Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right I have Martin Goldney, deputy minister of the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations; and on my left I have Richard Robertson, director of policy, planning and management. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Mr. Robertson, Mr. Goldney, welcome back to the House. Committee, we’re going to open up to general comments.
Detail.
I’m hearing detail. Committee, 4.7 is the department summary. We’ll skip over that and we’ll return to that after consideration of the department’s activities.
Turning your attention to 4-8, information item, infrastructure investment summary. Any questions?
Agreed.
Seeing none, 4-10, information item, active position summary. Any questions? Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I’ll just start off that I know all our departments are really re-evaluating positions because of the committee’s concerns. I’d just like to know more about these 44 positions and exactly if there are any vacant ones there, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are five vacant positions as of October 31st. Since that time we have staffed all of them except for one, which there is a job offer in progress, and another that is staffed on an acting basis. So, we’re pleased to say that we’ve staffed all five. Thank you.
Also, seeing an increase of two positions to Yellowknife headquarters, maybe they can detail what those positions are.
The first is a lands negotiator, which is incremental resource resulting from devolution. With the Government of the Northwest Territories now taking on the responsibility for Crown lands, there’s an increased requirement for this position as we are also the Aboriginal rights negotiators, including land. The second position is the coordinator of the Intergovernmental Council. It’s another incremental resource resulting from devolution. This will help us coordinate and support the activities of the Intergovernmental Council on Land and Resource Management and will be made up of all of the Aboriginal governments that have signed on to devolution and have land to manage, so we will be better able to have a coordinated management scheme for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just in terms of decentralization, I guess, I would just like to ask the Minister a question about potential decentralization of these positions. Of course, I see them all in headquarters. As we move along, I know we’re still in discussions about phase 2 of decentralization, so I was wondering if there was any inkling or if there’s a need for having regional positions in this department. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
As we are in the process of starting to proceed with phase 3 of decentralization, as part of that we can look at it. In the past it was deemed more effective and efficient to keep the Department of Aboriginal Affairs’ positions here in Yellowknife because it’s a very small department. We need to make sure we’re well coordinated. We also have to share very limited resources. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Active position summary. Any questions?
Agreed.
Agreed. Page 4-13, corporate management, operations expenditures, $4.142 million. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I thought I had seen a larger number of increases over last year, but its $50,000. While I’m asking, maybe I can ask the Minister why there’s an increase of $50,000 over last year.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The main reason is because of forced growth, an increase of $36,000 for collective bargaining increases; there are some other adjustments for financial shared services and for TSC chargeback for the Technical Service Centre, and also an increase of $5,000 for devolution impacts. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Any other questions? Page 4-13, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, $4.142 million. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is – really I don’t know if this belongs in this section or division or not – the Premier mentioned, in his opening remarks, coordinating the activities of the Intergovernmental Council on Land and Resource Management as part of the rationale for the increased budget.
I guess, to start off, would it be appropriate to ask questions here on that subject within this section or division? Is that the right division for this?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Premier.
Mr. Chair, I think there’s another section coming up that provides for it, but as far as the position, it was already dealt with, but I will leave it to you, Mr. Chair, to make the determination.
Mr. Bromley, would you prefer to wait?
I’d be happy to wait, Mr. Chair. I didn’t hear the Premier say which section, but I’d be happy to wait for the appropriate one. Of course, we haven’t passed the whole department, so I’d also be happy to wait until we go to the final.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Premier, for the record.
I guess I could wait until we approve the whole thing, but it’s when we get to intergovernmental relations, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. It’s 4-25, Mr. Bromley, for you to note when we get there.
Corporate management, operations expenditure summary, $4.142 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Corporate management, grants and contributions, page 4-14, in the amount of $1.145 million. Agreed? Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just have a question here with regards to the contributions for the Native Women’s Association and the Status of Women Council. I note that there was a small increase, certainly for the Status of Women Council, a very small increase in ’13-14 from ’12-13, and a bit of an increase in the same year for the Native Women’s Association, but the contributions have remained flat since then.
I’d like to know from the Minister, is there any policy which gives a cost of living increase or some sort of forced growth increase to these organizations year over year? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is no provision for cost of living increases. It’s approved on an annual basis.
Mr. Chair, to the Minister, I would like to know how we expect these two organizations to maintain the services and the programs that they provide when we don’t give them any kind of an increase. Every other department or every other aspect of this government deals with forced growth every year, but we’re not giving any kind of an increase due to forced growth for these two organizations. Can I get an explanation as to why not? Thank you.
This funding is consistent with the government’s policy on third-party accountability. There are different definitions of third party. I believe some portions or some groups are eligible for different increases, different categories. I will ask, through you, Richard to go into more detail, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Mr. Robertson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. These funding agreements are definitely core funding covering operational costs for the staff as well as running the offices. The current funding agreements are multi-year in nature and would include fixed amounts over the course of a three-year period and will be reviewed after each of those terms – I believe the next term is up at the end of the next fiscal year – and be part of our submission going forward for the future business planning process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Robertson. Committee, corporate management, grants and contributions, $1.145 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 4-15, corporate management, active positions. Are there any questions? Agreed?
Agreed.
Page 4-17, negotiations, operations expenditures, $2.640 million. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Premier stated in his opening remarks that the GNWT is now the lead in land negotiations. I’m wondering if I can get a little more explanation on this. I understand this is a result of devolution.
How has our role changed in negotiations and how is the federal role changed in terms of lands, or generally for the federal government, I suppose? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the main change is that the Government of the Northwest Territories is now responsible for management of Crown lands, which formerly was under the jurisdiction of the Government of Canada. That will take effect on the transfer date of April 1, 2014, but through you, Mr. Chair, I will ask Mr. Goldney to go into more detail.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Mr. Goldney.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the key changes, as a result of devolution, is that it will be the Government of the Northwest Territories now that will be administering the lands and resources, as the Premier mentioned. That means that operationally the Government of the Northwest Territories, when we’re in negotiations with Aboriginal governments, will be the government that has a lot of the information related to public lands and resources. We’ll be the government that has and is administering all the third-party interests, for example. So, we do foresee the role changing and shifting from Canada in those discussions to the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of the Northwest Territories taking more of a lead role in informing those negotiations. The interests, of course, will stay the same, but we are going to be the holders of all that additional information.
Thank you, Mr. Goldney. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In my simplistic view of things, of course, I see quite a difference between the lead role in informing and the lead role in negotiations. The Premier said we are taking over the lead role from the federal government. I also asked how the federal government’s role has changed. It could be simply the mirror image of what I’ve heard, but that doesn’t seem to go very far to actually explain how the fiduciary role of the federal government has changed in relation to these questions. Thank you.
The interest-owned change at the negotiation tables, Canada will still be there with the same objective of settling these questions around Aboriginal rights and Aboriginal title respecting lands, but fundamentally does change, though, as I mentioned, the Government of the Northwest Territories will be leading some of the discussions when it comes to land selection and negotiations because we are going to be the government that is administering those public lands and resources. It doesn’t mean that the Government of Canada is completely out of the picture. We still expect and require the Government of Canada to engage fully in questions around Aboriginal rights and Aboriginal title and we will be working with Canada when it comes to making offers with respect to the land quantum. We just see more mechanical pieces for those negotiations when it comes to informing those discussions and those negotiations coming to the GNWT.
