Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’ll have questions for the Minister of Finance. Discussions with the Minister of Human Resources earlier brought me on to looking at the Financial Administrative Act under Section 32.1(1), the transfer among activities. Although the act – I looked it up – states that the board, on the recommendations of the Minister responsible for an item, may transfer funds among activities set out in the estimates on which the appropriate item is based if the amount appropriated for the item as a whole is not increased.
Can I ask the Minister of Finance, up to what amount are they able to practice this transfer among activities? Can he give me an amount within the department they’re able to make that decision? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, $250,000. Thank you.
So that’s $250,000 that each department is able, under the direction of the Minister responsible, to move within the department. That concerns me about accountability and transparency. So when the Ministers do this practice – I’m not sure how common it is – are there any discussions with committee or are there any discussions within Cabinet on how these dollars are moved within the department under this section of the FAA? Thank you.
The activities that the Member talks about are set out, as he’s pointed out, in Section 31.1 of the Financial Administration Act. Under that act, as well, deputy ministers, under the delegation of authority of regulations, have been delegated authority by the FMB to transfer funds among activities. Departments are required to report to the Department of Finance detailed monthly reports of all budget adjustments and transfers affecting operations, expenditures and capital expenditure appropriations. This includes transfers between expenditure categories, such as compensation and benefits, materials and supplies, and grants and contributions. Thank you.
It’s kind of related to the job positions that we’re talking about, the vacant positions that are constantly brought forward in the last few meetings here.
I’d like to ask the Minister, how common is this practice within government for the Minister and the deputy minister to be making these types of decisions? Thank you.
I’d also point out that I’m required as the Minister of Finance, under Section 31, to table each session a list of funds transferred that exceed $250,000 before the Legislative Assembly. So this is a standard management tool for an operation the size of ours, $1.6 billion budget, where the managers, the Ministers, the deputies, senior managers that manage their operations, there are the checks and balances to make sure that it’s accounted for within activities, between activities, but that ability is very, very common practice. It’s a management tool that’s absolutely critical in order to do business. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We heard from the Minister of Human Resources earlier about some positions that might be deliberately left vacant and that brings up the concern that a Minister can take a vacant position or two, which is equal to about $200,000, and use those funds to do certain programs or projects within the department and that’s concerning to me.
Would the Minister look at possibly looking to see if there is a way that this section can be amended to look at the responsibilities of the Ministers in not such a high amount of dollars, $250,000, would he look at amending it to a certain amount of money, or amend it so that committee also has input into how these dollars are moved around within a department? We’re going through the budget session and, obviously, there are some concerns about where these dollars are flowing. Thank you.
Cleary, this session there’s an interest by Members in terms of vacancies and this HR issue. There’s a report tabled each session in this Legislative Assembly for the Members where we can have that discussion. We’re also in the midst of a total rewrite of the Financial Administration Act, which will fully involve committee. We’re going to be looking at a total rewrite since it’s a very old document, so I believe the concerns of the Member will be able to be addressed as we look at the rewrite of that legislation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
