Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Do you have a breakdown of how many positions were reduced in, say, senior management, and how many were reduced in positions that offer frontline services? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Mr. Minister.
As the questions before about the positions that were reduced, we can get that information from the department and give it to the Members, in what positions they were.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. I take that as a question that you will be distributing all the Members with that information? Thank you.
Yes, that's correct.
Mr. Simpson.
Nothing further right now, and just so the other departments are aware, I will be asking this of most of them, so thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Agreed on page 53, Education, Culture and Employment, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $12,309,000. Questions? Agreed? Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and this is just a question in terms of the status I wanted to get in terms of the initiative towards amalgamating the Northwest Territories Official Languages Board, and also the Northwest Territories Aboriginal Language Revitalization Board. Has the department contemplated the need for draft legislation to ensure at least there is consistent application and legislation at the same time? I am sure there is fluid in terms of the structures that we have before us. Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Minister.
Thank you. Our next steps in that area is: we are going to be creating a legislative proposal to make sure that work gets done.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister give us an indication of a timeline? I don't think I have seen it in terms of perhaps draft legislation. When can we see perhaps draft legislation? Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Minister.
Yes. We can get a legislated proposal done and be ready for the fall.
Thanks, Mr. Minister. Mr. Nadli. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder if the Minister could provide some detail around the line chargebacks in the expenditure category. Thank you.
Ms. Green. Mr. Minister.
I will go to assistant deputy minister. That would be Mr. Lovely, please.
Mr. Lovely, go ahead.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That amount is the amount that we pay to Public Works and Services’ Technology Service Centre for providing services such as laptops, desktops, network usage, and so the amount that is shown here is for the department, and also for the education authorities as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Lovely. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. How does this category then differ from computer hardware and software immediately below? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Ms. Green. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The TSC chargebacks are based on services provided out of PWS that are for staff who will provide backend services and the amount that's provided under computer hardware and software are dollars that we allocate for things like licences for our own Oracle software, for various other software programs that we utilize in ECE. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Lovely. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Your licensing fees are $518,000 per year. Since 201415, that is an amount that's gone up by about 20 per cent? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Ms. Green. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, those dollars have increased as a result of having to implement a new student information system across education authorities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Lovely. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Nothing further?
Nothing further. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Like I said earlier, it's not always clear to me where we are supposed to ask questions, given the way that the mains have been put together, but I see that there is a policy legislation and communications line item here for corporate management. Can our witnesses explain what sort of legislative initiatives the department is looking at bringing forward in the next year or two? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Yes. We do have a few that are listed as one Mr. Nadli brought up. In terms of Aboriginal languages, the Education Act will be looking at as working with Members to look at moving forward in terms of the concern with College nordique and Dechinta. For more details I will ask… And some of the other legislation that we need to bring forward for the changes that we are making to the income assistance programs, but I will get more detail. I will ask my deputy minister.
Okay. Mr. Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the Minister touched on most of them, but the languages, the amalgamation of the two boards will be one; a piece of legislation to allow degree granting for Dechinta and College Nordique; Heritage Resources Act is one that has not been updated for a long time, but I know there's an interest in seeing that get developed; and then there may be others. There probably will be some minor changes to the Education Act and those sorts of things, but those first three are probably the big three for us. Thank you.
Mr. Stewart. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate the answer very much. Might we see legislation… As I understand it, there is an Aurora College Act that sets up the institution and allows them to accept monies from other orders of government, but also gives them the ability to grant degrees. Are we looking at doing the same thing with Dechinta and College nordique, and any idea whether that legislation would come forward in 201617? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Yes, we are working with the two organizations. We did have some meetings. It's something that's been brought up by various Members of this Assembly. In terms of a timeline, I will ask our deputy minister what the timeline looks like.
Recognizing Mr. Stewart.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think we can try for 201617. I wouldn't be surprised if it's early next fiscal year though, realistically, with some of the other changes, there's a lot of consultation, I think, that needs to be done on this one in terms of what we should include in that type of legislation. I think realistically it may be next fiscal year that you see actual legislation on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Stewart. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do want to thank our witnesses. I was hoping to hear that. That's something I will be watching for closely, and there might even be some folks in the gallery that are watching or will be listening as well. But I appreciate the efforts of the Minister and I look forward to working with him on those pieces of legislation. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Yes, look forward to working on that piece of legislation and seeing where we can go. Obviously, we had some Members here in the House earlier, or some of the graduates in the House here today and some of the staff, and I think that they will be happy to hear that they got strong advocates of Regular Members on this side that are constantly asking. We all will be looking at moving that piece of legislation and seeing the work in consultation that needs to go into it. Thank you.
