I think that’s it for now. Thanks for that information. I’ll look forward to updates.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’ll direct committee to page 3-25, activity summary, corporate human resources, operations expenditure summary, $12.371 million.
Agreed.
Page 3-26, activity summary, corporate human resources, grants and contributions, contributions, $115,000, total grants and contributions, $115,000.
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 3-27, information item, corporate human resources, active positions. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. What is that new job in headquarters? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe this was brought up during the interim budget as well. There has been an increase of one position at corporate human resources. There was a labour relations advisor that sunsetted. We’re bringing it back. Is that correct? One sunsetted, we’re bringing it back, and then we’re bringing back an additional one to help us with some of the workload in the labour relations division. So two there, one new.
Thank you very much. That’s good.
Thank you. Page 3-27, information item, corporate human resources, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 3-29, activity summary, employee services, operations expenditure summary, $14.080 million. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Question here with regard to pay and benefits. A number of years ago we had quite a backlog. Staff were hired to get rid of the backlog. I’d like to just get an update as to where things sit now with our pay and benefits. Are we up to date, so to speak? I realize that there’s probably always some stuff that needs doing, but does the Minister feel that the department is on track and getting things processed in a timely manner?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct; there is a constant workload in this section. It’s a heavy workload in this section. It tends to build up. It comes in waves. We did put in a new, or, rather, some staff in there to help deal with the tremendous amount of backlog that existed and I’m happy to report that currently we’re down to 300 files outstanding or backlogged in this section. So there has been some significant improvement in that area. That number will shrink and swell given just the realities of employee terminations, final pays, all those types of things that need to be done. As more casuals come in, the demand decreases because there’s a lot of final pays that have to be done on casuals, so it does ebb and flow, but we have managed to get the backlog down to 300, which is significant.
Thanks to the Minister. Three hundred sounds like a lot, but I can appreciate with some…
---Interjection
Yes. From 1,400 to 300, that’s a good thing. My other question has to do with other expenses the travel has been reduced significantly from $103,000 down to $15,000. Was this an anomaly in 2011-2012? I note that in 2010-2011 it was only $20,000 as well. Why the difference? Why the huge reduction?
I can’t tell you why it swelled up to $103,000 in previous years. The actual uptake was only around $20,000 so we felt it was more appropriate to indicate what the trend has been as opposed to whatever this $103,000 was in previous years. Or last year, sorry.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Ms. Bisaro, no further questions? Page 3-29, activity summary, employee services, operations expenditure summary, $14.080 million.
Agreed.
Page 3-30, information item, employee services, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 3-33, activity summary, regional operations, operations expenditure summary, $4.634 million.
Agreed.
Page 3-34, information item, regional operations, active positions. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I note on this page the reduction of three positions in the regions. Can the Minister explain that? Also, yes, if he can explain those.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s not really an elimination of positions in the regions. What this is, this was the regional superintendent/director training positions which are more like interns in their application. They had been showing up in the Department of Human Resources but they’re actually employees of other departments. So it was more appropriate to treat those positions more like the Intern Program. So the Intern Program doesn’t necessarily show all the positions in the Department of Human Resources. They show them where they exist. In this case those training positions continue to exist, they’re supernumerary, they’re extra, and it wasn’t appropriate to show them in the Department of Human Resources where they don’t actually work. But they still exist. Those positions have not disappeared. We are still facilitating the training of the regional director/superintendents as appropriate.
So my particular concern is in the Deh Cho where it showed seven positions last year. The Minister is saying there are six positions showing on the books this year but it’s still seven people working, or was that a virtual person?
There are three training positions in the associate director training positions every year. They change locations on a regular basis, depending on who is recruited into them and where they’re from. Last year there was one in the Deh Cho. There may not be one in the Deh Cho and these numbers suggest that there isn’t necessarily one in the Deh Cho this year. But there also may be. I don’t know which department that particular associate director training person was in. I can confirm to the Members where the current group of associate director trainees are and it could be that there isn’t one in the Sahtu or the Deh Cho but there could be one as well. I don’t know off the top of my head. They will change from year to year to year to year to year as individuals come up and are identified for that particular training opportunity.
Just for confirmation then, the Minister is saying that the regional operations have not decreased by three positions.
Not sure I completely understand the question. The Department of Human Resources used to show these positions even though they didn’t necessarily work for the Department of Human Resources. To be consistent, given that this is a supernumerary training position, they will no longer show under HR’s establishment but we still have those training opportunities available and we will put individuals in those training opportunities. We will always try to have those training opportunities full. We’ll always be training somebody in the regional Superintendent/Director Training Program. There are three new ones a year and I think at any one time we could have as many as six in the program. Those six will be in a variety of locations and it will change every year. Three new individuals will be identified. Wherever those individuals happen to be and wherever the training is taking place is where they’ll be located. So it will change fairly regularly, a lot like the Intern Program. We don’t know where the interns are going to be in any given year but we continue to support the Intern Program with roughly the same number of employees because that’s what our budget will cover. In this case we will always be taking on three new ones and they will be located wherever’s appropriate for the individual. Sometimes that’s going to be the Deh Cho, sometimes that’s going to be the Sahtu, sometimes that’s going to be the Beaufort-Delta, and it will continue to move around.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Menicoche, any update?
Yes, I’m good.
With that, page 3-34, information item, regional operations, active positions.
Agreed.
If I can get Members to turn back to page 3-7, Human Resources, department summary, operations expenditures, 2012-2013 Main Estimates, $42.796 million.
Agreed.
Does the committee agree that consideration for the Department of Human Resources is completed?
Agreed.
I would like to thank the Minister and his delegation for being here today. If I could get the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses from the Chamber, please. Thank you. We’ll take just a quick five-minute break before we begin with Public Works and Services.
Agreed.
---SHORT RECESS
Welcome back, committee. I’d like to address everyone to turn to section seven of their book. I would ask Mr. Abernethy, Minister of Public Works and Services, if he has any opening comments.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the Department of Public Works and Services’ main estimates for the fiscal year 2012-2013.
The department’s main estimates propose an operations expenditure budget of $93.6 million for 2012-2013, an increase of 0.7 percent over the 2011-2012 Main Estimates. This change can be primarily attributed to the following adjustments:
increased maintenance and utility funding associated with new GNWT facilities coming into service;
addition of two positions in support of the ongoing implementation of the government’s new Document Management System; and
a reduction in base utility funding resulting in energy conservation initiatives implemented by the department.
To help demonstrate how Public Works and Services is positioned to support and contribute to the priorities of the 17th Assembly, I would like to begin by mentioning some of the departmental activities and initiatives planned for 2012-2013.
In support of this governments’ priority to increase employment opportunities where they are most needed, the department uses a combination of local and regionally contracted services to assist in completing its ongoing prevention and deferred maintenance programs. In addition, the department has 12 indeterminate settlement maintainer positions along with 11 apprentice positions in communities across the NWT. These frontline positions enable the department to better manage maintenance activities and availability of resources at the community level, while promoting and strengthening our local northern workforce. They also allow the department to be more proactive in completing its mandate of building maintenance, complying with code-mandated checks and repairs and completing deferred maintenance requirements.
Many of the government programs that support priorities of the 17th Assembly and the services available to residents are dependent upon information and communications technologies. The Technology Service Centre’s ongoing efforts to improve the technology services available to government continue to be a priority for this department. As the demand for electronic service delivery continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important to manage the network and its growth effectively.
Over the past three years, enhancements to local network infrastructure have increased access speeds into regional communities by way of upgrades to the digital communications network and Internet. The new digital communications network contract is introducing new technology to provide additional bandwidth, while some of the other benefits of this new contract include:
improved network performance and reliability due to additional bandwidth and new technology in microwave, satellite and fibre-served communities;
ability to prioritize different types of service to allow the flow of critical data over the network, an example being health digital imaging;
ability to easily add bandwidth at lower per unit costs; and
improved service response times when service issues and outages occur.
Additionally in 2012-13, the Technology Service Centre will offer its support and expertise to the office of the chief information officer in its review of the government’s ongoing telecommunications requirements and the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link Project.
I would now like to mention a few of the department’s other important program and service initiatives for the 2012-13 fiscal year.
Created in 2008-09, the department’s Risk Management and Safety Program established there was over $470 million in deferred maintenance associated with aging GNWT infrastructure that poses potential safety risks to employees and the public. In coordination with the capital planning process and other program funding, the Deferred Maintenance Program has addressed $145 million in deferred maintenance issues.
For 2012-13 and ongoing, the department will continue to focus on this very important issue to ensure government facilities remain safe, reliable and available to GNWT departments in delivery of programs and services.
I would now like to turn my attention to the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund program, one of the department’s most important energy management initiatives. This program is focused on reducing building operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions by assessing government facilities to identify and target program funding at those projects best suited for energy saving retrofits. Energy retrofits can reduce annual energy use by as much as 15 percent while greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced as much as 30 tonnes per building annually.
Since utility funding was consolidated in Public Works and Services in 2010-11, I am happy to report the energy conservation initiatives implemented by this department have realized $654,000 in ongoing annual utility cost savings. Since 2007-08, when the department commenced energy conservation activities, the cumulative energy savings have been $2.65 million while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 16,600 tonnes.
Preliminary estimates from the 2011-12 energy conservation initiatives undertaken by the department could generate an additional $550,000 in ongoing annual utility costs savings, bringing the estimated utility savings for the past two years to $1.204 million. The cumulative reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could reach 25,156 tonnes by the end of 2012.
For 2012-13, the department has re-profiled the 2010-11 confirmed utility savings to support ongoing capital investment in energy reduction through the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund program. With government support, this program is on its way to becoming a self-sustaining government program that reduces costs and increases energy efficiency.
The last initiative which I would like to mention is connected to the government’s increasing reliance on electronic systems and the paperless information they produce. I am specifically speaking to the e-mails and other electronic documents we and all government departments generate in the delivery of programs and services. The Digital Integrated Information Management System is an electronic records management system designed to effectively manage the electronic records created, received and maintained by government.
This initiative is a multi-year project managed by the office of the chief information officer for the implementation of a government-wide document management solution. The first phase of this initiative involved the document management system being implemented within Public Works and Services in 2011-12, while future implementations in other government departments will be completed in a phased-in approach starting in 2012-13. In support of this initiative, the department will be establishing two indeterminate information system support positions starting in 2012-13.
It is through these and other departmental activities that Public Works and Service will continue to provide its many clients with the high quality of services they have come to rely upon.
Thank you for this opportunity to provide an overview of the department’s 2012-13 Main Estimates. I look forward to discussing them with Members in more detail.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Does the Minister have witnesses that he’d like to bring into the House?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
If I can get the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses into the Chamber, please.
Minister Abernethy, would you care to introduce your witnesses to the House, please?
