Thank you, Madam Chair. In reviewing Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 1995-96, the Standing Committee on Resource Management and Development noted a number of concerns. The most significant was the apparent misuse of special warrants and a previous lack of planning on behalf of the department. Special warrants allow the government to make emergency expenditures without the approval of the Legislative Assembly. Committee Members were concerned and noted that most, if not all, the special warrant items brought forward were not of a particularly urgent nature.
The committee noted three special warrant items totalling $455,000 was spent in the Department of Renewable Resources. The committee was disappointed that the department could not justify why these expenditures, under the western NWT harvesters' assistance program, required the urgency of a special warrant. Committee Members were in strong support of this program, but disagreed with the way in which it was currently funded.
Committee Members were also concerned with a $500,000 special warrant issued to the Department of Economic Development and Tourism for the continued development of the Mortgage Investment Corporation. Again, no justification was presented as to why a special warrant was used to fund this expenditure.
Committee Members viewed these types of items as a misuse of special warrants. The committee, therefore, recommends that the government not approve future special warrants unless a true emergency situation exists and substantiation can be brought forward to the committee. Members would like to remind the government that the current fiscal situation does not leave room for supplemental appropriations and that, in the future, such additional funds will not be readily approved by the committee.
The committee recognizes that planning, at the best of times, is a difficult exercise. Nevertheless, Members expressed their concern that this and future supplemental appropriations not be used in an attempt to conceal poor budget planning practices. Tighter controls will be required in this area and will force departments to more accurately plan for expenditures.
And now, Madam Chair, I would like to ask the chairman of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Mr. Ed Picco, to continue.
Standing Committee On Infrastructure Comments