Debates of October 29, 2004 (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight has adopted as its vision "a strong, effective consensus government that has the confidence of the people of the NWT;"

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories strategic plan identifies enhancing the fiscal responsibility, effectiveness and credibility of governments through openness and transparency as a core value;

AND WHEREAS the Financial Administration Act requires that all Members of the Legislative Assembly be given 14 days' notice in advance of the Financial Management Board recommending guarantees or indemnities having maximum liabilities exceeding $500,000;

AND WHEREAS the Financial Administration Act allows the Financial Management Board to recommend to the Commissioner special warrants without any prior notice to Members of the Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS to date for fiscal year 2004-2005 the government has submitted nearly $25 million in special warrants;

AND WHEREAS Regular Members have raised concerns with the government's broad powers to authorize expenditures through special warrants and the lack of opportunity for Members to debate the merits of the expenditures until after the fact;

AND WHEREAS there are few circumstances where expenditures are so urgently required that they could not be delayed long enough to provide notice to Members of the Legislative Assembly;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable member for Nahendeh, that the government bring forward amendments to the Financial Administration Act at the next sitting of this Assembly that would place a cap on special warrants, and that would require that all Members be given reasonable advance notice of special warrants prior to their issuance.

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Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. A motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we all ran for office a lot of the catch phrases that we heard of accountability, transparency, responsibility, Mr. Speaker, are part of the crux of this motion that’s before us today. It goes back to the expenditure of $3.4 million of public funds that, as Regular Members, we never had a chance to debate that publicly, and to me that’s not right. How we correct that right is probably a motion like the one that’s before us today. We did have some briefings -- to the government’s credit they did brief us -- but I’d like to say there was never an opportunity for these dollars to be debated publicly. They are completely outside the budgetary process, and for a government to spend that type of money without that kind of debate taking place in public I think is irresponsible, Mr. Speaker.

Hopefully this motion that is before us today will lend some credibility to the process, we’ll get some responsibility into the process and I’m looking forward to my colleagues and their comments on this motion and I think it’s a step in the right direction. We have to ensure that we have the public’s confidence in us to govern and when we do something that happened very recently with this expenditure of $3.4 million, those are the kinds of things, Mr. Speaker, that erode that public confidence in us. As stewards of the public purse, I’d like to say that I do support this motion and I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak briefly in regard to the motion. I will honestly say that I believe the motion will help start a process where we will fix the FAA; that’s the Financial Administration Act. I believe that our present government, although a minority government and also known as a consensus government, does act and govern like a majority government, although the numbers are quite the opposite, maybe Ottawa can take lessons from how our government as a minority government governs as if it is a majority government.

Mr. Speaker, this motion will say that they need to consult more. Mr. Speaker, earlier I had asked informally to someone on the government side about having a mini session in August so we could have further consultation and more public process on these types of issues, such as special warrants and supplementary appropriations, because we need to get them out in the public eye. We need to have them debated sooner. It’s been almost five months since the end of our June session, so we haven’t seen bills asking for money for that period. So they just kind of show up on our desk just before session here in August, long after most of money has been spent. We need to include a process. This motion starts to fix that problem in the process and I agree with the process. Long after this money is spent, we have very little to say other than try to say no. If we say no it creates ripples and I don’t think that’s appropriate. So this motion will amend, in my mind, or I should say start amending the Financial Administration Act, which is truly the number one process that needs to be corrected. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak very briefly in support of this motion. Mr. Speaker, I support this because I believe this is one more step and a more formal step to reiterate the concerns that the Members of this House have about the way the rules about special warrants are set out as they exist now, Mr. Speaker. Also, I must tell you I was quite -- what’s the right word, because I don’t want to be overdramatic -- I was quite surprised yesterday by the statements made by the Minister of Finance in response to the debates we had. I’m reading the responses from the Minister of Finance, as well as Mr. Dent, who appeared before us. I don’t get the feeling that the Ministers on that side really understand the deep concerns we have on this side of the House.

Mr. Speaker, we debated the supplementary bill for three or four days. I thought the concerns that were raised were very legitimate, not politically motivated. I don’t understand what that means. It certainly was not a personal attack on the credibility of the Minister of Finance, which is what he indicated in yesterday’s debate and it’s written in the Hansard. Mr. Speaker, I take it though as valid what the Minister of Finance said, which is that all the money that he brought forward under the supplementaries is within the rules and guidelines. There is nothing that he is doing outside of the rules. I accept that and if that is the case, then there is something wrong with the rules. This is what the motion is trying to indicate.

A government, as the rules exist now, could actually bring supplementary appropriations for half of the money. They could bring it for half-a-billion dollars if they wanted, if such an emergency was to happen. All we could do on this side of the House is to just rubber stamp it. We can’t really do anything about it. We can’t debate the merits of it. We could just go on and on and on and in the end they know that the money is committed, the money is spent and they are following the rules. Too bad, so sad. Mr. Speaker, in consensus government I don’t think that is acceptable.

I understand that under the system we have, the Members on this side have a lot more say and a lot more input than any other jurisdiction. But as long as we have this system and as long as we’re operating under a consensus system of government and as long as we’re supposed to have a real and qualitative input into this process, I believe it is essential and crucial that changes be made to the Financial Administration Act as is indicated in this motion to say that there has to be some kind of cap. They cannot bring in multimillion, multiyear capital projects, for example, without going through us. The rules, as they exist now, Mr. Speaker, say that the government cannot move money over $500,000 without talking to the Legislature. Well, they could do special warrants of multimillions without ever talking to us.

I support this motion in its merit and I think it sends a very strong indication that the Members on this side have awakened to what’s going on and they’re not going to take it anymore and they expect changes next time around. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. Mr. Ramsay, I’ll allow you closing comments on your motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to thank my colleagues for their support of this motion. I know the Finance Minister yesterday did make reference to us, and I didn’t want him to take it personally that we were questioning how this money was spent or why it was spent. We understand the government has a role to play and that’s to run the government. They’re going to need to spend money, Mr. Speaker, but we’d just like to know about it. We’d like to know how it’s happening and I think that’s the crux of this motion. I thank my colleagues for their support here today on ensuring that we do have some knowledge of what is happening, especially when the government is spending, in this case, over $3 million. It’s important that we, as Regular Members, know what’s happening. If we do get questions from the public we know how to answer them. I could go on and on, but I won’t, Mr. Speaker. Thank you and thanks to my colleagues.

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Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

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Item 16, motions. Item 17, first reading of bills. Item 18, second reading of bills. Item 19, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters. Item 20, report of Committee of the Whole. Item 21, third reading of bills. Mr. Clerk, will you please ascertain whether the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, the Honourable Glenna Hansen, is prepared to enter the Chamber to assent to bills?

Please be seated. Mr. Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, as Commissioner of the Northwest Territories I am pleased to assent to the following bills: Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Legal Profession Act; Bill 8, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2004; Bill 9, Write-off of Debts and Assets Act, 2004-2005; Bill 10, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2004-2005; Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act; Bill 13, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2004-2005; and, Bill 14, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 2003-2004.

During the summer I was pleased to travel with Premier Handley to the Tlicho gathering in Gameti. It was very empowering to see the people of the Tlicho carry on the traditional use of their land and to see women and children participating in traditional activities. Thank you for hosting such an inspirational gathering.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Dempster Highway, connecting the people of the Beaufort-Delta to their neighbours in the Yukon. This road has provided access for visitors to this beautiful region of the Northwest Territories and has allowed for some of the necessities of life to be brought into our Beaufort-Delta communities. The Dempster Highway is an integral part of our lives in this region, and I was delighted to celebrate the 25th anniversary with the Members of this House and the communities this summer.

Two strong northern women who have made a positive difference to the people of the Northwest Territories have been recognized with national awards. I am talking about our Member of Parliament, the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew, and Ms. Nellie Cournoyea, president of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Ms. Blondin-Andrew was the recipient of the Circle of Honour Esquao Award in May this year. Just this week, Ms. Cournoyea was named Canadian Energy Person of the Year by the Energy Council of Canada. My congratulations to you both.

As we look around this Chamber and see the colourful poppy wreath, let us take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices our defence personnel continue to make to ensure the world is a safer place, not only for Canadians but for all citizens of the world. Without their selflessness and heroism, we would not be able to be here undertaking our work in the name of democracy and freedom, and we thank them most deeply.

I also want to acknowledge all of our frontline workers who find themselves in challenging situations in the course of their duties. I would particularly like to remember Yellowknife Parole Officer Louise Pargeter who tragically was killed in the course of her work, and I send my deepest condolences to her family.

I would also like to remember Frank Steen, his son Paul, and Ronald Rufus and his son Kyle who left their home on a hunting trip this summer and have not returned. I send my thoughts and prayers to the families of the four lost hunters, and to the whole community of Tuktoyaktuk.

In closing, as this is the last time we will be together in the Assembly prior to Christmas, and even though it may seem a little early, I am pleased to be the first to wish Members, their families and constituents the very best for a joyous Christmas season and a healthy and happy New Year. May God bless and keep you safe in your travels. Mahsi.

---Applause