Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the department does currently -- or the fund does produce a report which the department does table on the heritage fund, and we also include in our reporting the heritage fund. So it's at page 181 of the main estimates for Finance. And that outlines where the revenues are coming from within the fund. So you'll see on that page that there's about $61 million that is predicted to be in the fund by the end of this fiscal year that we're going into. And that outlines for Members and the public the amount that is -- of the income that is in that fund that is coming from interest and other income as well as the cost of commissions that -- and other fees that the fund has to pay to administer the fund. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, that's news to me, Mr. Chair, that the heritage fund annual report is tabled every year. I was under the impression that hasn't been happening and that they've been effectively relying on the public accounts for reporting. So can you just clarify for me -- I mean if an annual report, which follows the kind of rules and the final planning and accountability framework for annual reporting, you know, an auditor's report, management discussion and analysis, and -- yeah, analysis providing an overview of the previous year operations, how the year will influence decisions in the future, if that report has been tabled, if I can have a copy of it or I'll have a look for it, but I wasn't aware of it. Thanks.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, no, just to be clear, it is tabled as part of when the public accounts are being tabled. I don't know that it is being tabled separately. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So -- and just to be clear, I mean, I would have to go and do an ask or have a look for myself, but does it follow all of the guidance in the planning and accountability framework that I just laid out there, or is it effectively just a few numbers in the public account?
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't have the detail in front of me. I'm not sure if the deputy minister or director can speak to that level of detail. I'll turn to the deputy minister first, please.
Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will have to get back to the Member on that. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that's it for questions for this section at this time. Thanks.
Thank you. Next on my list I have is the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a few questions related to parts of the finance business plan, and I'm not sure where the best place to ask them is, but I'll just ask them here until I'm told I can't.
Okay, one is around -- there was a review of the vendor complaint policy which, I think, was supposed to be finished by last fall, unless I'm mistaken, and it was potentially related -- maybe you could confirm -- to the vendor performance management policy and so that, I believe, was intended to give departments and private industry tools to streamline accessing government services. Can you confirm, what is the status of that initiative and what the purpose of it is exactly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the vendor performance management process is one whereby we do now, thankfully, monitor when there is commitments being made by a proponent to comply with BIP provisions so they get a bid adjustment and we, previous to this policy, had no actual mechanism of verifying whether they were performing as they said they were going to be performing. So that's that portion of it. And the element that was being reviewed is then if there's a complaints mechanism, so if a proponent says, you know, look, they're -- what you're saying I haven't done I've done, and having a mechanism by which to manage that, is what was under a review. And if I could turn to the deputy minister just on the -- where that is at, I'm not having it at the tip of my fingers. Thank you.
Thank you. Just for the translator, deputy minister, I'm not sure how -- if we -- the mic will come on for the Minister -- deputy minister. Okay, continue.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. So as the Minister mentioned, the vendor complaint policy is part of a review of the procurement procedures, but that is a way for vendors to make complaints about specific awards of contracts, and it would involve review by a third party typically. So we're really -- start early on in that stage. We're doing a jurisdictional review to see what the best practices are in other jurisdictions, and -- but we're looking to include that within probably this fiscal year, have the vendor complaint policy for executive council consideration by the end of this year. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay. And can the Minister confirm, when you say end of this fiscal year, are we talking by March 2025 or the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you. March 2025. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I look forward to seeing progress on that one.
Another question I had related to business plans was one of finance's goals is increasing awareness around the Indigenous development training program which is related to health care recruitment efforts, and it does say that the goal is to support seven employees per year in health related fields.
Can the Minister help increase our awareness of what exactly this training program does, like, what -- is it a certification or what it prepares people for and how it helps with health care recruitment? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Indigenous development and training program supports professional development for Indigenous employees by giving skills training, work experience, depending upon what the circumstances might be. So there's what is provided as a grant from the Department of Finance to help support employees through their departments to undertake these opportunities. We have a budget for up to 40 grants per year, and it's -- the number of applicants receiving funding supported by their departments has grown over the last few years. We are now as of, I believe last fiscal, sitting at 37 and -- or sorry, two years ago it was 37 and now we're -- in the last actuals we have as up to 62; and, applications, 59 moving forward through the process. So all of which is to say, Mr. Chair, it's an opportunity to ensure that employees who could benefit from some training in order to be able to move up in part of a succession planning have that access. I do have numbers by department in terms of who is accessing these funds and these opportunities, and I'd be happy to read out but also could easily certainly provide by way of letter to committee or as a tabled document. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So can the Minister clarify that this is not necessarily to recruit new employees but to take existing employees; and perhaps she can clarify if it's any employee throughout the GNWT if they're interested in some professional development related to health care or if it's only those employees who are already employed in health care and it's helping them sort of advance in their positions? Can the Minister just clarify those points. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, this is not health care specific though certainly does have some significant numbers, I believe, in -- or some numbers within health care of the folks accessing this. It is generally for staff -- existing staff was the other question. So it is for existing GNWT employees and is an opportunity means by which to support employees as they are wanting to move up in the organization by providing them, if there's a gap in a certification or a gap in a particular area, that they can obtain that through this program. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, that helps clarify. It is in the business plan under access to health care but now I understand that it's a broader program, but there's -- it's just mentioned there as something that might help our health care recruitment efforts as well. And perhaps I'll follow up later with health and social services to see how well they're doing on health care recruitment. So that's all for now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Next on my list I have is Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, like my colleague Mr. Morse, I'm referring to information item on page 181 which is the heritage fund and the amount that's in there. And I guess if I could start, Mr. Chair, if the Minister or deputy minister could provide a kind of a makeup of what's in that fund. And when I say makeup, with respect to the investment portfolio itself, equities versus treasury bills, bonds, other banking instruments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I have as of March 31st of last year, so the actuals coming in from last fiscal, we have a breakdown of equity at 24.2 percent fixed income. Yields or bonds are at 9.8 percent fixed income. Short term, 54.5 percent. There's cash equivalence of just under 11 percent. And we do yet accrue interest at 5 -- .5 percent as well as dividends at a small marginal amount, 0.5 percent. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe I may have missed it. Did the Minister mention in that one what our annual yield was last fiscal year?
Thank you. I'll go back to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If that is the interest received, Mr. Chair, we had in 2023 -- I don't know that I have the -- well, I don't have the 2024-2025 actuals yet, Mr. Chair, but I can say we have revised upwards on interest. Obviously interest rates were pretty high last year, so -- and we do have -- so we have -- yes, we've revised it as of this time as being $4.454 million. In 2023-2024, it was a lot lower but, again, interest rates were pretty high. So we do maintain right now a 75 percent bond amount and that -- so, I mean, again, depending on where those bonds are but when interest rates are higher, that, in this particular instance, did result in a higher than projected amount -- higher than budgeted amount. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, some of my colleagues have said we've had some briefing notes from -- at the government operations committee on the heritage fund, and we've had some experts come in and kind of compare us to other funds, not only in Canada but from around the world, and certainly to only have a 24 percent equity, while it's -- I understand it's public funds and certainly we want to be fairly risk adverse, but I do think that, you know, from what we've heard that's a fairly low amount to be in equities and likely we could see our fund do a little better if we were to take a little of that risk off. So I guess my question would be for the Minister, is the department looking at that, looking at working with our investment manager, current or any other, to look at rebalancing that portfolio to maybe take on -- to be a little less risk adverse, to look at kind of increasing our -- increasing the amount we receive annually. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the fund is actually -- this is a good time to ask that question, Mr. Chair. The act does require a review by the Assembly every ten years, and this Assembly happens to be the 10-year review period, so this is exactly the work that needs to be undertaken. I believe committee is actually responsible for the review, so happy to be part of that. I know that -- I gather that process is clearly underway, and I'm looking forward to seeing what may come of it, and certainly, that's -- the point is if there needs to be changes, there'll be changes. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you. Who manages the fund currently, Mr. Chair?
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
CIBC, Mr. Chair.
