Thank you, Minister Roland. Page 2-17, activity summary, Executive, Ministers’ offices, operations expenditure summary, $3.187 million.
Agreed.
Page 2-18, information item. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess the Ministers’ offices, I’m just wondering, on a breakdown percentage or a breakdown of the 17 positions, how many of those positions are aboriginal people of the 17? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Minister Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Sixty-one percent or 11 positions.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Thank you, committee. Page 2-18, information item, Executive, Ministers’ offices, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 2-21, activity summary, Department of Executive, executive operations, operations expenditure summary, $6.793 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Agreed. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just wondering why travel has gone up so much under executive operations from what would appear to be $183,000 in 2008-2009 to over $400,000 in the 2010-2011 mains. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Minister Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The increased travel results from an increased travel on the 2011 Census report, so we will be going to all the communities to help with doing that census as it happens in 2011. As well, because we are starting to step up on our devolution discussions again on re-engagement, we have increased travel there to about $20,000, we’re estimating, and then the rest of that will fall into the increase related to projects from the forest services in rural remote communities is another one of those reasons. That goes to my opening comments talking about recommendations made by rural and remote communities of the pilot projects of single window service centres. Thank you.
I am just wondering what role the Government of the Northwest Territories has in the census support. The federal government is responsible, I believe, for census in the Northwest Territories and I am just wondering why we would be paying, I guess to hold their hand, when they go to the communities or make sure that they get accurate numbers, if it is accurate numbers, that is something that I can understand, because we want the numbers to be as accurate as possible. So who would be doing that? Are we going to hire somebody to do that or is it going to be... Actually, the best thing would be to have somebody in the community that knows the community instead of bringing somebody in from the outside for support. If support can be found in the community, that is where it should be and cut down on travel costs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In fact, it is to ensure there is an accurate count. We had a huge problem in 2001 with that census. We stepped up and did a similar exercise in the 2006 Census and it greatly increased the accuracy, and we are going to ensure that remains the same. The process is the hiring of local people, but they need to come in and do the training, as well, then back to those communities and at times we might have to cover off some of those communities as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Next on my list, we are on page 2-21, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Ramsay asked the question for me.
Very good. Committee, we are on page 2-21, activity summary, Department of Executive, executive operations, operations expenditure summary, $6.793 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Page 2-22, activity summary, Department of Executive, executive operations, grants and contributions, contributions, $390,000. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One question. Can I ask the Minister for a list of the NGOs that are being considered for the contribution funding to stabilize their operations? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will supply that list. Because of our timing this year in getting the program rolled out, this year's is a targeted list, but future years will be an application-based list to help with core funding of NGOs and the only reason it is done differently this year is because of the timing as we finally get this program rolled out. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Next on my list Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under devolution negotiations, I am just wondering if the federal government is coming forward with an equal amount as the Government of the Northwest Territories amount of $40,000. I am just wondering why we would not try to get more funding in that area in an effort to get more money out of the federal government to help with the devolution negotiations. I am not sure to what extent they would match our money, but if we could arrive at a deal with the aboriginal governments in the Territory on devolution and resource sharing, I think we should be looking at increasing that number and trying to get it done. If we can get half the money from the federal government, I think that is a good thing. Maybe I will ask that question Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Minister Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is an agreement to share these and an equal amount from the federal government. The reason it is as it is, is because we are just starting to re-engage, and if we do get to an agreement to fully engage on this, we would be coming forward with an offset, and if it were to kick in quicker than we think right now, we would come through, for example, a supplementary process and identify the matching dollars to the federal government. Thank you.
I understand that if we budget it though at, say, $100,000 for starters and got $100,000 commitment from the federal government, that might be a better way to do it right up front instead of coming back through a supplementary appropriation. Then that gets the federal government to make a commitment to those dollars. Just another way to look at it, because if we go with a supplementary appropriation, the funding from the federal government, I am not sure when that might arrive, whether it is on the calendar year or the fiscal year or however they have that set up, Mr. Chairman, but this would commit them to it through this exercise. Thank you.
The issue is that if we come up with a number, we couldn’t commit them to it, we would have to sit down and that is one of the areas why this hasn’t been identified to a larger amount. It could go into the millions of dollars. In the past it has been one-third/two-thirds, in a sense. We had one-third, they had two-thirds, but this is an equal amount now. The reason it is smaller is because we are just, again, re-engaging and we would have to work out an agreement with the federal government as to how much could be done and then we would have to come back and account for it in the manner I just spoke of. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Thank you, committee, and we are... Sorry, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That was the question I had on devolution negotiations, but I have another question on NGO stabilization, the $350,000. I would be the first to say that we as a government should be lending as much support to NGOs across the Territory as we possibly can. We have to make sure that the NGOs have the capacity to manage their affairs effectively and to make sure they are run effectively, and I wouldn’t want to see us just taking the $350,000 and scattering it around. I think we have to come up with a game plan. I think we need to find out which organizations need the help. We can’t just spread it around like I said, because there are some NGOs that are in much more desperate need of government assistance and government help than some others that are more stable. I am just wondering what the game plan is on that $350,000 and if the government is looking at even going a bit further with the financial support to NGOs down the road. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Minister Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the area of the NGOs, one of the things we found out as we looked into this file is NGOs do get a fair bit of money from departments but it is tied to specific delivery items which didn’t allow them to deal with the issue of office repairs that were needed to be done or areas of management costs and so on. This fund was identified to assist in areas that would help them, sort of, solidify that day-to-day carrying on of business, so the eligibility provisions we have identified for this fund would be, possibly include management, governance costs, those board costs, if they had boards, organization development costs and extraordinary general operation costs. As for identifying further monies, that would always have to be part of our next budget planning process, but in a tight fiscal environment it is difficult to make that commitment. But again, if it is the will of this Assembly that we would go with, if it were to say that that should be done. The only thing is, what other areas should we take it from to invest in unless we identify new sources of revenue to increase our expenditures. Thank you.
I guess one of the areas of concern is the management NGOs and I’m just wondering if the government’s given any consideration to the possibility of setting up an NGO management training course, which would give prospective managers of NGOs a rundown of government programs and services, how NGOs relate with the government and how they can effectively manage an organization. I think that’s something like the capacity building we’re doing for communities, Mr. Chairman. Has the government given any consideration to maybe the possibility of training some of these NGO managers? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, that is one of the areas that would find itself under the eligible criteria, organizational development costs, for example, in governance costs. So that would help in that management side of it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further, Mr. Ramsay? Thank you. Next I have on my list, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, I wanted to ask about probably a brief strategy in terms of devolution negotiations and the participation of the aboriginal organizations. I know there’s got to be a point where you have to agree to the process and I wanted to ask the Premier who is on board and who is not on board as a government going forward to sit with the federal government to look at this big ticket item. It’s a good start, but we’ve got to get going. So we’ve got to sort of get things on the go here and I guess I’m listening for a starting point on where we go from here.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I probably can give a much better answer after we have our March Northern Leaders’ Forum where this item will come up for discussion and we try to find a common process going forward, but I’ll get a note done for all Members to where it sits today. Thank you.
Thank you, Premier. Thank you, committee. We’re on page 2-22. Activity summary, executive operations, grants and contributions, contributions, $390,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Page 2-23, information item, executive operations, active positions. Questions?
Agreed.
Page 2-25, activity summary, Department of Executive, Public Utilities Board, operations expenditure summary, $433,000.
Agreed.
Committee agreed?
Agreed.
Page 2-26, information item, Public Utilities Board, active positions. Questions? Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just the one employee that we have with the PUB and that’s located in the South Slave?
