Thank you, Mr. Chair. There has been an increase of $750,000 this year over last. What you’re seeing in those revised estimates is carryover money that was not flowed to communities from the previous year, because there are obligations for communities to do certain things in order to get their payments twice a year, and if they don’t meet those obligations, we have to hold the money until they do. Reporting is one. For example, if they were behind on their reports, we hold the money until they submit the reports and then we flow it to them. The revised estimates simply capture the additional money that was flowed as a result of that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister if the gas tax can be used for capital.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that’s correct. It can be used to help supplement the other capital programs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’d like to ask the Minister, the New Building Canada Plan, Small Community Fund, if all communities in the NWT are eligible for that $13-million fund?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, all communities are eligible for that fund. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the same fund… I’d like to ask the Minister if that can be treated as capital?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is correct. This is all capital. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, because we’re now kind of spilling into potential capital here, I’m wondering if this capital has had any effect on the capital, this capital project initiatives that go to the communities, which is usually around $28 million. I’m wondering if the Minister, I know it’s not on here, if the Minister could confirm that that amount of capital has not changed as a result of any of this money? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the CPI funding the Member is referring to is not touched. It hasn’t changed. It will not change, unless we can increase it somehow in the future, but it’s been at $28,002,000 for a while. A lot of communities will use this money as cost share dollars for some of the Building Canada Plan projects. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Nothing further from Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Going back to the New Building Canada Plan, here, I’d like the compliment the department on accessing those federal dollars. I first witnessed this this past winter, where one of the communities in my area has access for three different projects. Now you’re starting to see a new utility or upgrade, a new cement floor in the arena, so they can make use of the building during the summer months rather than wait for frozen ice. We’re going to see a loss of dust as a result of a new chipseal upgrade on our road system, so it captures the intent of the program, and I know this is a first and I compliment the department. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Would the Minister like to respond?
Well, we appreciate the Member’s comments and we’re excited about the fact that our communities have taken full advantage of all the money that’s become available to them to do a lot of fantastic projects in the community, and they are able to identify their priorities and they have the resources now to put towards some of the priorities they identified, so a shout-out to the communities. They’ve done a fantastic job. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Was there anything further, Mr. McNeely? Nothing further from Mr. McNeely. Do I have any more questions on pages 351? Seeing none. We can turn to the department summary on page 319. Any final questions for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs? Seeing none. I’m ready to call. Municipal and Community Affairs, department total, $104,200,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Does the committee agree we’ve completed consideration of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs?
Agreed.
I want to thank the Minister and his witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
---SHORT RECESS
We’ve agreed to consider the Legislative Assembly. I’ll now turn to the Speaker for opening comments. Mr. Speaker.
Masi, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2016-17 main estimates for the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly is seeking an operations expenditures appropriation of $19,336,000 for 2016-17. This represents a decrease of $1,839,000, or 9.7 per cent from the 2015-16 main estimates of $21,175,000, and a 2.8 per cent decrease from actual expenditures in the 2014-15 fiscal year. A significant portion of the decrease from the 2015-16 operations budget is due to the sunsetting of $1,467,000 in funding that was approved for the 2015 territorial election, and for the transition from the 17th Assembly to this 18th Assembly. My office also undertook a comprehensive review of the Legislative Assembly’s operational needs for 2016-2017, and developed a number of reduction options in order to align with the reduction target put forth by the Executive Council.
Mr. Chair, we are proposing reductions totaling $773,000 for the 2016-17 operations budget. These proposed reductions are substantially a result of changes we intend to implement to some of our service delivery models, along with adjustments to our staff resources during the inter-election period to improve our operational efficiencies. One example of operational efficiency that we are particularly pleased with is in the area of heating for the Legislative Assembly building. In 2010, a wood pellet boiler system was installed. Over the past five years, this has resulted, on average, in a 10-per-cent reduction in the combined costs for heating fuel and wood pellets. In 2015-16, our heating costs were reduced to $53,000. This is a 30-per-cent decrease in the average annual heating costs before the wood pellet boiler system was commissioned. From an environmental perspective we have reduced our use of heating fuel, on average, by approximately 64,000 litres per year, resulting in greenhouse gas savings of approximately 189,000 tonnes in 2015-16. I can assure Members that these estimates support the Legislative Assembly’s goals of achieving operational efficiency and limiting expenditure growth in order to sustain the long-term fiscal objectives of our government.
Mr. Chair, in closing, I want to thank all Members, my colleagues on the Board of Management, and the Assembly staff for their contributions and efforts in working towards these main estimates, and to the continued efficient operations and delivery of quality services for the Legislative Assembly. Masi cho, Mr. Chair. This concludes my opening remarks. I am pleased to respond to any questions that Members may have.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Mr. Speaker would you please introduce your witnesses?
Masi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right is the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Tim Mercer and to my left, director of corporate services, Mr. Darrin Ouellette.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will begin on page 5, the Legislative Assembly total. As always, we’ll defer that until we consider the detail. Beginning on page 6, revenue summary. Questions on page 6, revenue summary? I see no questions, we’ll move to page seven, active position summary. Questions on active position summary, page 7. I’m seeing none, we’ll move to expenditures on behalf of Members. Page 9, expenditures on behalf of Members, operations expenditure summary questions? Seeing none, I’ll call the page. Legislative Assembly expenditures on behalf of Members, operations expenditure summary, activity total $8,379,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Committee agrees. We’ll move to Office of the Chief of the Electoral Officer on page 11. There’s an associated information item on page 12 we can discuss first. Do we have questions on page 12, active positions? I see no questions, we’ll return to the activity total. Questions on page 11? Seeing none, I’ll call. Legislative… Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to ask the Minister why there is such a huge drop in the two line items “Elections NT” and “compensation and benefits” on this page. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair obviously the first line item is a decrease in the Elections NT budget of just over $1 million. During 2015 we had an election so we needed more resource people at that time and now that we’ve gone over election there is a decrease in that due to that fact. There’s also a decrease in compensation benefits. I believe there is a sunset of roughly $467,000 election expenses for temporary election staff as well. Those are some of the resource staff that we needed and there is no need for them right now until the next election. Those are just some of the changes that reflect that reduction. Masi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No further questions from Mr. Beaulieu. Do we have any further questions on this page, page 11? Seeing none, I’ll call the page. Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $531,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
We will continue to office of the clerk. The activity total is on page 14. We’ll begin by discussing the details on page 15, active positions. Any questions, page 15, active positions? Seeing none, we’ll move back to page 14, operations expenditure summary. Questions from committee, page 14? Seeing none, I’ll call the page. Legislative Assembly, office of the clerk, operations expenditure summary, activity total $8,213,000. Agreed?
Agreed
Continue on page 17, office of the Speaker. I will defer that until we discuss the active positions on page 18. Do I have questions on page 18? Seeing none, we’ll return to page 17. Questions on page 17? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note a significant travel budget for this office and I wonder if the Speaker could describe how this money is spent. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Speaker.
Masi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, part of the budget is for the mace tour that we usually have on an annual basis. There were two mace tours in the past; now we’re going with one mace tour on an annual basis, on a trial basis. Other budgetary items obviously is for the Pages as well that we have within our budget to offset their travels and their accommodations and so forth. Masi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ms. Green.
Thank you. Those are all of my questions.
Thank you, Ms. Green. I see no further questions on this page. Legislative Assembly, office of the speaker, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $340,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
