Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't think that was the answer I was looking for. This budget is prepared by the staff. Does it go to FMB for approval and/or the Minister of Finance or Cabinet? Who makes the final decision about whether and how this appears in the main estimates? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, obviously, if I'm wrong about this, I will bring a correction back, but my understanding is that the Office of the Oil and Gas Regulator puts together their financial budgeting, just the same as any other department. It does go to the Department of Finance to be compiled together with all the main estimates that then come before the committee in the same fashion as the other items that the numbers that are here are generally put together through a business planning process. Obviously, all of the main estimates here didn't have quite the same business planning process because of the fall election, but in general, that was my understanding is that is how these numbers are generated. When I say it's the same as the others, obviously, it operates somewhat differently than a department because it is somewhat more at arm's length and doesn't have a deputy minister specifically other than deputy minister of Justice but it has an executive officer in charge. The numbers are otherwise put together in a similar fashion.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, I understand that these guys are at arm's length and that they put together the budget. Does the Minister have any oversight? Does the Minister sign off on this budget in any way? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, I'm not trying to be obstructive. I guess I just sign off on it, the same as I sign off on the rest of the budget that is before committee right now. I am here to defend it. I'm here to provide explanations of it, and I'm prepared to receive any comments or concerns that the Member has about the numbers that are before the committee right now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, it only took me six minutes to get there. Look, I've met with these people. They do a good job. They've got in place some guidance. They carry out their jobs good. No issues there whatsoever. They've been very helpful any time I visited or had questions, but at some point, there is no oil and gas activity happening here. How and when will we sort of review the financial needs for OROGO, and make any necessary adjustments if there's no oil and gas activity? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, thank you. Fortunately, I have had contact with the staff who do administer the day-to-day operations and am assured that these numbers were developed initially post-devolution to reflect the certain reality, given the current reality in the business planning process that will be undertaken this spring, that there may well be a review to consider whether or not these estimates are more than is required in light of the work that they are being requested to do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I'm looking for an understanding of trends through time in terms of the level and the amount of activity and work that these folks have to do. The Minister says that that's being reviewed. Will that information be brought to standing committee for committee to look at? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my understanding that that work is currently being undertaken by the executive director of OROGO and that it will be coming before committee as part of the planning process. I can see the difference in the numbers myself. I am confident that the executive director at OROGO is going to be undertaking that work if she hasn't already. It will be back before committee. If the committee would like a technical briefing before we get into business planning process, I'm more than happy to make sure that that happens. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. The Minister seems to be looking at some numbers. Can those be shared now with Regular MLAs? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, in referencing the reality in terms of looking at actuals and main estimates, just that there is a significant difference between what's being budgeted and what's actually being spent. Mr. Chair, the Member references trends over time. Let me look into that and see if there is a trend over time that I can produce and, if we can, that we can provide. The commitment is to at least look into it first and then determine whether or not it can be provided or when. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake, you have 30 seconds.
Thanks. The story of my life. I'm running out of time. Yes. What I'm interested in is the number of applications they received; they've reviewed; the number of inspections they carried out; the amount of material posted to their active and suspended licences, permits; all of that kind of stuff. That's what I think we want to know is what the workload is and whether it's changing over time. I really look forward to getting that out of the Minister and the regulator. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, that kind of tracking is being kept. I'm scanning my notes right now for numbers, but that's not the best use of anyone's time right here. Let me commit to getting some numbers back, and perhaps what I will do is engage directly with the Member first before responding, to ensure that we're giving the kinds of numbers he's looking for that can assist this committee in evaluating this work. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions? Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just in regard to all the jobs, they all seem to be in headquarters, six of them. Nothing in the Beaufort-Delta where the actual oil and gas is, in the Sahtu. Are there any plans to start putting our jobs in the communities where the oil and gas is really at, or just keeping everything in Yellowknife like a sponge? Oh, did I say that out loud? I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Laughter
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, the jurisdiction of OROGO covers only land. I'm sorry. I'm going to stumble over this a little bit. I don't have it correctly. Sorry, no. It does not cover the federal areas or the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and it only covers the land. It's not necessarily covering all of the regions that the Member from Nunakput would necessarily be referencing. It also doesn't cover one of the carve-out regions right in the area of Norman Wells, so it doesn't cover all of the Northwest Territories. That said, I am conscious of what the Member is saying, that, even without covering some of the most northerly and perhaps a large chunk of the oil area, it does still cover a significant region. With some explanation, I still take the Member's point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just in regard to 279, our community policing in the NWT through our contract between the GNWT and the Government of Canada. I've been watching in regard to this hearing on the P1 statuses for transfers across for detachments such as the sergeants, the selection that are coming into our communities. Go ahead, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. You just jumped ahead, there. We're dealing with the Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations right now. Do you have any further questions with respect to that area?
On this one, policing services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Any further questions with respect to Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations? If there are no further questions, please turn to page 277. Justice, office of the regulator of oil and gas, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $1,928,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Policing services, beginning on page 279. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It says First Nations policing, P1s. We have a lot of qualified individuals south, north, who should be laterally transferred over, and they are being overlooked. It seems to me like, in some cases, they've been really bringing in outsiders when we have individuals who are more than qualified in our communities to do the job. What is this Minister's stance on P1s on First Nations members? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The RCMP is responsible for their own hiring processes. What I can do, Mr. Chair, is continue to meet regularly, quarterly, as I do, with the commanding officer here locally to continue to encourage them within their processes to do recruitment. As I mentioned earlier, there is, I believe, a dedicated individual here in the Northwest Territories who does do recruitment processes, goes into the communities and engages with individuals. As they are doing that, obviously, the more individuals are being recruited here from the Northwest Territories, the more they are in the RCMP. There is a greater number of individuals who can come back and serve their own communities, although even then there is not necessarily a guaranteed choice when you walk out of depot that you get to pick where you go. There are other things to be considered, but fundamentally, the more people are being recruited to the RCMP from the North, the more likely that there is going to be local individuals back in the communities.
As I say, I can certainly continue to raise that with our partners at the RCMP and, if there are some supports that we can provide them, then we'll certainly to do that and continue to engage. I believe I have previously offered and would make the offer again to request that the RCMP provide a technical briefing to the Members, to this committee, about the range of work they do and how exactly they do provide staffing that is appropriate and relevant to the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's a lot of good information that didn't answer my question. I asked the Minister, Mr. Chair, in regard to supporting Aboriginal P1s that are qualified to do the positions and transfer them laterally into another position in another community. Where does this Minister, in the support of P1s First Nations Aboriginal members, instead of bringing them from the outside and half the time bringing in their friends, where does this Minister stand on that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, the P1 designation is one that is held by the GNWT, created by the GNWT's processes. I do not have any information that it is a status that applies within the RCMP, and I have no control over the RCMP's hiring process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really think that the Minister should get familiarized with that because P1s are the most important thing in making sure, for myself, instead of bringing in outsiders, we have Aboriginals who can take care of our own. We should be supporting them instead of being pushed aside. I really think that we should have senior members, older members coming into our communities, our small communities, because they won't get as excited as younger senior officers. I think that any of the transfers that are being brought in, like for sergeants and corporals who are running detachments in our small communities, I think the Minister should be getting that information from the RCMP to work with the sitting MLA of the day, to work with them to try to get somebody qualified and who has experience in working with the mayors and with the community and being able to actually see who has all applied on that P1 status, if there was P1 status. If not, then it's all up to whoever wants to apply for the small jobs in the communities, but I think that us having a little bit of input into it, I think that would be really good. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, again, I can't force the federal government to apply the GNWT's P1 status designation. What I can do is continue to meet with the "G" Division commander here to encourage him to use what efforts he can when doing the hiring for the RCMP to do so in a way that is as respectful of our communities in the North as possible and, as well, encourage as many new recruits from the North so that they have more and more individuals available to them from the depot who are from our communities and who can come back to our communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think what we should do is, when they're applying for these positions and saying they're an Aboriginal member, they should show ID. That ID has to be shown. I have an Inuvialuit card; I'm Inuvialuit, and I have my number. Any kind of P1 status is through the territorial government, and we're the ones that are paying them, so I think we should have a little bit of say in who we're getting. In regard to that, I think status cards should be shown. Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's all I have.
Thank you, Member. Minister, any comments?
Mr. Chair, thank you. Only again that, obviously, there is a variety of people from the Department of Justice watching today's proceedings closely, and we will take the comments from the Members back to the RCMP when we meet with them regularly. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
