Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Is the committee agreed that the Minister should be allowed to bring witnesses at this time, if he wishes?
Debates of Oct. 15th, 1997
Topics
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Agreed. Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, if the Minister has witnesses, would you please escort them in? For the record, could I please ask Minister Todd to introduce his witnesses?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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John Todd Keewatin Central
Pardon me, I cannot hear you. I am sorry.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you. For the record, Mr. Todd, could you please introduce your witness?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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John Todd Keewatin Central
Yes, on my immediate right is Mr. Lew Voytilla, deputy minister, Financial Management Services.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you and welcome Mr. Voytilla. Could I please direct the committee Members' attention to tab 25, in your green binders. Please pass over the bill, and go straight to the detail. We will deal with the detail of the bill first. That would be on page five, tab 25. Before we proceed, are there any general comments from the floor on the bill? General comments? There are no general comments. We will proceed with the detail. Government of the Northwest Territories 1997-98, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, department Legislative Assembly, O and M, Office of the Clerk, not previously authorized $229,900. For those Members just coming in, we are on tab 25, page five, detail of the bill. Total department not previously authorized, $229,900.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Agreed? Thank you. On page six, Department of the Executive, operations and maintenance, executive offices, Cabinet secretariat, not previously authorized, $106,500. Mr. Ootes.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a question. I wonder if the Minister could give us just a very brief overview of the need and the direction of the Communication Strategy that is budgeted for here?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you, Mr. Ootes. We are not at that item yet. That is the next item. Cabinet secretariat, I will call again, $106,500.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Agreed? Thank you. Minister's offices, not previously authorized, $226,000. Mr. Ootes.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Madam Chair. I wonder if the Minister could give us a brief overview and explanation of the reason for a Communication Strategy?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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John Todd Keewatin Central
The Communication Strategy, of course, Madam Chair, is to communicate with the public in the north and to ensure that the message that we need to send to southern Canada is consistent with the policies and philosophies of this government. The general statement would be that. The Communication Strategy, for $166,000 is a mix up between northern and southern contract; a combination of northern companies and southern companies. The southern companies, I will start with them first, are being utilized to get our message more clearly across to southern Canada, for example, issues like the revenue sharing with respect to the diamond issue that we have been discussing for the last two weeks. We need to get a consistent, solid, concise message across to southern Canada. Issues like the Creation of Two Territories. These are the kind of issues that have a two part communications need, one in northern Canada advising the constituents what we are doing; and more importantly in southern Canada, where after all the majority of our money comes from and where there is an inordinate amount of control as to what kind of dollars this government gets. I am told it is approximately in terms of cost that between north and south expenditures, there is about two thirds spent in the north and about a third spent in the south, roughly.
Do we want to be specific as to the kinds of things we are doing? Is that what my honourable colleague wants?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
No. I wanted to get an overview and the Minister has stated that. I just wanted an explanation of it, in general terms. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Edward Picco Iqaluit
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, my question to the Minister would be is any of the $166,000 targeted to the Ottawa office?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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John Todd Keewatin Central
I do not think that there any expenditures for the Ottawa office. It operates under a separate budget. This is specifically in the domain of the press secretary and the responsibilities that she has, who reports to the Premier. There is no direct expenditures from the Ottawa office.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. I notice for the Western Premiers' Conference, there is $60,000 allocated for that. There is also a comment, that it is an initial conference planning. Is there a projection of what the total amount will be for that particular conference?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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John Todd Keewatin Central
No, we do not have a total dollar figure. It is not uncommon when you are extremely fortunate to get the opportunity to host a conference of this nature, that governments would allocate the dollars to it, to ensure that we do what is necessary and to do a top notch job so that we can represent the north well. I would also suggest to you that the return on investment, in other words, the dollars that will come into the country, will be far in excess of the dollars that we have allocated to ensure that this is a success.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. I do not have any concern that what the Minister is saying is accurate. I think it can be taken for granted. What I wanted to know is, is there a budget figure on what this conference is going to cost? Thank you.