There is no question. He’s just thanking you. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up to my colleague, Mr. Hawkins from Yellowknife Centre, his questions to the Premier today on direct appointments. Recently I put in a request to research asking for a department-by-department count of recent, in the last year, direct appointments. We talk about the loss of the population in the Northwest Territories, about our students who are born and raised, educated in and after they’ve lived here, going south. We have medical doctors who have gone from the Northwest Territories, been trained, and could not beat their way through the bureaucratic red tape to get a job in the public service in the Northwest Territories. I can tell you of case after case after case.
I think we should be using the direct appointment tool more. I think that if there are priority 1 and priority 2 hire candidates that are looking at getting to work in our public service, they get vetted by this Cabinet. If we don’t trust this Cabinet to vet those direct appointments, we’ve got a bigger problem than direct appointments.
I am sick and tired of hearing of the children and the people who have come here and who have been born and raised here, who have invested their life in building the North, and their kids cannot get jobs in the public service of this government.
I’d like to ask the Premier if he will expand on the direct appointment policy, which is decided on by this elite group here across the floor, and make sure that more of our Northerners get to work in our public service and they do not go south so our population continues to decline.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to hear the question from a Member that understands the challenge that we’re facing. We have set ourselves a goal of increasing our population by 2,000 within five years, and in order to do that we have to have a better process than we have now. Since we went south, we went public, we’ve had a lot of e-mails, tons of e-mails from people that want to come and work here, and we are faced with a process that’s very cumbersome and we need to find a way to improve it. One of the best ways to do it is to increase our emphasis on direct appointments.
I think we need to be unapologetic and absolutely unabashed about getting northern people, priority 1 and priority 2 candidates to work in our public service, and just to confirm, for the record, I’d like to ask the Premier to confirm for the public that this is a process which is vetted by more than one person. If people are worried about people picking, as Mr. Hawkins said, you know, family members or… Hey, you know what? What’s wrong with family members, you know? I mean, as a parent, as a grandparent, do you think I don’t speak for a whole lot of people in the Northwest Territories who want their kids and their grandkids to live in this territory, and not ship them, export them south somewhere else to work? Let me tell you, there are a lot of people out there. I hear from them all the time.
Will the Premier confirm for this House that in fact that this is a process which is fair and aboveboard?
I would just like to confirm for the Members that between January 1st and December 31, 2013, there were 1,605 public service appointments. One hundred three of these, or 6.4 percent, were by direct appointment. Affirmative action candidates make up 67 percent of direct appointments in 2013. Graduate nurses, social workers, interns and teachers constitute 15 percent of all direct appointments.
As the Member indicates, direct appointments are only one tool. It is a very rigorous process it goes through. All of our deputy ministers have been delegated staffing authority and in order to get a direct appointment, you have to have it supported by a Minister and it goes through Cabinet. For someone like myself, who has a lot of relatives, it makes it very difficult because they have to declare a conflict of interest whenever that happens. So it is a very good process. It is one that is based on fairness and merit and we will continue to use it. I agree we need to expand it if we are going to meet our targets. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Short, final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are at an exciting time in the evolution of the Northwest Territories on the eve of devolution and taking on more power, and for those of us that are out there somewhere, we need to bring our people home to help us build and continue to evolve as a territory and build this territory.
I don’t really have anything else to say, but thanks for the opportunity for this rant and I thank the Premier for his answers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a pretty hard act to follow, but I will do what I can.
I want to follow up on some of the questions from Mr. Dolynny earlier. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Finance. We have had a great deal of numbers put in front of us as Members recently. We have the numbers in the budget, we have statements from the Minister in the budget address and many of us over here are somewhat confused about where this government is going in terms of the budget and reductions and so on.
The budget address by the Minister of Finance mentioned the loss of some $30 million in tax revenue.
I would like to ask the Minister, first of all, considering we are losing $30 million in tax revenue, is the revenue that we are expecting from taxes -- actual cash -- and I got about $105 million plus $53 million as listed on page 5-9 in the 2014-15 Main Estimates in the revenue summary. So, is that money, that $158 million, going to be received in fiscal year 2014-15? Is that what we are expecting? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The main estimates document, of which I have my copy right here, lays out the budget. The one change we have made is to increase – and it is not even in this budget because the money won’t immediately flow and will be accrued to the end of next year, late ’15 – the Heritage Fund from 5 percent to 25 percent of the roughly $45 million that we take that comes to us free and clear. So, all the numbers are there and the revenues that we have projected in here are what we anticipate getting in that year. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for the clarification. So I have to then ask the Minister, he has advised us that we are expecting a $30 million drop in our tax revenues and that we got those numbers from the federal government in late December or early January, I’m not sure, but recently. So we have recently been advised that we are losing $30 million in tax revenue. What fiscal year are we losing that $30 million? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that is projected for 2014-15.
So the Minister is then telling me that the $158 million in revenues, on page 5-9, that includes or that indicates our tax revenues including the $30 million drop in tax revenues that we have been advised. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, without cracking that budget book, I would say yes.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s pretty hard to make that short. So, those revenues have increased significantly from ‘13-14, so I am really quite surprised that the numbers in this budget, the numbers that were verified, I guess, by the Finance Minister in December or January, that we were able to put those numbers into the budget and print it and include the reduction in this year’s figures.
So I’ll ask him again, the $158 million in corporate and personal tax revenue for ‘14-15 are based on the estimates from the federal government we got in December or January. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have indicated in all the work we have done that the bump-up in revenues is attributed to devolution and that $67 million, roughly, has been added to our A-base into departments, mainly ENR, ITI and the new Lands department and some into the Executive, and all the consequential resources that come with that. So, it is carrying the budget that is there and that is what we are bringing forward to this House for approval. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Time for oral questions has expired. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7 on the Order Paper. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a couple of quick follow-up questions. Again, I wasn’t clear on some of the responses I got earlier from the Minister of Environment. He mentioned that he had met with the working group and was intending to meet with them again, that he met with them last month and is intending to meet next month.
Does that working group include the stakeholders group? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of ENR, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I understand, again, that these meetings have been happening with the working group. I understand that those are those people with Aboriginal treaty rights and responsibilities for wildlife management. As we know, problems developed during the Wildlife Act. They were always leaving out consultations with those without those rights until very late in the game where their input becomes ineffective and the result, of course, is unnecessary tension and division. I am sure that is not the intent of the Minister, but the Minister is well aware of this.
What is the Minister going to do to immediately set up a meeting with the stakeholders group? I understand the meeting next month is again with the working group and not the stakeholders group. I would love to be corrected on that. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I fully expect that there will be a meeting within the same time frame with the stakeholders Wildlife Act Advisory Group. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, thanks for the Minister’s response. The Minister has already met with the working group on defining the issues. Would the Minister meet next, before the working group, to get the contribution of those without Aboriginal and treaty rights on defining what the issues are to be addressed in the regs? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, if I was unclear, I apologize. I haven’t directly met with the Wildlife Act Advisory Group about the regulations. I made some comments at a function about the Wildlife Act where they were in attendance, but I have not met with the Wildlife Act Advisory Group. They have met with ENR officials and looked at the logistics and technical aspects of the work to be done. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks very much for that clarification.
Will the Minister commit to getting both of these groups together for a refreshing all-under-one-tent discussion? Mahsi.
I will work at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently I was down in Edmonton with a number of my Social Programs colleagues and the Minister of Health to visit the medevac centre at the Edmonton airport. I’m certainly glad to see the operation that has been put into place.
As we all know, presently there’s a medevac contract out and one of the requirements of the contract is for what’s called CAMTS, Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transportation Systems. This is a critical component of the medevac contract that’s out right now.
The Minister will probably cite his three-line sentence that he repeated four times yesterday, but this isn’t specific to any proponent of the contract. For the public’s sake, why was CAMTS selected as a critical element in the medevac contract for accreditation for a particular proponent to have to substantiate this? Quite frankly, the director of the Edmonton medevac centre said it was a system that didn’t make sense for the volume of patients the Northwest Territories has, would cost millions of additional dollars that we can’t maintain through the volume of medevac patients we have where it balances itself out. In other words, you need the patients to keep accreditation and it’s impossible.
Could the Minister help enlighten this House why CAMTS is an important accreditation for this medevac contract? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. An RFP is currently out for the delivery of air ambulance services in the Northwest Territories. It is being overseen by a fairness commissioner, who will make sure that all aspects of this RFP are fair, reasonable and equitable to all applicants. As a result, I will not be speaking about this RFP. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m certainly glad the public sees the response to these types of questions, because these are fair and honest questions. Quite frankly, it will cost multi-millions of dollars in addition to a medevac contract than it normally does just because there’s a demand.
An RFP is currently out for the delivery of air ambulance services in the Northwest Territories. It is being overseen by a fairness commissioner. As a result, I will not be speaking about this RFP. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m going to ask a question specifically to CAMTS, not the RFP. Maybe the Minister can explain what this is and why it’s important in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
I will get that information from the department and share it with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, is the department able to provide a cost analysis of CAMTS versus other types of accreditations are out there? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to provide that information to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, titled “NWT Health and Social Services System 2012-2013 Annual Report: Measuring Success and Focusing on Results.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
