Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. We’ll just take a minute to circulate that motion.
The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Does committee agree that consideration of the Department of Executive is completed?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. With that, we’d like to thank Ms. Turner and Ms. Ballantyne for joining us this evening and, of course, the Premier. If I could get the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.
Continuing on with the main estimates, committee, we’ll go directly to the Legislative Assembly. With that, I’d like to ask Speaker Jacobson if he has any opening comments.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2014-2015 estimates for the Legislative Assembly. I would like to thank the Members of the Board of Management for their assistance and input into this budget. The Assembly is seeking an operations expenditure appropriation of $18.989 million. This represents an increase of $750,000 from the 2013-2014 estimates.
As you know, this past November the Assembly celebrated the 20th anniversary of this building. We made the final mortgage payment and assumed full ownership of this magnificent building.
Due to the careful management of the Legislative Assembly Building Society, we received over $400,000 in surplus funding that has been committed to a number of celebration and enhancement projects we have started this year and plan to complete in the upcoming fiscal year.
The ongoing projects include a new exterior building sign, the rejuvenation of our Water’s Edge Park and the establishment of an ongoing scholarship fund for NWT students.
We are also working with our neighbours on some improvements to the capital site. In consultation with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre and the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, we are overseeing a project to put signs in place that will serve as a landmark and guide visitors and tourists to our building and to these other important NWT public institutions.
As well, we are undertaking some improvements to the Legislative Assembly building. This includes the replacement of an aging telephone system to make sure people can get hold of Members and staff when they need to.
This will also be the first full year that our House proceedings will be broadcast on direct-to-home satellite television across the Northwest Territories and Canada. We will be working to develop a program that will be informative and educational about the work of our Legislative Assembly.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the NWT’s Human Rights Act coming into force. This budget includes funding for the Human Rights Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of this act to make sure it continues to serve and protect the rights of NWT residents.
In addition, the director’s office will be renovated to provide a safe and effective environment, and a part-time position will be added to their staff complement to address an increased workload.
At the same time, recognizing that the Human Rights Adjudication Panel has moved to a new administrative model and that their caseloads have increased, we have adjusted their budget accordingly.
There are also budget considerations for the elections office as they begin the important work of preparing for the next general election.
The Office of the Clerk is undertaking succession planning actions to ensure they are prepared to meet the needs of the Assembly, specifically its Members and committees. Responsibilities within the Office of the Clerk have been realigned, and a new position has been established to support the Board of Management and to coordinate the office’s administrative activities in support of session and standing committees. This budget also includes funding to establish a one-year committee clerk trainee position beginning this fall.
Once again, colleagues, we are looking forward to a busy and productive year. Our efforts will be focused on continuing to deliver quality services to Members, reaching the people of the NWT to make sure they are well informed about the good work of the Legislative Assembly and to sustaining a responsive, representative and flexible workforce.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This concludes my opening remarks. I am pleased to respond to any questions Members may have.
Thank you, Speaker Jacobson. Do you have any witnesses you’d like to bring into the House?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses in.
Speaker Jacobson, please introduce your witnesses to the House.
To my left I have Mr. Darrin Ouellette; to my right I have Ms. Colette Langlois, Clerk.
Thank you, Speaker. Mr. Ouellette, Ms. Langlois, welcome to the House. We’ll move to general comments. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Welcome to Mr. Speaker and staff. It’s great to have you at the witness table there. Thanks for those introductory remarks. It explained a lot of questions I had on the budget.
I think the Human Rights Commission funding, I understand we are going to be doing a 10-year review, which is really great. I know one of the issues that I come up against quite a bit is the whole issue of legal support, both for the commission and for constituents who are bringing complaints forward, so I hope that’s part of the review.
I also note the increase of a couple of positions for the Office of the Clerk. I see they work hard every day and I will heartily support that. A very, very, very hardworking bunch there and the workload just seems to go up with our requests. So I understand that.
A small one I see is our revenue has declined from $15,000 down to $3,000. I’m interested in what’s happening on that front, although that’s a very modest issue. I see compensation benefits and benefits as a whole are up $620,000. I think that was explained in the comments with the new activity expected from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, two new positions. If there are any other perspectives there, that would be useful.
Finally, Mr. Chair, I am hearing concerns about access for disabled people in this building, those with disabilities. I’m wondering what might be happening. It has been 20 years, and congratulations to the Speaker on that, and the building seems to be in great shape. I’ve certainly never worked anywhere better and I hear that comment from people who visit, as well, and we see the streams of visitors in here. So this is an amazing facility, but all the more so as our Legislature to be fully up to snuff on the services we provide.
So, if there is a plan to start working on making sure full accessibility for those with disabilities, I would love to hear about that too.
Mr. Chair, that’s all I have on this part of the budget. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’ll allow Speaker Jacobson to reply to that. Speaker Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Regarding the $3,000, that was for two conferences that were attended last year by myself and Members. We have no conferences planned for this year coming, so you shouldn’t see that again.
First of all, I would like to assure Members that this building fully meets the accessibility requirements of the 2010 Building Code.
When we did the review a few years ago, we found that some of our doors needed to be wider. With that and the 2010 Building Code, we fixed that last year at a cost of about $90,000. This made us fully compliant. However, I’m always interested in what we can do to make our building better. Before this sitting, we adjusted some of our seats in the gallery here to stay down at all times so it makes it easier to get in and out for people. So, with canes or crutches or if our elders are attending. We also started propping open our glass doors here in the public areas to make it easier for people to get through. You can’t get rid of the glass doors because we have them there for fire code.
We can’t do any more with that with our 2013-2014 budget; but as soon as we have our new year’s budget, we’re going to fix the doors with both disabled persons washrooms on the first floor so that they’re easier to open. That’s a priority. We’re also looking at changes that might need to be taken in other areas of the building, both public and non-public, sooner rather than later, for Members and staff. If we have wheelchair and mobility issues, we should be ready for that.
You’ll probably see us come forward with a small supplementary appropriation request so we can get it for that work to be done this year and a small capital funding request in 2015-16 so we can do the rest. Our plan is to involve organizations such as the Council for Persons with Disabilities to help us prioritize the work plan that we have coming forward to the Assembly building.
Thank you, Speaker Jacobson. General comments. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Speaker. That sounds like a great plan. I believe I heard him mention the glass doors and I know that is an issue for some people, as he said, that are on canes or crutches. I must just throw out a little personal anecdote. Having ended up in the hospital having my head stitched up, you can actually try and walk through those doors sometimes. I don’t know whether that’s an issue, although you might want to have a decal about eye level. That’s all I had. Thank you for that response.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. We’ll allow the Speaker to reply to that. Speaker Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Decals are going up, and you shouldn’t be texting while walking.
Thank you, Speaker Jacobson. General comments. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. After a thorough and vigorous review of this latest budget of the Legislative Assembly, your loyal committee would like to move a motion.
