Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We have information items on pages 92 to 101. If committee would care to make comments or ask questions about the information items on page 92 to 101, I will entertain a set of comments or questions. Mr. Thompson
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In here, the environmental fund, is this where we talk about recycling and that area? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
I'm sorry. Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Previously, I've asked the Minister about setting up a recycling depot or terminal or whatever you want to call it, distribution centre, for the region. Can the Minister advise if there have been any further conversations about setting up a distribution centre; not a depot but a distribution centre? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is there have been no further discussions, but I'd have to confirm that. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this is an opportunity for the potential for employment in the region and that. Can the Minister advise who I should be talking to, or the local contractor, who should they be talking to, so we can get this opportunity moving? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have some local operators in the Member's region, but the person, if he's looking for a contact, would, again, be the superintendent in Fort Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. Thompson. Seeing nothing further from committee, we can return to the departmental total found on page 65. Environment and Natural Resources, total department $86,693,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Thank you to the Minister. Thank you to the witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, you may escort the witnesses from the Chamber. Minister, you may take your seat. Thank you. Committee, we have next agreed to consider the Department of Finance. I will turn to the Minister of Finance for any opening comments he may have. Minister McLeod, are you ready? Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon. Today I am presenting the 2019-2020 Main Estimates for the Department of Finance. These estimates total $258.2 million, which includes the GNWT's operating contribution of $70.4 million to the NWT Housing Corporation. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $7.5 million, or 3 percent over the 2018-2019 Main Estimates.
Setting aside the changes in the contribution to the NWT Housing Corporation, which you will review with Minister Moses, highlights of Finance's proposed 2019-2020 Main Estimates include:
$15.3 million in inter-departmental transfers and $400,000 in initiative funding for the establishment of an Information Systems Shared Services unit;
$400,000 to support secondment agreements between the GNWT and Indigenous organizations;
$2.0 million in forced growth as a result of increased usage and costs of the Employee Medical Travel and Dental programs; and
$12.5 million to provide rebates and cost-of-living credits to minimize the effects of the NWT Carbon Tax on NWT residents.
Finally, I would also like to point out that the 2019-2020 Main Estimates outline the Borrowing Plan for the GNWT. This plan proposes to establish a total borrowing limit for the GNWT of $809 million, which is comprised of the following:
Short-term debt, $390 million;
Long-term debt, $419 million; and
Capital leases, $500,000.
The limits proposed in the Borrowing Plan will be included in the Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2019-2020. The GNWT borrowing is part of our overall debt, which also includes the NWT Power Corporation and the NWT Housing Corporation debt. That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. I understand that you have witnesses whom you wish to bring into the Chamber. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber, and Minister, please take your seat at the witness table. Committee, the department begins on page 131 of the tabled document that we are considering. The committee will notice that, on page 137, there is a copy of the Borrowing Plan. However, we will defer consideration of that until after the department, and we will then consider it in its own section, which is in the blue tab near the front of the document on page XV. Minister McLeod, will you please introduce your witnesses for the record?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, who is the deputy minister of Finance and also secretary to the FMB. To my left, I have Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the FMB. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Welcome to the witnesses. Committee, the departmental total is on page 135. As usual, we will defer that until after consideration of the individual activities, of which there are five, followed by some information items. The first activity is directorate, and it can be found on page 139. I will open the floor to comments or questions on directorate. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am not even sure if this is the right place to ask, but is there any information about the Heritage Fund? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is under the management board secretariat, but if the Member wishes, he can ask the questions in this particular area.
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will wait until we get to the management board secretariat, and I just found my page here. It is 151. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Any further comments or questions on directorate? Seeing none, I will call this activity. Finance, directorate, operations expenditures summary, $76,134,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Turning to the second activity, human resources, beginning on page 143 and continuing to page 145. Comments or questions on human resources? I will give committee a moment. Mr. Thompson.
Sorry. Hopefully this is the section, human resources. I have heard people concerned about affirmative action and it not being implemented properly. Does the department encourage or work with other departments to set up succession planning so that Indigenous people are able to move forward into a position of management? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The short answer is yes. We work with all of our Indigenous employees, and I think that there are a couple of programs to try to get them some management experience. If employees are identified as though they might be able to move through the system and are capable of becoming managers, then we would work with them to give them the proper training that they need to move them along. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can employees identify themselves for management or to look at getting to be trained in this area? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I suppose that the employees can identify themselves as potential candidates for moving through the system. Again, identifying yourself is one thing. Being capable of doing the work that is assigned to you and moving through the system is another matter, but I don't think that anything stops them from self-identifying. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just lost my thought here for a second. It is good to see that, and I understand that. When people are given the opportunity to apply for jobs and they are not successful, what is the appeal mechanism? Do they have the opportunity to appeal the process? I guess, what is the mechanism for people who appeal? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Stewart.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. When there is a competition, the client service manager from our department helps the hiring department with the process, but they also work with the applicant. If somebody wasn't successful, then they would give them the information that they would need to know the steps and point out them to the website for the exact steps they might go through for a staffing appeal.
Also, to explain, we have done some plain language work to be able to explain to folks what is appealable and what isn't appealable about competition, so they would give them all of that information and then check to see if they would like to appeal anything about the process that they didn't think was done properly. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that clarification. If a person appeals, are they able to receive all of the notes that are part of the interview process? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Stewart.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am not sure that I know all of the details of exactly what they would get access to. I know that there have been cases where they have been provided things like test scores and those sorts of things, but I don't know the level that they go down to. We could look into that and get back to the Member specifically around the panel's notes and those sorts of things, but I think it is mostly about scoring and that sort of stuff that they would get.
The other thing that we do, and this is outside the appeal process, is that, on every competition for Northerners, if somebody is not successful and they get regrets, we actually will go through their resume with them or their interview and say, "Here's something that you might want to try next time," so that they can learn. If there are things in the interview that they didn't do well on, outside the appeal process, they can still get some tips that might help them in the next competition. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that information. It helps me when constituents ask me the questions about what the process is. I know that, in the past, I have seen people give a position and give them training plans. I guess my question is: do we still do this? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, going back to my earlier comment, we identify somebody who has the ability to move through the system and, with the proper training, move into a management role. I think we see it government-wide. We have a lot of Indigenous people now in management roles, and some of it is through the training of the GNWT, and there are a number of training options that are available. So we continue to work with them, and, if there is an opportunity for them to be identified, get a position, move through the system, we will train them, and we have the appropriate appropriation to do so. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
