Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The budget for the Department of the Executive is quite different than it was last year.

As a result of reorganization, the budget has increased from $17.8 million and 152.6 person years in 1993/94 to $57.3 million and 327.4 person years.

It includes spending plans for the Executive Offices, the Ministry of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs and the expanded Financial Management Board Secretariat.

My remarks will deal with the budget of the Executive Offices. Mr. Kakfwi and Mr. Pollard will be appearing before the committee to deal with their portions of the Executive Department budget.

The Executive Offices' portion of the budget is $10.4 million and 97.1 person years, a decrease of about $3 million and 30.5 person years.

The major reason for this:

1) The Audit Bureau has been transferred to the Financial Management Board Secretariat;

2) The Bureau of Statistics has been moved to the Department of Finance; 3) The Science Institute has moved to Education, Culture and Employment;

4) The Protocol Office is being closed, future protocol requirements will be dealt with through the utilization of existing resources in the department and the Legislative Assembly;

5) Salaries for four government liaison offices are being shared with other departments, particularly Social Services and Renewable Resources, to reflect more accurately how they are utilizing their time; and

6) The Executive Council Grants program has been replaced by a new policy in the Ministry of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs to support the provision of grants and contributions to aboriginal organizations.

While implementing these changes, the department has been able to generate further savings through internal efficiencies. Reductions in ongoing lease costs due to purchase of office equipment such as facsimiles, copiers and computers, no longer requiring rental facilities for session and program redesign have contributed to this exercise.

The presentation of the remaining functions has also changed significantly. Where there were once ten activities, there are now three. They consist of the Commissioner's office, the Ministers' offices and the Executive Council Secretariat. This involved the consolidation of many small activities, but did not involve any staff reduction at either headquarters or in the regions. It is anticipated that it will lead to better coordination within the Executive Offices' budget.

In the past years, the Department of the Executive was sub-divided too many ways and was responsible for a variety of tasks and activities tacked on over the years. To better focus attention on managing the government's agenda, setting priorities and monitoring implementation, the department has been pared down. I believe this will help over the coming months as the government will bring forward new initiatives in the areas of income reform, employment, economic and renewable resource development, deficit reduction and housing. As Members are aware, the GNWT is being driven to overhaul many programs in response to federal cutbacks and off-loading, so more time will be devoted to communicating with the public so that they understand our position and direction.

Some issues of importance that fall directly under the responsibility of the Government Leader, and which are in the budget before the committee, are Status of Women and Official Languages.

As Members are aware, the Canada/Northwest Territories cooperation agreement for French and aboriginal languages expires at the end of the fiscal year. The renewal process has begun and the GNWT has submitted a proposal to the federal government for a five year agreement which will take us up to division.

The focus of the GNWT proposal for aboriginal languages is the increasing role for communities in language matters and support to community-based initiatives. As in past years, the GNWT is seeking 100 per cent funding for the provision of French language services, as required under the Official Languages Act.

There have been concerns raised about the management of the current agreement, particularly with respect to lapsed dollars. The GNWT is addressing these concerns through many avenues, including the renewal process. We are seeking a much more flexible agreement to avoid administrative requirements which contributed to the unacceptable level of lapsed funding by several departments.

As the federal government has not responded to the GNWT proposal, the official languages budget includes only Vote 1 resources of $175,000 and 1.6 person years. Once we have received a response from Ottawa, an update will be provided to the Legislative Assembly regarding the anticipated levels of vote 4 funding.

A priority for the Official Languages Unit will be the drafting of directives to ensure that languages programs and services are available where appropriate and that resources are used effectively.

The completion of the analysis of the assessment and the evaluation will be required prior to many key directives being drafted. The information will be critical to the drafting of directives such as those related to designated offices, designated areas, interpretation services and language proficiency.

An update of the progress of the official languages directives manual will be provided before the end of this session of the Legislative Assembly and in conjunction with the government's response to the Languages Commissioner's first report.

The fiscal year 1994-95 will also see continued close cooperation between the government and women's groups. The special advisor on women in the GNWT will be working with the Status of Women Council, the Native Women's Association, Pauktuutik and the relevant departments in the areas of family law, day care, violence against women and women and health. To strengthen the link between these groups, all financial support for women's groups totalling $528,000 is now located in the special advisor's budget.

Two key priority areas which are being coordinated through the department but which do not have resources specifically tied to them will be division and departmental consolidation.

Background work on the organizational and administrative matters relating to division are being coordinated by a steering committee of deputy ministers and one internally funded staff person. No incremental resources are included in the budget as the level and type will be determined only once Caucus has decided upon how we will be approaching division issues, and how the government could be of most assistance in meeting our obligations and creating two new territories.

Mr. Chairman, once the mechanism on division has been established by the Assembly, it will be possible to sit down and coordinate a joint approach to the issues by the legislative and executive branches of government. This strategy will ensure that we, the elected representatives of the NWT public, will set the priorities for the new territories rather than have them set by people living in southern Canada.

Similarly, no incremental resources for consolidation are being asked for. Work is being done internally and by the affected departments. With regard to the Health and Social Services amalgamation, the comments of the special committee are being carefully reviewed and the government's plan for consolidation will be contained in the response to be tabled in Assembly this session.

Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks. Thank you.