new programs, and this is one of those areas that is targeted for migration into the FIS system. Thank you.
I’m very encouraged to hear that from the Minister today. Thank you.
I wanted to ask a question relative to the FIS system. I understand that it’s an ongoing project, but I would like to know whether or not there is an urgency to this project. My understanding is that these capital projects that we’re looking at in this interim appropriation are those that have a sense of urgency or they’re under contract or there’s a safety issue required. So if the Minister could advise if there’s an urgency to this project, as much as it’s needed. I ask that question. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, as the government of the Northwest Territories, while not in the 16th Assembly, we know from past experience in the last government that when systems fail, they can cause havoc in how we do business and how things are carried out. This FIS system is a very old platform. We’ve been nursing it along to keep it functional, but we’re running out of people who actually have experience with the program that’s written, and we’re having to do this now for the integrity of our mainframe.
Thank you, Mr. Roland.
We’re under Department of Executive, appropriation authority required: $7,500,000.
Executive, $7,500,000 approved.
Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, appropriation authority required: $1,421,000.
Municipal and Community Affairs, $1,421,000 approved.
Department of Public Works and Services, appropriation authority required: $6,534,000. Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Chairman, I have a similar question relative to the infrastructure upgrades for the Technology Service Centre. I understand that we do have a greening program for our technology and evergreen program — or whatever the title is. However, I’m wondering again as to the urgency. There’s a fair amount of money that’s involved in these upgrades and server replacements, I think. So again, I ask the question whether or not there is a sense of urgency to these projects and if they cannot wait until May/June when we look at the whole capital plan? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, in this area, we've gone to the departments to request what they would need to proceed at this stage. Quite a number of the smaller projects that make up this amount flow into either work that's been started. And that was one of the criteria: if work had been initiated in a previous year and this is a continuation of that, then they find themselves on this plan.
As well, there are a number of other areas we're challenged in. Again, it comes back to our systems and ensuring that we have the required backup components — for example, in TSC — to ensure that if there are any problems with the existing systems, we don't lose critical information regarding our financial data or human resource data.
There are a number of reasons that these are included. One is multi-year projects. As an example, at the Stuart Hodgson Building, that's a computer room upgrade. It is a multi-year project. We found from previous years, because it is sensitive equipment, we don't have the proper air handling systems in there. This could potentially cause our systems to fail, and that is why that's going in there.
There are a number of reasons: multi-year projects that are ongoing, and ones where there is a need to move forward with these initiatives.
Mr. Chair, I thank the Minister for that explanation.
I guess I would urge the government to consider extending the time span of the Evergreen Project. If we're currently on five years, I would ask them to consider changing the term — the lifespan of equipment — to, say, six years, to try and save some money. I know that's debatable, but that's my suggestion.
I do have a question with regard to a project which doesn't seem to be an ongoing project. There are renovations to the vital records processing and storage facility, and I'm wondering about the urgency of that project.
Mr. Chairman, this project consists of renovations to the Yellowknife Records Centre to create a vital records and multimedia processing and storage area. That would go back to having adequate space and areas for our electronic systems. I don't have the background on that piece, on what stage it is in — whether it’s a totally new project or, as highlighted, it doesn't have prior-year costs but may be at the point where they're needing to proceed. I don't know if the Minister would have any background on that.
Mr. Chairman, I believe it’s an initiative to provide and create new space to enable us to have enough room for all the records and the storage that we need for the department. I don't have anything further on it.
Mr. Chair, I understand that storage is important. But again, with no prior-years’ expenditures, I really wonder why this project is included in the interim appropriation and would suggest that it probably could be left until the full budget. There is no question there. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Bisaro.
I'll revise my thought. I will ask the question: why can this project not be left until the full budget in May-June?
Mr. Chairman, we have gone back to all departments, requesting them to look at what is needed to proceed at this juncture and what could be put off. The department has looked at this and put it forward as needing to proceed with this work, to make sure that they do have the storage available for their records. It’s something we've had a problem with within the government for years, in the form of paper and boxes in basements. But with this updated electronic area, with all our new data and equipment, we need to have storage for that type of information and backup.
I can't give much more than that at this point. As Members are aware, if they feel there are projects here that shouldn't proceed, that is an option to this Assembly at this point: to make amendments to this document before we have a final vote.
Mr. Chair, just one last comment. It’s very difficult for me to suggest that this project should be removed without knowing whether or not there's an urgency. I would just ask that we be provided with that information the next time we go through this process.
Mr. Chairman, we will get the information as we continue with this process, to ensure departments have adequate information available.
The other thing to this is, by law, we are required to keep our data and records in place, and that is part of the process as well. It is the Department of Public Works and Services that manages, for many departments, the overall data storage and media storage that we need and require for all departments.
We are on the Department of Public Works and Services, page 6, appropriation authority required: $6 million. Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Chairman, just following up on my colleague Ms. Bisaro’s questions. If you look at the infrastructure upgrades and server replacements, currently the government has a policy whereby if the equipment is reaching the end of five years — an evergreen policy, I think, is how they refer to it — then that equipment is considered for replacement.
We haven't had that level of discussion yet. Maybe an exercise in looking at saving some money is extending the evergreen maybe six, maybe seven years before we look at replacement. Why would we go ahead with the upgrades without having made that determination on whether we want to look at an increase in the time that we require before things are to be upgraded?
Mr. Chairman, the area of evergreening…. In fact, when that program first was introduced to the government of the Northwest Territories a number of years ago, the time limit used to be three years. As Members of that Assembly had requested that it be extended, it was done to that limit.
Although we've got a time frame, it is not for every system we have available. Again, because of the resources, it is done department by department. They go around and do the system replacements. In some cases they're still catching up; they're still older than the five-year window that's there. They're still catching up with that program. But it is something that we can look at extending, to see if that is a viable option.
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the Premier, and I look forward to those discussions whenever they happen.
Mr. Chairman, I also wanted to emphasize that point. I know that certainly a lot of our electronic equipment contributes quite significantly to our landfills throughout the North. It represents toxic waste in a lot of cases. Hopefully that might be addressed in some of the ongoing work through ENR. The degree to which we can reduce unnecessarily replacing electronic equipment will be a benefit to us all in many ways. I for one have never really met the capacity of any computer I’ve ever used, for example, and I seem to hear that a lot from my colleagues. Maybe there are some departments at least that could get by with less frequent replacement.
Mr. Chairman, as a government we do realize we need to reduce our footprint and the impact we have on the land and the environment around us and look for ways of reducing that. Yes, as it becomes more and more known, and as publications out there highlight the amount of computers that fall into landfills and the adverse impact they have, it is something we do have to consider.
A lot of this — some history here — goes back to, as Members may recall, Y2K. I believe that was the term used. When governments looked at the potential that major system failures could happen as a result of the design of these systems, many governments across not only Canada but the world had to review their situation and the backup that was needed. Through that exercise, it was realized that as the government of the Northwest Territories, we lacked…. So that if we had a major failure, whether it be one of our facilities that house our equipment or the equipment itself failed, we had little to no backup in those areas. In fact, the last government, as I highlighted earlier, ended up dealing with some of those system failures because we didn't have the appropriate backup.
Unfortunately, even though this is a new environment for doing business, a technical age, some redundancy is required as we proceed with keeping our information intact. We will look forward to working with departments to ensure we're looking at these areas. Extending the lifespan of these is an area we can look at.
Schedule 2, Capital Investment Expenditures, Department of Public Works and Services, appropriation authority required: $6,534,000. Agreed?
Public Works and Services, $6,534,000 approved.
Department of Health and Social Services, appropriation authority required: $27,562,000.
Health and Social Services, $27,562,000 approved.
Mr. Chair, there are a number of projects related to offender facilities: the North Slave Correctional Centre, the North Slave Young Offenders Facility. They all seem to be new projects; they don't seem to be ongoing projects. I understand that the rationale is the work needs to be done during the spring and summer months. I can't debate that, but I can debate the merit of the projects.
Specifically, one that stands out is an aboriginal healing and spiritual program area. I question whether or not that's urgent enough that it needs to be included in this appropriation. If I could get an explanation from the Minister, please.
Mr. Chairman, the area of these projects is highlighted.. The timing of it is why it’s included in this area. There are existing structures in place that do require…. Although it says there is no new money, this is work for existing features of our facilities, and would require them to be done and dealt with so that there is no further deterioration, potentially, and looking at the asset itself of this piece.
That's all, thank you.
We were dealing with the Department of Justice. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to move that we report progress.
Motion carried.
Could I have the report of the Committee of the Whole, please.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 1, Interim Appropriation Act, 2008-2009. I would like to report progress. I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.
Do we have a seconder for the motion? The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Motion carried.
Before we go to Orders of the Day, I'd just like to acknowledge the Pages that have been working in the House this week. We have had two Pages from Weledeh, two from Yellowknife South, two from Hay River South and two from Mackenzie Delta.
Applause.
