Agreed.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just would like to thank the Members for their review. Mahsi Cho.

Agreed.

Indeed I am Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I am pleased to present the Financial Management Board Secretariat's 97-98 main estimates. FMBS is requesting funding of $40,820,000, which is 11 percent less than last year, a reduction of approximately five million dollars.

Close to three million dollars of this reduction comes from savings in our staff housing program, as we continue to implement our policy of removing the government as the landlord to employees. The remaining two million dollars of savings comes from a series of reductions related to delegation efficiency initiatives.

The staff house sale program this year has picked up considerable momentum, with the use of private real estate agents, and I am confident that we will meet our combined '96/97 and '97/98 sales target of $27 million.

On other fronts, the FMBS is in the final stages of the implementation of user-say/user-pay initiatives, as well as financial and human resource delegations. These actions have allowed significant downsizing of the FMBS for '97/98, and have reduced the administrative burden on departmental managers, while making them more involved and accountable in these areas. Ninety-seven/ninety-eight will also see the completion of the project to integrate the personnel and human resource management systems in government. This re-engineering will yield significant on-going savings in '97/98. Overall, the FMBS will decrease by 30 positions in '97/98.

The final area I would like to touch on is affirmative action. Since the Standing Committee on Government Operations' recommendations on the affirmative action view were received, we have been working on a comprehensive response, however late we have been. Many of the broader recommendations that the standing committee made concerning non-employment strategy, are being addressed by the Department of Wildlife, Resources, and Economic Development, in partnership with the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment. The FMBS is in the final stages of completing a revised, affirmative action discussion paper that we will provide to the Standing Committee on Government Operations, then table in the House. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Todd. The chairperson of the committee, Mr. Picco will make remarks on behalf of the committee. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Financial Management Board Secretariat occupies a central position in the government organizational structure. As a result, many important and sometimes controversial initiatives fall under its jurisdictions.

The most notable of these is the sale of staff housing. Ever since the plan to sell staff housing on level two and level three communities was announced, concerns have been raised about the availability of suitable housing for government staff. Especially in recent months, teachers and others have expressed concerns that the sale of staff housing will lead to difficulties. Committee Members noted concerns that have been brought to their attention in discussions with the Minister. The committee appreciates that the Minister has undertaken efforts to address the concerns of these employees and to complete the sale of staff housing. The standing committee will continue to monitor this issue and the concerns of constituents and will continue to discuss staff housing sales with the Minister necessary to ensure that those concerns are addressed.

A further concern relates to the sale of staff housing to those not occupying the house. In some cases, the tenant employees are choosing not to buy the homes. The government's plan is then to sell the staff housing to private concerns, who will then lease the house back to the government for the employee's use. Committee Members did not agree that selling an asset, just to lease it back, was a good idea. Therefore, the committee will reiterate a recommendation made following the review of the draft business plans in October. The standing committee recommends that the chairman of the Financial Management Board Secretariat not proceed with sales of staff houses to anyone. Anyone other than the occupants.

Staff housing that is leased from private landlords was also discussed. Some concerns were raised about instances where the government and its employees may be subject to unreasonable lease costs. As well, some committee Members noted the Minister's frequent assertions that the government was getting out of staff housing, yet, still entering into new leases for staff housing units. The standing committee will continue to address these and other concerns with the Minister in the area of labour relations and human resource issues.

The changes to the Public Service Act, the many lay offs and resulting lack of job security and the uncertainties of the future regarding division and possible further cut backs, have led to a situation where the government's most important asset, its employees, are not able to contribute they way they would if morale were higher. Much of the problem relates to poor communication. Some committee Members noted that when the federal government started major cut backs in their civil service, they gave as much as three years notice to employees, giving them time to examine other options for their careers. The standing committee understanding that the territorial government did not have the luxury of such notice.

However, we seem to have gone to another extreme, with employees often being the last to know about major changes, which will effect their positions. The result is a perception that there is a lack of direction and overall strategy to the cuts. It is critical that the government communicate effectively with employees in order that they might be best prepared for the difficulties that they face as a result of fiscal restraint, division and other massive changes to the way the government operates in the Northwest Territories.

Committee Members were pleased to see that one area where communication was a problem, the issue of pay to Union of Northern Workers over Christmas and the mandatory days of leave without pay, also known as "Donny Days," has been resolved and unionized government workers will now not have to cope with severely reduced pay cheques right after Christmas.

Finally, a new affirmative action policy review is expected to be tabled in the House during the 4th Session and committee Members look forward to seeing this policy debated by all Members. So ends the overview of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, report on the Financial Management Board Secretariat and Minister Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Before we get into general comments, I would like to ask the honourable Minister of Finance if he wished to bring in witness or witnesses. Mr. Todd.

Indeed, Mr. Chairman, indeed.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Do we have the agreement of the committee Members here.

Agreed.

Agreed. Please bring in the witnesses. Thank you. For the record, Mr. Minister, would you please introduce the witness to the committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With me is, as everybody knows, Mr. Lew Voytilla of the FMBS.

Welcome Mr. Voytilla to the committee. General comments, I have Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, at this point I would like to advise Members of a business which is controlled by me, Greenway Realty Limited, which has numerous listings with the GNWT to sell staff housing. As such, I am in conflict in consideration of this program and would like to declare this conflict, refrain from debating this matter, and withdraw from the committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Your point is taken as noted. General comments, we have Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I believe that it is actually 11 departments, although we have been saying 10, but it is 11, just for clarity's purpose. I think I agree with my honourable colleague that when you do the kind of shrinking that we have done, you need to be able to not only shrink, but to look how efficiently we can do our work. My honourable colleague, Mr. Arlooktoo, had alluded to it in the earlier discussion this week with respect to the on-going direction that I have given to Ministers through the FMB, that it has to be a continuing on-going analysis of how we are doing things.

I am fundamentally of the belief that a decentralized form of authority, and that when you decentralize authority, you put the decision making closer to the issues, therefore, you hope that in the long run, one, the decisions will be more sound, and two, they will be more efficient. There is no audit going on in relationship to the efficiency of government, but there is an overall thrust in our decentralization and delegation of authority, the managers, that in doing that we must run things more efficiently. There is no, I do not have under way right now because our agenda has been so full, I do not have under way right now, any deliberate or direct review of red tape, I think it would be fair to say that.

On the issue of affirmative action and its linkages with the northern employment strategy, I have already said to this House on a number of occasions and apologize to this House for the fact that we have not moved as aggressively as we would like on this strategy. There will be linkages between them both. We are close to bringing the strategy forward. It is our intent to bring the strategy to committee first, during this session. As I said in the House last time, to seek on-going input and direction from it, to move quickly to come to grips with it, try to get approval in general at the end of May and implement as early as June or July of this coming year. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Miltenberger.