Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Results Report 2012-2013, 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategic Plan.”
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following three documents, entitled “Agricultural Products Marketing Council, 2012/2013 Annual Report;” “NWT Tourism 2013-2014 Marketing Plan;” and “What We Heard and Recommendations: Report of the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy Advisory Panel.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, June 3, 2013, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Tabled Document 70-17(4), Electoral Boundaries Commission 2013 Final Report, be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, June 3, 2013, I will move that Bill 22, Territorial Emblems and Honours Act, will be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. McLeod.
I give notice that on Monday, June 3, 2013, I will move that Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Tlicho Community Government Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, June 3, 2013, I will move that Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 72-17(4), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
I call Committee of the Whole to order. We have one document before us today and I would like to ask Ms. Bisaro what the wish of the committee is.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to recommend that we consider Tabled Document 72-17(4), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
We will proceed with that one item of business after a brief break.
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I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. The document we have agreed to deal with today is Tabled Document 72-17(4), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014. I’d like to ask Minister Miltenberger if he has opening comments, and if so, could we please proceed with them.
Yes, I do, Madam Chair. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014. This document provides for an increase of $6.610 million for operations expenditures and an increase of $93.005 million for capital infrastructure expenditures in the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The total supplementary request is $99.615 million.
Major items in this supplementary estimate include:
$75.5 million to carry over funding for infrastructure projects. This funding was approved and lapsed in the 2012-13 fiscal period. Carry-overs for capital infrastructure expenditures in these supplementary estimates represent about 32 percent of the 2012-13 revised capital budget.
$17 million for the Department of Transportation to provide funding for the realignment of the Ingraham Trail due to the Giant Mine Remediation Project. The net effect on government operations is nil as these costs were previously appropriated under operation expenditures.
$2.954 million for the Department of Health and Social Services for the NWT Enterprise Wide Electronic Medical Records System Project. These costs will be partially offset by funding from Infoway Canada.
$600,000 for the Department of Transportation for planning activities associated with the Mackenzie Valley Highway. These costs are fully offset by funding from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.
I’m prepared to review the details of the supplementary estimates document. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring witnesses into the Chamber.
Yes, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed, thank you. I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses to the table.
For the record, Minister Miltenberger, please introduce your witnesses.
Madam Chair, I have with me Mr. Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Finance; and Mr. Paul Guy, deputy minister of Public Works and Services. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. I’ll now go to Members for general comments. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks to the Minister for his opening statement. I note we’re 32 percent carry-over. That’s a pretty high number. I believe if that’s the case, our capital budget from last year was about $225 million; $75 million, or about a third of that, was carried over. I know in the 16th Assembly we had a Deputy Minister’s Infrastructure Subcommittee that tried to focus on getting that number down. I think the lowest we reached was about 24 percent. Maybe I could get the Minister’s perspectives on this. This was a relatively modest capital budget compared to the capital budgets we had during the 16th Assembly and there was some justification for not getting everything done, but it seems less so now. Maybe I could get the Minister’s perspectives on this. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you. The numbers, the percentage of carry-over is higher than we would like, and every year we try to move as much of the work through the system as possible. Again, it’s something that we continue to work at, but I appreciate the Member’s comments.
The good news is we have, in fact, money that we can spend in addition to we’re committed to the projects, and we’re going to be coming forward, as well, with an additional capital plan here in the fall. So we will be applying ourselves once again to see if we can make sure that we get all of these done as physically possible.
Thanks to the Minister. I’m glad to hear that. I think one of the things we did was we moved our discussion of the capital budget to the fall, an October session, and that was supposed to help a whole lot because it allowed a lot of planning to take place so that when April 1st hit, things were off to a running start. There were a couple of other things that we did specifically. Are those not working any longer, or why is this still high? We did some really major things to address this.
I think another thing we did that I recall is we moved from a D level estimate on costs to C level, which is a much more refined and reliable cost estimate level. So we did some really significant things. It seemed to help, but obviously it isn’t.
Are there other things that we didn’t identify that are the issue, and if not, how are we looking at this to ensure that those best efforts the Minister referred to lead to some efficiencies?
It’s worth noting that while the overall percentage of carry-overs is up, on a numerical dollar basis, it’s about $26 million less than last year. We had some major projects tied to Health and some to Transportation tied to contracting and some design issues that we have worked our way through.
The anticipation is this year that we will once again try to set the bar as high as we can. I believe the system is working. I think the changes we made are good ones. But every building season you have to look at the type of projects, the complexity and these other variables that we sometimes don’t have complete control over. We’re confident that, once again, when we sit here next year that we will have concluded these projects and, hopefully, a greater amount of the projects in the upcoming capital plan for ’14-15.
I don’t have anything further. I guess I’m not inspired by that particular response because I’ve heard it many times before. The proof will be in the pudding, but I do take the Minister that he will be putting best efforts out there. I guess I throw out the idea that looking for some specifics might help direct those best efforts. That’s all I have.
I appreciate the Member’s exhortation to do better and noting how difficult he is to be inspired, so we will really try to make sure we can have this discussion next year and maybe it will have a different outcome.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. If there are no further general comments, we will turn in our document, please, to page 5. The 2013-14 Supplementary Appropriation, No. 2 (Infrastructure Expenditures), Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, operations expenditures, community operations, not previously authorized, $6.452 million; total department, $6.452 million.
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 6, Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditures, education and culture, not previously authorized, $50,000; advanced education and careers, not previously authorized, $108,000; total department, not previously authorized, $158,000.
Agreed.
Thank you. Human Resources, capital investment expenditures, directorate, not previously authorized, $117,000; total department, not previously authorized, $117,000.
Agreed.
Thank you. On to page 8, Finance, capital investment expenditures, office of the comptroller general, not previously authorized, $28,000; office of the chief information officer, not previously authorized, $572,000; total department, not previously authorized, $600,000.
Agreed.
