Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Financial Management Board Secretariat provides support and services to the FMB and departments. The secretariat's responsibilities include comptrollership; human resource management; information management; internal audit, budgeting, evaluation; and, operational and capital planning.
Mr. Chairman, the secretariat's 1996-97 budget requests a total of $50.829 million and 202.1 person years. The budget has been adjusted to reflect increases resulting from the transfer of staff housing from Public Works and Services; devolution of Arctic A airports from the federal government; and, an increase in the power subsidy support.
Mr. Chairman, the proposed FMBS budget reflects a strategic direction within the FMBS to downsize and reduce the amount of bureaucratic red tape in the management of government operations. We expect this approach to lead to greater flexibility for departments and reduce the administrative overhead associated with the current system. In FMBS, this means fewer resources are required for many functions. This budget reflects a 23 per cent reduction to the projected 1995-96 actuals and a 16 per cent reduction in person years.
Mr. Chairman, in addition to the new directions I have already mentioned, the secretariat will also be supporting several major initiatives. FMBS is coordinating and supporting the development of an effective strategy for the management of the government's information resources and systems. In the current year, the most significant initiative is the government's support for the cost-effective development of an advanced telecommunications network capable of bringing the benefits of the information highway to all northerners. This network will facilitate distance education, telemedicine, video conferencing and economical use of the Internet.
In support of the government's concern to provide greater access to housing, the FMBS will be promoting home ownership for employees. An important component of our strategy is getting a mortgage and loan company up and running to improve availability of mortgage loans for potential purchasers. To this end, I will be making a motion at the appropriate time, Mr. Chairman, to amend the appropriation act to increase the budget of Economic Development and Tourism by $5 million, to make the government's initial equity investment in the mortgage and loan company.
FMBS is also finalizing the report on the review of the affirmative action policy, which I will be bringing forward to the Standing Committee on Government Operations, I believe, tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.