Thank you, Mr. Chair. As part of the Devolution Agreement and taking on the employees that were transferred over from the federal government, there was, in certain cases, a gap in the amount of pay the government was paying them and the amount of pay the employees were earning with the feds. As part of the agreement, the government agreed to pay a transitional allowance to pick up that difference for a period of, I think, five years. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Is this something that is payable to the employee immediately for the year sort of thing or is it paid out over the course of the year? Thanks.
Transitional allowances are paid on the first day of the month following April 1st and then are paid in a lump sum after that. Thank you.
So, could an employee that just stayed for a short time get a whole year’s benefit? Thank you.
I will have to get back to the Member on that. I’m not quite sure I know the answer to that.
Thanks for that. I would also appreciate information on how many, if any, employees did leave within a short time of receiving that allowance. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’ll take that more as a comment, unless the Minister wants to respond. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We’ll provide that information for the Member.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Mr. Bromley.
Thanks.
Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, corporate management, not previously authorized, $120,000; minerals and petroleum resources, not previously authorized, $250,000; energy, not previously authorized, negative $800,000. Total department, not previously authorized, negative $430,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We’re on page 15, Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, corporate management, not previously authorized, $91,000; environment, not previously authorized, $500,000, forest management, not previously authorized. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you. Just a request of the Minister, Mr. Chair, on the evaluation and the success of these energy programs. I would like to know about the Sahtu assessment and how these programs went into our communities. If he could provide me with a written document on these programs that went into the communities, specifically the hot water heater program and any other programs under this initiative that had some impacts in the Sahtu region. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We don’t have region-specific information, but I will provide that information to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Committee, we’re on Environment and Natural Resources. We’ll continue with Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question under the water resources section. There’s a fairly large increase here for the operations of the Taiga Environmental Lab. Could I get an explanation of why the increase? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There’s going to be revenue generated out of this. The four employees that were there weren’t government employees, weren’t federal government employees, if my memory serves me correctly, and we brought them into the fold, but they’ve been operating on an equivalent amount of revenue from third-party sources. I’ll ask Mr. Aumond if he wants to add anything further and, if I’ve strayed, to make sure that we get it right.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Mr. Aumond.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there was a private company that used to perform operations at the Taiga lab and they used to employ four individuals, as the Minister has stated. Then they would collect the revenues to offset their costs. The intention now is to not use the private contractor. They were unable to come to an agreement to continue that service. So the department now will operate the lab, like the Minister said. So some increased costs, but it will be totally offset by revenues. So no incremental cost to the government for this expense. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Aumond. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the Minister and staff for that. So this was only a portion of the operation of the lab. So the private sector was offset totally by revenue, if I heard that. So then we have a corresponding… I think it’s 50 percent of the costs of the lab that we are paying for, or is there revenue to offset our portion of costs as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The indication we have is that the lab has generated about $600,000 a year in revenue and that’s all we have listed as revenue. I’ll ask Mr. Aumond if he has anything further to add.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Aumond.
Thank you, Mr. Aumond. Committee, we’re on page 15, Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The issue here is a comment that was made by an elder in Fort Good Hope that was hoping that sometime in the future I would make a request here that the department considers looking at setting up a lab in the Sahtu, given the issues that we’re faced with today and the environmental, especially with the water issue just recently with Imperial Oil. So, Imperial Oil seeking a water licence in the amount of reusable water that’s going back into the Mackenzie River and that the elder in Fort Good Hope strongly commented to me how we would like to see a laboratory in the Sahtu. I’m not too sure where that will be brought up or discussed within the plans of the government, but it’s something that he seriously told me to raise with the Assembly and I’m raising it now. So more of a request to the department.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For today we’re talking about the Taiga lab and the money for the staff. The actual building itself is in an advanced state of decrepitude and is going to need some significant upgrading. The issue that the Member is talking about, we could probably be talking about during the business planning process as we move forward. Thank you.
Thank you for the Minister’s comment, and I recognize that there is a process for that. Looking at the Taiga Environmental Laboratory and I hope to take some of those lessons learned from that laboratory within the government that we would see something like that in our region in the future. But I’ll deal with it during the business plans.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I’ll take that as more of a comment here. I’d like to turn over the floor here to Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to follow up on the earlier question about the transitional allowances for eligible devolved employees. I’m interested in that information for all departments. It looks like it has been three departments probably, three or four departments. Will this cost be derived from I believe it was the $23 million, the one-time costs to implement devolution? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. For that, we’ll go to Mr. Aumond.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This money will be funded from the base transfer that we got, the $67.5 million it came from. So it’s not one-time funding. It’s going over five years, as Mr. Kalgutkar said. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Aumond. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The last question I have, are the mine inspectors that transferred over, are they in ITI or, sort of, ENR, because I believe that’s the department we’re on here, or are they in ITI or Lands? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe they’re in Lands. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Okay, committee, we’re on page 15, Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, corporate management, not previously authorized, $91,000; environment, not previously authorized, $500,000; forest management, not previously authorized, negative $82,000; water resources, not previously authorized, $586,000; conservation, assessment and monitoring, not previously authorized, $7,000. Total department, not previously authorized, $1.102 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 16, Lands, operations expenditures, directorate, not previously authorized, $38,000; planning and coordination, not previously authorized, $1.036 million; operations, not previously authorized, $157,000. Total department, not previously authorized, $1.231 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Does committee agree we’ve concluded consideration of Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2014-2015?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 93-17(5), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2014-2015, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 93-17(5) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. We’re just waiting for the final document to circulate. The motion is in order and the motion is not debatable. The motion is carried.
---Carried
I’d like to thank our witnesses here tonight. Mr. Kalgutkar and Mr. Aumond, thank you for joining us. If I can get the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.
Okay, committee, as previously agreed upon here earlier today, we are going to go to Bill 8. With that, we’ll go to the sponsor of the bill for opening comments. Minister Miltenberger.
