Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, as mentioned previously, the decrease from 2014-15 actuals to the 2015-16 current main budgets is again explained by the year-end accounting adjustments, reclassifying project expenditures at the end of the year based on scope reviews from major capital to minor capital for proper accounting purposes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Martin. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chairman, sorry, it caught me a little off-guard. I thought that this was for the district operations, and in that I mean the operations of the district staff, all the staff that work in the district operations. I didn’t know that these were the program dollars for the communities. I thought they were just the staff that were there and I was anticipating that maybe there was a reduction in the number of staff in those district offices. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Would the Minister like to respond?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want clarification on the question. Is he asking the number of staff? Or is he just wanting clarification that it is what is covered under here?
Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Martin’s response indicated that this was an accounting reduction, and it is a reduction in the programs. But my assumption was that this was… The North Slave and South Slave district offices were fully staffed. I just thought that if there was $2 million less spent in the North Slave office only two fiscal years ago, if there was a reduction in the staff that caused that. That was what my question was. Maybe I will ask the question: was there a reduction in the staff in either of those two offices, North Slave or South Slave?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Anderson.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In our active position list sheet, you would notice that we had 116 positions in 2015-16. We have 116 positions for this year as well. There has been no change in any of the districts for this year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can I get another explanation from Mr. Martin? I will try to follow it a little bit better now. It is just that I am not sure that I fully understood what the response was. I will try to quantify what I think that would be. It is just that I was listening for something else and heard something else. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We started off the year with a certain sum of capital project dollars. At the end of the year, we deliver those dollars. At the end of the year we do review the scopes of the projects and ensure that we have proper accounting at the end of the year. In some cases, when we review the scopes, we realize that it is more of a minor O and M nature project as opposed to a major capital project. As a result of that, those capital dollars, we end up with less capital expenditures for that particular year, in this case 2014-15, and more O and M expenditures than previously planned. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Martin. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Do we have any further comments or questions on page 370? Seeing none, I shall call the page. NWT Housing Corporation, programs and district operations, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $32,440,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Looks like we have one information item on page 372. Do we have comments or questions on this? I’ll give committee a moment. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I realize that in order to meet demand the Housing Corporation rents or leases units from private landlords. Is there the interest or the budget to phase out their renting of places from private landlords? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you. I’ll let Mr. Anderson answer that, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Anderson.
Yes, Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do have a few, about 200 units that we rent out of the marketplace right now. That’s 200 units of about 2800 rental units. We have over time looked at opportunities to build when we had the capital to. Because you can potentially save money in brand new energy efficient buildings rather than leasing in some cases, but it’s not something that we’re actively pushing towards getting out of units in rental market through lease at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Ms. Green.
That’s good, thanks.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of leases and the work with the Housing Corporation and LHOs, earlier I think I understood the Minister alluding to the idea of perhaps at some point there could be an arrangement where responsibilities could be arranged so that First Nation organizations that maybe have self-government negotiations in place or already completed, could be a party for a self-government arrangement so that they could be responsible for at least administering and maintaining housing programs at the local level. Could the Minister maybe explain in terms of what she had envisioned in that process? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Previously, Aboriginal governments have come forward and wanted to take ownership of their housing needs and we tried to work with them and those attempts weren’t really successful. I am really committed to, and I believe, like I had stated many times, that self-governance is important for Indigenous people, and within that true self-governance means that you have to take on ownership of your housing, your children, et cetera. I am really more than open to working with an Aboriginal organization that’s willing to try out a pilot project, but I really want to stress that I am not willing to set people up to fail, so it would take a lot of negotiations to sit down with that community to define what exactly that community would need to be able to sustain that. What their strengths are; what are the areas that they need support in, and then developing a really comprehensive plan so that when they do take over their housing within their community they have the tools and infrastructure to succeed within that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you. Yes, this could be my last question, Mr. Chair. I take in understanding that process too, it was alluded to that similar… If there’s going to be a path or an approach to making that possibility at some point arriving with the Housing Corporation and with the bodies of First Nation, something very similar or parallel to that process was achieved and it’s called the New Deal where a lot of the program or funds were devolved to local governments to administer on their own behalf. Would the corporation consider a precedent of that nature to ensure that successes are reached? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am a little bit not aware of this program or the New Deal; however, I’m being informed that self-governments would have to ask to draw down jurisdiction to able to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further, Mr. Nadli?
Nothing further.
Nothing further from Mr. Nadli. Seeing no further comments or questions we will return to page 358, the total corporation expenditure. Do we have comments or questions on 358? There seems to be some confusion among committee members here. Page 358 is the total corporation expenditure. Are there comments or questions on page 358? It’s our final page in the Housing Corporation. All comments were dealt with during the details? I will call the page. NWT Housing Corporation. $109,380,000… Oh, sorry, let me start again.
---Laughter
I’ll get one of these right. NWT Housing Corporation, total corporation expenditure, $109,380,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you, Members. Does committee agree this concludes consideration of the NWT Housing Corporation?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister, and thank you to the witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, will you please escort the witnesses from the Chamber. All right, committee, we agreed to continue with our discussion of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Agreed.
We already agreed earlier, but that’s good. Would the Minister like to bring witnesses into the Chamber? Minister McLeod.
Yes, I would, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. We will gather up the witnesses. Just give us a moment.
Sorry about that confusion. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right I have Kelly Kaylo, acting deputy minister. To my left I have Deb Archibald, assistant deputy minister, mineral and petroleum resources, and to my far right Julie Mujcin, director, finance and administration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Committee, we left on pages 240 and 241, economic diversification and business support. We’re looking at the detail of this division. Do we have any further comments or questions on pages 240 and 241? Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I had a couple of questions here. I’m just wondering what’s happening with the Film Rebate Program? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s continuing, I believe. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
