Thanks, Mr. Chair. What ended up happening was, over the course of the past year in 2016-17, we had changed how we fund different organizations based on a risk-based approach. So when we fund a smaller category of funding up to, let's say, $5,000 we do it through a grant; anything over and above that amount we would do it through a contribution agreement. So what ended up happening is in 2015-16 they were operating under the old grant program and this has been since changed in 2016-17. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's a helpful explanation, but what I see here is support over time declining for our arts and performers. Is that the case? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and just further to Mr. Lovely's comments earlier, we did change it so it would be easier for artists to get the contributions, moving it from the grants down to the contributions. Funding hasn't really changed; we still give strong support there. It's just in terms of how we set up these agreements with northern performers. I'll go to Mr. Lovely for a little bit more clarification on that. Thank you
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Lovely.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. In 2015-16 what you see under the Support to Northern Performers item is $185,000 in actuals, and we have since changed that program and moved that funding down into Arts Organizations' Operating Funding. Because there wasn't any program in 2015-16 you're not going to see any actual expenditures in that year. So as we move forward in 2016-17, the new organizations, or the organizations that had previously applied under the Support to Northern Performers, will probably apply under the Arts Organizations' Operating Funding. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's a very helpful explanation, and I can see it now.
I also note that the NWT Arts Council in 2014, they developed a strategic plan. Are there any plans by the department to increase our support for arts and performers? Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry, and the reason why I say that, Mr. Chair, is this is an area of our economy that has tremendous paybacks; it can help diversify our economy, showcase our culture. Is this something that the department is looking at increasing, say, funding to the NWT Arts Council and/or Support to Northern Performers? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our department continues to collaborate with other departments such as ITI when we're supporting Northern performers, Northern artists. In this budget there is no increase, just for confirmation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm glad I got a straight answer there from the Minister; I appreciate that. I guess, though, is this an area that the department is prepared to do some more work on by developing its own strategy or action plan around support for performing arts and our artists here in the Northwest Territories? So can you make that commitment to begin work on a strategy or an action plan of some sort? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have an arts strategy. It is probably a few years old, but we can take a look at it again and evaluate how it's working. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm just skimming through this section to see if I've got anything else. I think most of my questions were already asked by my colleagues. Sorry, there's one here. Public library services have been declining over time. Can someone from the department tell us what's going on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What you're seeing is that under Community Library Services the budget has remained the same over the last two years, at $763,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. My apologies. I should have pointed to page 34, and the line item is public library services. It has declined in 2016 from $2,048,000 to this year. It is now $1.888 million, so it has been declining over time. Are we just cutting the funding to this service? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to clarify this, the funding to the libraries is not affected. It is something that some of the operations within our own department, we made those reductions. You can rest assured that the public libraries did not see any funding affected.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for his explanation. Can he just provide a little bit more detail about what is being cut in public library services? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As part of the reduction exercise that began last fiscal year or this fiscal year, we eliminated one position at the Library Services Branch in Hay River. We have also reduced other operations and maintenance expenses by approximately $24,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I was afraid of that. I think that is all the questions that I have. Once again, here we have the fiscal strategy of Cabinet driving what we should be doing at the programs and services that we offer to our residents. I don't support that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I take that as a comment. Any further questions from committee? I see none. Seeing no further questions or comments from committee, please return to page 34, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, operation expenditure summary, total activity, $203,195,000. Does committee agree? Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee defer further consideration of the activity education and culture under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Main Estimates 2017-2018 on page 34 at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. The motion is on the floor and it is being distributed. The motion is on the floor and it is non-debatable.
Question
Question has been called. All those in favour. All those opposed. The motion is carried.
---Carried
The education and culture activity has been deferred. Thank you, committee. We will now proceed to the next activity, income security. The activity description is found on page 39. The activity detail is on page 40. Related information items are found on page 41 and 42. Does committee have any questions or comments? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, at the time that the department presented its business plan it was not able to tell us about the projected growth in income assistance for the coming fiscal year. I am wondering if they are able to do that now, please. Thank you. That is, growth in the number of clients. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you. There is an increase of $200 million that we are projecting for this year. At this time, we don't have the number of clients. Sorry, projected number of distinct cases, 3,420. For 2016-17, we don't have those numbers, thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For income assistance, we have 3,900 clients or distinct cases in 2016-17. For senior heating subsidy, it is 546. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I need to sort some numbers out. I heard the Minister say that the increase was $200 million to income assistance. Could he confirm?
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was my mistake. It is just over $2 million. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Committee, please keep the sidebar activity to a minimum. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for being strict. I also have two numbers now for the number of cases in 2016-17 for people who require income assistance. I have 3,900 and I have 3,420. Could the Minister please point me to the correct number? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The numbers that I gave were actually in 2015-16. That is the 3,420. The other number that Mr. Lovely gave you was the following year. They are both correct, just different years. My apologies. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.
