Page 7-22 and 7-23, petroleum products, operations expenditure summary, $2.134 million. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to follow up with some of my general comments a little more specifically and get the Minister’s take on some things here. During the business plans review, committees brought up the possibility of diversifying petroleum products to include pellets, and there was a commitment by the department to work with ENR to investigate and determine the feasibility of entering in the market to supply renewable energy products within the 16 communities served by the petroleum products division. I’m just wondering how progress is moving along on that, what the plan is, and when we can hear back on that.
The context for it is fossil fuels are a huge part of our cost of living, they’re extremely volatile in price, especially compared to alternatives like biomass products, and they don’t help the local economies at all, whereas biomass products can be a real engine to local economies especially in communities such as these 16. So again I’m wondering where we are on that. Have we started to work with ENR and when can we expect some progress on this? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Minister.
Mr. Chairman, we have not done a whole lot of work in this area. It’s something that is still being considered and we need to work with ENR on it, and we’re also waiting to see some of the work that’s going to come forward as part of the Biomass Strategy. So it’s still work that we have flagged but has not been completed to date.
Just to mention a certain frustration because I know we’re slow to move on these things, but I have been mentioning this every year and I’m really looking forward to it. I hope the Minister could focus on this soon and at least get a schedule of implementation here to us in the not-too-distance future. I appreciate the Minister’s efforts in this direction. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. That was more of a comment but, Mr. Minister, would you like to respond?
Mr. Chairman, we certainly recognize that the Member has raised a number of issues in this area, and we can commit that we’ll start working on it in this coming fiscal year and hopefully we’ll have a better response by the next time around or the next set of business plans. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next on the list is Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you. Just on the environmental management, they had a close call during spring breakup in terms of the petroleum products fuel lines. Has that been rectified and are there other issues like that, that when the ice breaks up, the fuel lines are being monitored and there are safety mechanisms in place that we don’t have a fuel spill into the Mackenzie River?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.
Mr. Chairman, the situation that the Member is referring to has been rectified and we believe we have alleviated the problem by moving some of the facilities to a different location.
Have similar types of issues like this also been looked at in terms of where fuel products are being pumped into the communities’ fuel tanks?
Yes, we always are very diligent when we’re dealing with fuel and we monitor our facilities very closely. Any time there is any indication of potential contamination, we certainly don’t hesitate to move on it. Thank you.
I have just one more point. I know the community of Colville Lake is dealing with an issue here on their tank farm and I know it’s quite a costly endeavour to work with Colville Lake to move the tank farm. I just wanted you to know that I’d like to continue working with the Minister on this issue. It’s quite a costly endeavour and Colville Lake has made a request on their tank farm situation. It’s going to cost them about a million dollars to move to a place where they want to do it. It’s within their community plan. However, Colville Lake just doesn’t have that kind of dollars to be a partner with moving the tank farm. So I just wanted to let the Minister know we’ll continue knocking on his door in terms of what we can do in this situation.
Mr. Chairman, we’ve been making some investment in the community for the last number of years and as recent as 2008 when we expanded the tank farm from up to five large tanks. It is a site that’s most suitable for the tank farm.
It would be a fairly expensive, fairly significant investment that would be required to move the facility. We certainly can have that discussion with the community, but right now we have no plans in place to relocate the tank farm. We can have that discussion as we tour the Sahtu and his communities. I believe we’re going there in April sometime.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Anything further, Mr. Yakeleya? We’re on page 7-23, Public Works and Services, activity summary, petroleum products, operations expenditure summary, $2.134 million.
Agreed.
Page 7-24, Public Works and Services, information item, lease commitments – infrastructure.
Agreed.
Page 7-26, Public Works and Services, information item, Technology Service Centre chargeback. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of my concerns is that this is an area that seems to be a bit of a runaway train. It feeds on itself continually. I am just not convinced that we’re getting the best use out of this technology that we can. I see it’s up 17 percent this year roughly and I think we’re trying to keep our departmental increases to about 3.5 percent. This one continually outperforms just about all of the departments. I’m wondering if the department has thought of putting a cap somehow on this sort of thing or if the departments have to stay within a three-year running average of a 3 or 4 percent growth or something like this. We deal with these big ticket items continually and this seems to feed into that. I’d just like to throw that out there for any perspectives the Minister might have.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Chairman, the Member has pointed out that there has been a fairly large percentage of increase in this area and, of course, there are a number of cost drivers that we can point to. As it stands now, the departments are responsible for the cost in their areas. It’s fairly difficult for us to on our own put a cap on it, but that’s something that we can certainly have a discussion on. We can spend quite a bit of time talking and investigating the different areas that are driving the costs up. We’ve offered committee a more detailed briefing and that offer is still on the table if the Members would like to have it.
We’ve had briefings before on this. I think perhaps maybe I’d prefer a briefing on how we can put a cap on these expenditures so that they stay within the realities the rest of the departments are expected to stay within. That would probably be the best approach.
It’s not something we can do on our own, but we certainly can have the different departments have that kind of discussion with all the different areas that need investment, and the growing concerns of usage and support, and security and compliance, and all the different factors. But it’s very difficult for me to say, yes, we’ll provide a cap. A lot of departments have requirements that would be affected. So we can look at the possible options. We can commit to having discussions with our colleagues and also have that with committee if that’s the desire.
I appreciate that the Minister is in a bit of an awkward place here. It’s just that all the numbers are here. If he would play a role or take the lead on that, it would be great. I know at home I use Freeware myself and it does all the same things. I know there are lots of specific and specialized requirements and so on. I think there would be ways... If people have to, they usually get pretty creative and inventive about how to live within their means. I appreciate that commitment. Just a comment.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Next the chair is going to recognize Mr. Yakeleya.
No. No.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Committee, we’re on page 7-26, Public Works and Services, information item, Technology Service Centre chargeback.
Agreed.
That’s continued on page 7-27, Public Works and Services, information item, Technology Service Centre chargeback, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 7-28, Public Works and Services, information item, Public Stores Revolving Fund.
Agreed.
Page 7-30, Public Works and Services, information item, Petroleum Products Revolving Fund.
Agreed.
Page 7-31, Public Works and Services, information item, Petroleum Products Revolving Fund, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 7-32, Public Works and Services, information item, work performed on behalf of others. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wonder about the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority maintenance services. Is that a number that comes in later? I’m just wondering why that seems to be missing here, if you catch that.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. McLeod. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That was covered under the transfer of maintenance, this being consolidated into Public Works. That funding no longer shows up in 2010-2011 because we won’t be doing that on a chargeback arrangement. Same also applies to Aurora College.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Anything further, Mr. Bromley? Page 7-32, Public Works and Services, information item, work performed on behalf of others.
Agreed.
Page 7-33, Public Works and Services, information item, work performed on behalf of others, continued.
Agreed.
That continues on page 7- 34, Public Works and Services, information item, work performed on behalf of others, continued.
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. I would now ask you to return to page 7-7 for consideration of the department summary. Page 7-7, Public Works and Services, department summary, operations expenditure summary, $92.764 million.
Agreed.
