Mr. Speaker, the Town of Norman Wells, because of the strict discipline financial fiscal policy they have, they had surplus money. When the situation became an issue for them, almost a crisis stage, they had to use their surplus money to help them keep the light and heat on in their houses. They applied for extraordinary funding from MACA, which MACA said no. They told them they are not eligible and besides you have extra money, so once you guys use that. They are suffering in the town of Norman Wells because they had to use their extra money that they want to do other things with, but they had to do the right thing, which was to keep the lights and heat on. That’s why I’m asking this government – we have been stung once – will we get stung twice in terms of the conversion, in terms of how this government here can be relied on to help the Town of Norman Wells? Their taps are being turned off.
Mr. Speaker, the reality is, for all of us, communities included, we get hit with unanticipated events, be it extra costs for a dam or in Yellowknife, energy costs because of gas in Inuvik, pipeline breaks outside of Norman Wells that shuts off supply, the natural gas issue. We all collectively have to be prepared to do our part.
I am committing here today that we are prepared to do our part. We will work with the community, work through this process so that they are not in this alone. We demonstrated our commitment in Inuvik. We are going to demonstrate our commitment in Norman Wells. We are going to be there as we work through this to get to a logical conclusion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Town of Norman Wells feel very strongly that with the situation that happened in the town, the situation that was occurring that this government wasn’t there for them. They had to dig in their own bank account and take out the money and say, we will pay for the Hercules. We will pay for propane tanks. We will do this. The government did not come up and say, we will help you. To make insults worse, they said no, you are not eligible for extraordinary funding to help offset this here.
It’s a good thing they had strong financial planning that they were able to do this. That’s what they’re asking when they come to this situation, that the Government of the Northwest Territories is there for them when they do their conversion to what energy sources they are going to use. That’s what they want to know. They haven’t yet got it from this government. They committed to help them with energy planning, but they haven’t got to the $64 million question.
Will you be there for us when they want to convert and that tap gets turned off by Imperial Oil? They haven’t had an answer yet from the territorial government, even the federal government.
Mr. Speaker, there are things that have happened in the past that have their own character and complexity and annex. The reality is, and I will say it again, the Government of the Northwest Territories is involved and will continue to be involved with the community of Norman Wells in looking at its long-term energy needs as we deal with the direction and indication from Imperial Oil that their access to gas is going to be cut off. That work is already underway.
The good news is, as I have indicated, we have assurances that NTPC will not be impacted in the near term and the work is underway with the community to look at the conversion and a conversion to what. I agree with the Member; it won’t necessarily be one source of energy, but may be multiple sources. As that work proceeds, we will be involved in that work and we will be there when we look at the final option to see what financial role we should be playing along with the community to resolve that issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Report of the Northwest Territories Judicial Remuneration Commission, 2012.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Monday, May 28, 2012, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 20, second reading of bills. Item 21, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 3-17(3), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2012-2013, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
Okay, I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We have the budget document in front of us, Tabled Document 3-17(3), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2012-2013. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to continue on with general comments on the NWT Main Estimates 2012-2013 and also deliberate the departments of Human Resources and Public Works and Services.
Okay, we’ll do that after a short break. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. We are on general comments on the main estimates. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Miltenberger, would you like to go to the witness table and call your witnesses?
Yes, Madam Chair.
Is committee agreed?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses to the table, please.
Mr. Miltenberger, for the record, would you please introduce your witness?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have with me Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. We’ll continue with general comments and first I have Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My points I am going to be speaking on this afternoon are going to be around the way we do our operations as a government. As we’re well aware, the federal government gives the territorial government, the people of the Northwest Territories, about 75 percent of funding to do our own operations. We have not yet grown up enough for them. We need to do our own work to be fully accountable for our own spending and for the raising of our own money and operating as an independent, strong government. We still rely on the federal government for funds to operate our programs and services in the Northwest Territories.
From the other 30 percent of our budget, we raise our revenue through our own taxes and fees, et cetera. At the end of the day, we have about a $1.3 billion budget that we’re talking about today for our operational expenses.
We serve over 33 communities that have various needs. Some of the needs are greater than others for reasons such as some of the communities don’t have all-weather roads into their centres. Some regions don’t have the economic stimuli that we see that other regions have. There are many factors that impact expenditures in our communities.
We as MLAs all bring our own wish list to the Legislative Assembly, and through this budget process we bring our needs of the people to this Assembly. That’s the fine art of balancing our needs and our people’s needs with the government’s needs.
The government, through the bureaucracy, has a system where they would look at programs and services that we’re asking for to serve our people. Sometimes the policy doesn’t quite meet the exact needs that we want to have in our communities.
They also have to look at their own infrastructure. We heard the other day, Madam Chair, how much money it’s going to require just to update, maintain and build our infrastructure in the Northwest Territories.
So I wanted to say that when we sit on this side of the table as MLAs, we go through this process with the Minister and various Ministers to put our priorities on the table and look at how we can meet the needs of our people in our communities.
Cabinet also sits on the other side and it goes through its own process with their own deputies and directors asking what the government needs. We try to come up with a balance to say yes, this budget we can live with. Our needs are always higher than our revenue coming in. The Minister is well aware that one of the solutions to our dilemma and taking charge of our own destiny, we’ve said it privately and publicly, that devolution is one vehicle that we can use in the future for helping ourselves.
I talked a little bit about the situation in Norman Wells. Depending on which side of the table you’re sitting on, there’s a lot of TB going on there in that area, the Tulita district. We certainly can look at situations like that that haven’t been planned for. Just like the Norman Wells natural gas situation with Imperial turning the taps off in 2013 and then finally in 2014. We know the situation; we know the challenges to help our people deal with that situation. The government, for us in our communities, we see them being there to support us. We need to look at some of these policies in the budget where they support the people. We know our jails are overcrowded and 90 percent of those in jail it’s due to alcohol. It’s clearly written in the judges’ sentencing, in RCMP reports and it’s known in our communities that these people are in jail because of alcohol. It even shows up in our liquor revenue charts that we, in the North, we drink. We drink a lot. In Sahtu last year we drank $2.1 million of liquor sales, booze. It’s known there.
We need to take a step back and say this is what we need to do. We need to get to the people and let the people know we are hearing them. We need to continue to be connected to them. We need to know that this government is going to look at dealing with this issue in a comprehensive, cross-departmental way. We’re too small to think like we’re in Ottawa. We are only 19 MLAs. We need to look at the communities and say this is what we need to do to help you.
Sometimes we hear we can’t do this, we can’t do this. That kind of thinking has to go. The thinking that we can say what can we do to help you, how can we help you, that’s what we need to hear from the government policies, the appeals, the process.
The Minister talked about a $74 million surplus. I hope that’s an opportunity for us to sit around and see how we can help our communities, such as emergency funding. We should be there when there’s flooding. Departments need to be there for the people, not for themselves or the government system that we’ve set up. If we’re responsible for that, then we’re responsible for changing that. It means we might get bit in the hand, but we’ve got to do something.
So I want to raise that, Madam Chair, that we need to look at some of the first things first and addiction is a big one in my community. A lot of good people out there know the harms of it, the destructive behaviour and they want to get out of it, but we need the government to help us. In our budget we give about 45 percent of our funding to the communities through contributions and grants. We sometimes treat our communities the way the Government of Canada treats the territorial government. It just filters down.
Madam Chair, I hope through this budget process that the Minister and Ministers have some understanding, flexibility where we need to make some changes and connect back to the people. Sometimes the system is not quite understandable for our people. I think that the Minister has some things in here that I like. I was hoping we would hear a little more on some things in the Sahtu and that there are some other things in play that would maybe satisfy me to say yes, we can do this budget this year. It’s all about trust. I trust the Cabinet with what they say they are going to do and see where we need to make some change. We have a lot of work ahead of us, Madam Chair, and I look forward to going through this process with the Minister. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments on how we’re structured and how we rely on the federal government and some of the challenges we have.
I would point out when it comes to the development of our budget, we are one of two unique jurisdictions in the country where all MLAs are involved in the budget process in extensive detail from start to finish. In other systems where there are party politics, nobody would have seen this budget until yesterday or the day before when we walked through the door of the House, and it would have been dropped on the table and then you’d be given a week or whatever to have debate and then you’d vote on it. We have a much more inclusive process, I think, that allows us to come up with the good work that we do.
I agree with the Member about devolution. It is an important tool and we look forward to resolving that. The Member and I did have a discussion in the House during question period about the Norman Wells gas issue. We’ve made the commitments there.
The Member’s comments about alcohol abuse and some of the concerns in his region I know tie back to the concern of the liquor store and the hours. We’re tracking those numbers and we’re committed to and interested and willing to sit down with the Member in the region and communities as those numbers come in, keeping in mind that our whole government has been designed around trying to make sure that communities have the legal authorities wherever possible and decision-making and control over issues in their communities. So within that context, we are prepared to have those discussions.
In terms of how the government can help with our inclusive process and as we were talking about in the House today with Mrs. Groenewegen, for example, about the need to have flexibility, we are prepared to have those discussions. Minister Robert C. McLeod is engaged in discussions on the emergency funding issue and I think there’s going to be some room there.
The final comment, Madam Chair, the Member mentioned the issue of trust with Cabinet. He and I have now served together going on nine years. This is my fourth year as Finance Minister and we’ve been building on that relationship over the years and we want to collectively continue with that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. For general comments, I have Mr. Nadli and then Mr. Moses. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I need to commend, firstly, the Minister and the Department of Finance for bringing forth his budget. I think the primary focus in terms of priorities of this budget, it’s very clear that the greatest assets that we have in the North are the people. Therefore, the budget highlights a fairly big chunk of the $1.4 billion towards people resources. Given our greatest asset is our people and that we need to put greater effort in maturing that down the road, our people have at least a standard of education that is comparable to Canada, for that matter. At the same time, there are training opportunities as well.
In that respect, I think the department has to be commended in bringing this forth and providing at least financial leadership and bringing an overall understanding of how we’re going to go forth over the next four years.
The budget, for me, is about fiscal consolidation, ensuring that we’re bringing the expenditures under control, ensuring we have a sound level of revenue that’s streaming into the government. It’s the balancing act of ensuring that we have a healthy surplus at the same time we’re addressing the deficit. So in that effort, I think it’s a good plan. It’s almost like a status quo plan connected to the previous Assembly.
I think if there’s anything that stands out, there’s always room for creativity. In times of financial hardship, we always have to prioritize what our needs are compared to what our wants are. I’m encouraged by the possibility where perhaps we are trying to break, almost, the conformity. I look at some very unorthodox and perhaps some very unique partnerships with communities to ensure we meet them halfway while at the same time we’re trying to help out the local community economies.
I think we’re very fortunate at this time to have the diamond industry. So for that matter, the North is very distinctive in terms of having a resource-based economy. I think for some time diamonds have been the North’s best friend, and the industry has really grown since then. I know there are some discussions towards the development of a strategy to ensure we make efforts to not be so reliant on the diamond industry, but also at the same time trying to diversify our economy so we have a solid foundation. We’re in very volatile times. We’re almost at coming out of the brink of a depression. So I think we all know that what we do here in the North somehow affects what happens in the Middle East, and of course, the big thing there is oil and gas. So we’re in a very global system at this point, so we have to be very cognizant of that.
If there’s anything else I wanted to mention, it’s that I’ve always wanted to ensure that this government is in a supportive and encouraging role in terms of ensuring that at the end of the day we have the spur and the push of all the land claims tables that are happening throughout the Northwest Territories. There are a few of them that are outstanding. I think the role of this government is critical in ensuring that progress is made at all tables, that the two levels of government – the federal and territorial government – don’t always pick on First Nations, because it’s the First Nations that have the uphill battle of trying to institute formal governance and at the same time infuse it with public principles of government.
So for those reasons, I think if you can create a climate with certainty in terms of how governing institutions are going to work with the economy, of course it gives the level of confidence to industry to do their business up here in the Northwest Territories. So for that matter, I think even if we look at perhaps efforts to try to unite all parties here in the Northwest Territories, I think we can go a long ways.
One example is this effort towards devolution. I have some questions whether it’s the best deal we can get at this time or if we’re just basically accepting what’s been offered at the table and we don’t have a choice. The context in that is that governments have said we’re under restraint, we can’t really give you anything more, so here it is, and we take it. Perhaps that’s the case. If that’s the case, then we need to make a better effort to try to unite with Aboriginal groups to form a united front to ensure that we put forth a very good package that’s reflective of the aspirations of the people of the Northwest Territories, and at the same time consider the high cost of living, and also at the same time considers the unique circumstances of our communities. So for those reasons, I think if those things were considered and effectively employed as we go forth as a government, then I think we can be successful.
I just wanted to spend some time in terms of talking about the challenges at the community level. It’s pretty clear, when we come here periodically, there’s a big contrast in terms of have communities and have-not communities. We live in the shadows of the diamond industry; we live in the shadows of major public infrastructure projects. In small communities we don’t have the pleasure of having direct access and benefits to large diamond mines, oil and gas, or large public infrastructure projects. So we’re kind of left trying to struggle, maintain our families, maintain our businesses, maintain our schools, basically to maintain a living at the community level. We go as far as trying to supplement our diets, because the high cost of living basically sets the stage for… It’s really hard struggling at the community level where you have to go to the store and the cost of consumer goods is pretty high. So we put effort into trying to supplement our diets to put food on the table for our families. We go out hunting periodically to ensure at the end of the day we have something to eat, or at least provide some sustenance to our children.
In that sense, I think communities have emphatically made the statement that we need to look at almost a community model. Communities are very unique, perhaps at the lower end of the economic progress. You know, they’re described as traditional economies. We need to perhaps kick-start them. At the end of the day, we might have some communities that are conducive and very successful, where they reach the maximum or the optimal peak of development where they basically have an industrial manufacturing plant of some kind. We need to try to approach some considerations for the circumstances our communities are considering.
At the same time, government needs to ensure that we don’t abandon the communities. We have very aging infrastructure. We have old buildings that are beyond renovation, are beyond patchwork, and there’s still a very high need for buildings. For example, schools. We have some…(inaudible)…communities where schools are needed. At the same time, there are existing buildings that have become beyond repair. So sometimes it affects programs, the progress of education, and we have to look at other options. At the community level we don’t really have that many options or the pleasure or the leisure of trying to find money to establish building other buildings. We don’t really have that leisure. At the same time, we think government still has an obligated role to ensure that governing organizations have at least the financial capacity to be in a position so we can deliver the services that people expect of us. At the same time, we should not at this point in the volatile economy constrict or constrain further local bodies that provide those services by withdrawing funding or putting them in a very irrevocable position where they have to fight back. I don’t think that is the approach we need to undertake.
We need to ensure that we work closely with local government organizations to ensure that at the end of the day we still provide the services that this government provides at this time, and at the same time ensuring that we meet the needs of communities.
More than anything I wanted to mention is the effort towards things such as the initiative. I know this government is considering some very different initiatives, and one of them is the well-being of our people. There are some very distinctive events that happened recently that would say that we need to develop some strategies to ensure that the well-being of our people is priority.
Some initiatives that we’ve undertaken this far is the Anti-Poverty Strategy. We need to ensure there’s a baseline of people that at least, perhaps at a very, very minimal threshold, have the basic needs of a house, food and shelter. We need to ensure that we maintain those services.
At the same time, I think the mental health of our people is very stark. We need to make sure we do some extra efforts in terms of trying to meet them halfway. We’ve just come out of the experience of the residential schools. At this point, governments have perhaps done all that they can and they’re leaving it at the behest of our individuals or people who have gone through the system to be on their own. I don’t think government should do that. We need to ensure that there’s at least consistent linkages with this major initiative that has struck the very core of First Nations across Canada. We need to ensure that programs and services that are required by people are readily available, and that it’s a comparable service that is at least across Canada.
So those are points that we need to be mindful of. I’ve heard it at the level of this government since the fall that we need to ensure that we keep reminding ourselves that usually the very core things that people expect us to do and uphold for them. We become their voice. I think this budget is a positive step forward and I look forward to playing a helping hand in ensuring that the constituents of the Deh Cho are helpful in that sense, too, and ensuring that we all work together. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to thank the Member for his kind words about the budget and the work that we’ve all put into developing this, both MLAs, Cabinet and, of course, the people in government.
I want to reassure the Member that he talked about not abandoning the communities and don’t take back the funding and withdraw funding. In this budget there are no program cuts. We’ve reinvested and are continuing to support all the departments’ programs and services that we do provide.
As we talk about a climate of certainty economically, we, as well, agree and we want to, for many reasons, but it makes good sense. It provided comfort to the private sector and it lets people in the communities know, as well, that there is stability.
We have the work that we’ve talked about with the Minister of ITI in terms of the initiative that he has underway, plus all the work related to the traditional economy and the work we want to do as we engage with the Rural and Remote Communities committee.
The issue of devolution, and the best deal or not at this point, these negotiations have been going on for almost nine years and in light of the deficit reduction of the federal government now that’s underway, the significant cutbacks taking $4.5 billion a year out of government, the deal that we’ve negotiated, in my mind, will be looking even more positively as it did before as they’ve cut 20,000 and extract money from government. We have a commitment from them for a base amount that was negotiated before the significant restraint that is currently underway. My suggestion would be if, in fact, we were currently negotiating devolution, it would be a much tougher climate than it was a couple of years ago.
The issue of a community model and the need for an economic base is one of the whole focuses of the Economic Development Strategy that, once again, the government through ITI wants to lay out within the broad policy framework of the Land Use and Sustainability Framework.
The strategy on the well-being of people, anti-poverty, mental health, will be addressed and are committed to and will be discussed by the Minister of Health and Social Services. There are response letters that have gone back to committee in regard to their specific requests that have come out of their review of the business plans and their advice and recommendations back to government. Once again, I’d like to thank the Member for his very positive, supportive comments. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Next I have Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ll try to keep this short, seeing the time we have left and we want to get into Human Resources here. I just want to mention a few comments based on what was mentioned yesterday and what was before us.
It is mentioned in here that we have to make tough decisions and sometimes those tough decisions are based on the facts, the stats, all the reports and recommendations that come before us as we sit in committee and as we bring things down here on the floor. Sometimes those don’t always seem to be addressed.
Looking at what was said in here, a couple of things really caught my attention. The first one, first and foremost obviously, is going to be our Inuvik gas situation and the depletion of that. It’s going to be a harsh reality, and as I mentioned in my Member’s statement the first session here, it’s something that’s going to be really affecting not only Inuvik but it’s going to have a rippling affect right across the Northwest Territories. I did mention that you just have to walk into the local post office in Inuvik to see how many local houses are up for sale already. You don’t know if those are professionals, teachers, health professionals, people we need. We already have a depletion of resources on hand.
Not only are we going to be possibly losing our professional staff but businesses are going to be taking a big hit, if they haven’t been hit already with the low economy that we see before.
With that said, there is a page here on the economy and it looks great on paper. It looks like the NWT’s doing awesome, but it doesn’t take anybody, it doesn’t take a whole lot when you go to the communities and see a lack of jobs, a lack of opportunities and a lack of work for our contractors. It looks good on paper that our economy is doing well, but in reality it’s not. Look at the income assistance that we have that is increasing in the Northwest Territories. That reflects on the people not being able to work. People can’t find work. Contractors have to take that route because there are no jobs out there in the regions. Sure, some of our regions are doing really well; however, a lot of our other regions are suffering the impacts.
Going back to the businesses, they’re going to have to recoup their costs somehow. Especially the bigger ones that provide a greater service, they are going to have to recoup their costs. They’re going to increase the prices for their goods and services which in turn is going to reflect back on the residents who already have a high cost of living. It’s going to put a lot of people in poverty and that’s something that I don’t want to see while I’m in this government and I’m sure nobody wants to see in their communities. In Inuvik we’ve got just a particular situation where it doesn’t look very promising and I know we’re going to be moving forward in trying to find some solutions. Hopefully those solutions can be looked at that would have a positive impact on Inuvik which would decrease the effects across the Northwest Territories.
With that said, I just wanted to touch base on this rent supplement for market families. There is 1.2. As we get into the details I’m going to try to see what that program is, because the high cost of living and things that have been in the Northwest Territories. For instance, it’s cheaper to buy a house in Yellowknife than to rent now because it’s such a high cost of living. It’s industry that’s setting those costs because things are flourishing here in Yellowknife and a lot of people are moving here.
Then mentioned later, the economic development, the increase of addictions that have been taking. Alcohol and drug abuse, there’s a budget for $276,000 to develop a strategy. When we’re pretty well at status quo running the same program when we don’t even have programs to reflect this but we’re going to try to come out with a strategy that it says here, Community Safety Strategy. We already got the Mental Health and Addictions Strategy that’s going to be tabled this session. Some of these dollars could probably be better spent doing the action rather than developing another strategy. When I talked earlier about making tough decisions, the PRO office, the program review office, does a lot of work and gives us a lot of recommendations and it’s our job to take those recommendations and put them into place so that this government saves money so that money is more efficiently spent across the departments for the departments that really need it. The Auditor General’s report, we get that on a regular basis and how often do we reflect the Auditor General’s report that tells us how much money we could be saving that could be going into other programs. Just some simple suggestions and if we start following some of these recommendations, we could start having a little bit better impact on how we deliver our services and programs, what we invest in, so that at the end of the day this government can say we spent the money the best way we could in quality services and efficient services and it’s something that would reflect right across the board.
A couple things. There was that $818 million that the Minister spoke of yesterday when he was talking about education and early childhood development to one of my colleagues here. That was for health, education and justice. As we go through the business planning sessions throughout this week, we’ll go through the details and see how we can efficiently spend those dollars. I mean the more that I read in this government, the more that I see there are areas that we can improve on. The program review office gave us a lot of recommendations. The Auditor General’s report gave us a lot of recommendations, specifically in the area of education, as well as housing. We can look at those as we move through in the business planning session and see how we can better efficiently spend our dollars and take those recommendations so that we’re not overly spending on programs that we can improve on.
The RCMP violence coordinator, I was really happy to see that. However, with the level of problems that we have in the Northwest Territories it would almost be better to have more than just one coordinator, because with the issues that we’re seeing across the Northwest Territories, one coordinator, kind of like the midwife that we had in Yellowknife last year who got over-exhausted dealing with all the issues and they didn’t get the support that they need. It looks great that we’re getting one, but what I can see is over-exhaustion and quality of services possibly decreasing.
Once again, I’m glad to see the Inuvik-Tuk highway highlighted in here. Any of my colleagues here, Members that want to see a region that’s really suffering from this economic downturn just have to come up to Inuvik, Tuk, the Beaufort-Delta region and see how bad of an impact. There are no jobs up there. To see a big project like this, one that this government is looking into is something that we should seriously look at and create some jobs and get people off the income support.
Early childhood programs, prevention, promotion, once again when we get into the details of that big budget we’ll look into that.
There were also some monies here for health care facilities. In the stats, we see that the elder population is increasing and will continue to increase, but there’s no talk of long-term – well, there’s talk of long-term care facilities in certain regions but not across the whole Northwest Territories. When we’re putting $30 million into health care facilities, I think it’s a great opportunity to look at long-term care beds as well as beds for other mental health issues. Once again, mental health can go into that, but we’ll get into the detail as we go through that big budget.
We’re in a government where I know it’s tough to put a budget of this magnitude together with so many different departments and so many responsibilities and nobody wants to lose the programs that they’re delivering. We have to find a way where we can kind of audit our own government to see which programs are really being successful, which ones aren’t, how we can work together both as Members and Cabinet and how Cabinets can work together as departments to better spend their money and move forward. It comes down to tough decisions and obviously nobody wants to lose out any dollars out of their department, nobody wants to lose any jobs in our communities, but where some regions are flourishing, others are suffering. We talk about fairness in this government and we have another over three years to look at those corrections, look at those suggestions, recommendations, and move forward and start looking at our communities as being the backbone of this territory and not just the capital of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member is correct in terms of his comment about having to make tough decisions. We identified that and identified that in the budget address yesterday as well. The next two years are going to require our fiscal discipline and resolve as a collective to meet the targets that we’re trying to set out for ourselves.
We are committed and will have the ongoing discussion about the Inuvik gas situation.
While overall I agree with the Member that from a high level the overall indicators for the economy in the Northwest Territories are good, it’s not that evenly spread. There are areas that need attention, that are struggling.
Minister Robert C. McLeod will be very happy to have the discussion about the detail of the rent supplement budget that has been laid out.
I also made note of the Member’s comment about the money being spent for addictions strategies and the concern about doing more and studying less that’s been raised, and we’ll continue to have that discussion to make sure that we have the proper balance. As you do more you’ll want to make sure you have a plan to do more, but you don’t want to spend all your time on planning and not doing, so we’ll look forward to that discussion.
The Member’s comments about the program review office and his final comment about the need to audit our programs for best value, the whole intent of establishment of the program review office was to do that. The ongoing discussion and planning has been as we evolve in our thinking on this, is the program review office structured adequately. Do we have it focusing in the right areas? It’s been suggested they could be doing a lot of work on decentralization in terms of identifying areas. The Member has indicated the need, a greater, maybe, possible attention to auditing our own programs. We just have to give them ideas of where they should be looking. I think there’s room to move there.
I’d also point out the commitment we made as a government to try to sort out our red-tape obstacles as well, not just the broad regulatory reform ones that are being addressed through the federal government initiative but our own internal red-tape issues as a government and our own red-tape issues that may exist as the government does business with communities and industry.
The Member’s comment about the $818 million or 60 percent or so of the money spent of our budget on social programs and the need to look at that collectively and are we doing things in a coordinated way is a comment that we share. We know that there are areas for improvement and we’re looking for the advice and feedback of committees and individuals or MLAs to do that.
The Inuvik-Tuk highway, we laid out that process and we intend to move forward and are moving forward on that.
My final comment, the long-term care facilities needed across the NWT, we agree the one region that has no long-term care facility and has a project on the red flag list would be Norman Wells. The Sahtu has no long-term care facility and we’re looking there, as well, as at the need to upgrade their facility, in terms of actual long-term care. That would then give us some coverage in every region. Once again, the Member’s concern is noted. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. General comments. Next on the list I have Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have some brief comments. I wanted to follow up on the response of the Minister to my and other general comments yesterday. Specifically, the Minister estimated the impact of the recommendations from committees, the financial impact of our recommendations at about $4.1 million and acted as if that was impossible to deal with. I did a quick calculation dividing $4.1 million by $1.5 billion and multiplying by 100 to get the percentage of what we’re talking about here, and it turns out that the 11 Members on this side of the House were recommending 0.25 percent of the budget be spent in the way that our constituents would like to see it spent. That’s 0.25 percent. That is one-quarter of 1 percent of the budget. It may be tough. All decisions are tough when we decide how to spend dollars.
I also quickly looked at what the increase in revenues are this year and I found that the Minister mentioned our revenues are increased by $132 million this year. I want to say right off that I think he has underestimated what we are asking for. My calculation, when all is said and done, he’s chosen one committee to focus his estimate on. When we look at our various committees, I think our estimate might be four times that; essentially 1 percent of this budget.
Now, we are in a consensus government supposedly here. We do go through an extraordinary amount of work and I think our public appreciates fully the opportunity provided by this process of business plan reviews. I can’t imagine what we spend in that process but I’m sure it’s significant.
There are 11 Members in the question and answer period with each and every Minister for each and every department carefully going over everything that we’re presented with and considerable debate, both during and afterwards, as we summarize those and try and boil our biggest concerns down to our greatest points to be made at minimum cost. We’ve done that and let’s say that we came up with $15 million or $16 million worth of recommendations. Again, 1 percent of the budget. In a consensus government, again, I don’t see that as out of line. I don’t see it as being out of line to expect that a Cabinet, a Premier and Cabinet will be listening to those voices and finding ways to respond in a productive and cooperative way, reflecting that consensus government approach.
I do recognize these are tough decisions to be made, but they obviously are being made, and a number gave examples where millions and millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars are being spent in ways and were somehow found in this budget for things that this Cabinet is interested in pursuing.
I just wanted to present that perspective. It’s just a comment, and I appreciate that opportunity. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments about the committee letters. The responses have gone out. They should be available to Members. They went out this morning.
In regard to the recommendations coming out of committee, we’re also scheduled to meet with committee at the rise of the House on Monday to have further discussion about the detail.
I would point out that while we anticipate and are planning for $74 million surplus in 2012-13, the reality is we have debt of about $656 million. The majority of that, while it is self-liquidating, leaves us with about 240 to 260 million dollars of short-term borrowing that we have incurred that we’re trying to manage as we set ourselves up to be able to increase our infrastructure investments in years three and four of this Assembly.
While there was some increase in revenue, there has also been an increase in our costs as a government. There is no free money. We’re trying to practice fiscal discipline. The Member indicates it’s only, in his estimation, $15 million, $16 million. It’s only a fraction of a percent, but it’s all borrowed money. I would once again suggest we don’t want to let the public have any sense that this document is just a Cabinet document, that these main estimates here that we worked on for six months that represents $1.5 billion of government expenditures building off the priorities of the Legislature is a creature only of the Cabinet. The only way we get this is by having that discussion with Members, in agreement with Members about the amount of money and where it is going to be spent. We could always spend more, without a doubt, given the list of needs. We will have the discussion on the feedback and the final requests and recommendations from committee, and I’m sure with the goodwill and good faith of all parties, we’ll come to an agreement as we have done for 17 years that I’ve been here, and I anticipate we’ll continue to do. Thank you.
Thank you. Any further general comments? If not, is the committee agreed that we should move to consideration of the Department of Human Resources?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Thank you, Mr. Aumond. The Sergeant-at-Arms will escort you out of the Chamber. Thank you.
Alright, committee. We have finished general comments on the budget. We will move on to departments. Does committee agree that we will review the Department of Human Resources?
Agreed.
I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for Human Resources if he has any opening remarks.
Yes, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I am pleased to present the Department of Human Resources’ main estimates for the fiscal year 2012-13.
For 2012-13 the department is proposing an operations expenditures budget of $42.796 million. This reflects an increase of $375,000 from last year’s main estimates, or slightly less than 1 percent. Of this amount, $9.692 million or 22.6 percent of the total budget is allocated in the form of direct supports to employees, including dental benefits, medical travel assistance, recognition awards and the Employee Family Assistance Program. As a shared service provider, another $2.394 million or 5.6 percent of the total budget is allocated in the form of direct supports to departments, boards and agencies for intern and summer student programs under the Maximizing Northern Employment Initiative.
Through its mandate to provide leadership and direction in all areas of human resource management, the Department of Human Resources works with departments, boards and agencies to ensure the public service is managed as a corporate resource in a way that promotes stability, retention and maximum effectiveness. 20/20, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan, describes the long-term strategic goals and key initiatives necessary to guide the development of the public service and make the GNWT an employer of choice. In turn, this supports the interests of the government and the vision of Believing in People and Building on the Strengths of Northerners. A key role for Human Resources is in seeking to build the capacity of Northerners in order to sustain a strong future for our territory.
For example, the department has a key role to play in ensuring GNWT’s interests in devolution are realized, including welcoming affected federal employees into the GNWT, ensuring fairness and equity for all impacted employees including existing GNWT staff, and developing a northern workforce. The department is assessing strategies for public service employment opportunities across the Northwest Territories and is working to support creative approaches to government organizational design that can implement this. As well, the department works to support a thriving public service with terms of employment that balance respect for our staff with prudent financial fiscal management and the ongoing delivery of quality programs and services.
Guided by the initial 20/20 three-year action plan, investment in the public service has created a positive foundation of human resource management practices and services through strategic program development, business process improvements, enhancements to the HR PeopleSoft systems and improved partnerships with client departments, agencies and the unions. A new four-year action plan is currently under development and will build on the successes of the first three years.
As Members are aware, the department led our government’s efforts, in partnership with employees’ bargaining representatives, to successfully negotiate collective agreements that will provide our employees and the GNWT with certainty and stability for the next four years. Pending ratification, the department’s immediate priority is to implement the new terms and conditions of employment negotiated through collective bargaining. As agreed to with the Union of Northern Workers, this includes the creation of an interim whistleblower process for employees who feel compelled to come forward with allegations of wrongdoing within the GNWT. Once this is in place, I will work with the Members of this House to establish legislation that offers public service disclosure protection for all GNWT employees.
Our continuous improvement approach with clients and stakeholders to enhance services will continue in 2012-13. The department will focus on implementing streamlined processes around core business to better serve individual employees and client departments. Service partnership agreements are under development to affirm the respective roles and responsibilities between Human Resources and our client departments. Improved clarity around service delivery will benefit employees, managers and departments, which in turn will enhance client service. Service Partnership Agreements will be piloted in 2012-13 with the health and social services system.
The department has two major enhancement projects this fiscal year to make better and more efficient use of HR PeopleSoft systems and to streamline work for employees and managers. Overseen by a project steering committee, the upgrade to comply with tax requirements and enhance user access is now underway and should be completed by this fall. In the latter part of the fiscal year, work will begin on the ePerformance project. This tool will enhance employee development and increase managers’ ability to manage, by streamlining the manual performance evaluation process currently used in the GNWT.
Complementing our work to fix and maintain the foundation strategies for attraction to and retention in the public service have been a priority. Recruitment and marketing strategies are under development, including an inclusive public service recruitment strategy with initiatives aimed at increasing the representation of Aboriginal employees and employees with disabilities throughout the organization. The department will continue to modernize recruitment with the creation of a new careers website as well as utilizing social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In. The department recently launched a well-received Facebook page to engage with current and potential future employees across the NWT and elsewhere.
In 2012-13 the department will continue its work on strengthening the public service through diversity. The recently completed inclusive public service survey will soon provide us with reliable statistics about the number of GNWT employees with disabilities and how they are being accommodated at work. The department continues to deliver disabilities awareness training and will also start offering Aboriginal cultural awareness training this fiscal year to promote an inclusive workplace that embraces understanding and awareness between cultures.
As part of its work to increase public service capacity, Human Resources continues to partner with Municipal and Community Affairs to invest in the training and development of community and Aboriginal government staff. The GNWT supports the use of intergovernmental secondments to build public service capacity at all levels of government, and I have recently written to community and Aboriginal government leaders to reaffirm the GNWT’s commitment to supporting secondment opportunities to share skills and experience.
In 2012-13 the department will continue to offer the Associate Director/Superintendent Program to strengthen Aboriginal representation in senior management. As well, work is currently underway to update the Leadership Development Program to build emerging, middle and senior management skills in the public service.
Mr. Chair, the Department of Human Resources expertise is also required for corporate reorganization projects. The Financial Shared Services project as well as devolution creates a significant upfront workload for the department related to organizational design, job evaluation, labour relations and data management. The department is strategizing to ensure that seamless corporate support is provided to the stakeholders involved in these and any other reorganization initiatives.
The Department of Human Resources will use 20/20, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan, and Believing in People and Building on the Strength of Northerners together as our compass as we navigate new directions, opportunities and issues. We will continually monitor our progress, maintain a continuous improvement mindset to serve clients and employees effectively, and build upon our successes to ensure that the GNWT remains an employer of choice.
That concludes my opening remarks and I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. I would like to ask the Minister whether or not he would like to bring witnesses into the House.
Yes, please.
