Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Does the superintendent partake in all discussions between the parties, the deputy minister, the interested party who wants to lease or purchase? Is he involved in all the deliberations and discussions right up to the time the decision is made?
Debates of Feb. 16th, 1998
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 John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. deputy minister.
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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Lovely
Yes, Mr. Chairman. The superintendent, within his range of authority, takes the process from start to finish including signing the lease and making a commitment on behalf of government, if it is within his signing authority to do so and if it is done within his authority. 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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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Krutko.
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
February 15th, 1998
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David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What is the signing authority of the superintendent?
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 John Ningark
Thank you. Before I recognize the deputy minister, Mr. Ken Lovely, on behalf of Mr. Antoine, I would like to recognize in the public gallery his son Denezeh Antoine and friend Heather Pelts.
--Applause
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 John Ningark
Welcome to the committee. Mr. Lovely.
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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Lovely
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The superintendents in Public Works and Services have been provided with full delegated signing authority for all the activities within their budget. Unlike previous years where even though a superintendent may have completed the tendering process and determined who should be awarded the contract they had to submit those documents to the deputy minister in Yellowknife for his approval. That added three to six weeks to the length of time that it took for the contracts to be awarded, significantly slowed down the construction process and made it very difficult for the superintendent to do his job. When the Ministers provided deputies with full signing authority in Public Works at least, which is the only department I can speak for, we delegated that authority down to the level of the superintendents so they would have the authority to spend within the rules, and within the full range of their budget. In a case of a contract, there is no restriction on the dollar value of a contract that a superintendent can sign. If a superintendent is contracting with a company for the building of a school, he has the authority to enter into a contract as long as he has gone through the competitive process for the full value of the contract. He usually takes the advice of the technical people we have been working for us in Yellowknife, but he makes the final commitment. The same is true of leases under the leasing of improved real property policy. As long as it is within the amount of money that is available to him and he has done it through the competitive process the superintendent can sign it off.
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
Page 820
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Krutko.
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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David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regard to this page that was handed out, the financial authority expenditure list, I see on the list under item 6, it says supervisor/foreman, 25. Is that 25,000? If he has an unsaid limit on how much he can spend, is there a limitation in regard to this authority?
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 John Ningark
Thank you. Three zeros in brackets on top says it is 25,000. Mr. Minister.
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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Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I will answer this one. In that document you have a list of classification levels, the Minister, deputy minister, director and regional superintendent have full authority. Starting on manager it has a $100,000, officer, general foreman $50,000, supervisor, foreman $25,000 and all others are $5,000. This is, I understand, up to the level of the operations and maintenance budget. That is their limit. 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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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Krutko.
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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David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Is this authority only for the year that it is signed for? This was signed in April of last year and will expire in April of this year?
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 John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it is for the individual. It is not done on a yearly basis. Once an individual is in place then the authority is delegated to them for that level specified. 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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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Total operations and maintenance. Mr. Krutko.
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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David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regard to these long-term leases where the authority, according to this, goes on forever, but we only approve money on an annual basis. If you are approving a budget for $10 million, which basically, is committing ourselves. Say, we sign 20 leases for $10 million each. You are talking major dollars that will have an impact on future governments or the future deficit of this government. How can we give somebody that type of authority, where they have no limit to how they can spend? Under these authorities, like you say, it seems like they are out there running hot shot. They have as much authority as they want to put themselves into with no limits. I think that for us to say that you only agree to a one-year term in regard to this, based on what is in the budget, but making long-term leases, we are making long-term commitments to this government.
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 John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister
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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Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman under the Financial Administration Act that we covered just recently when Mr. Ootes was asking questions, there is a section 43(2). There are conditions in there that gives the person full authority. There are conditions in place like, the honourable Member is implying, that lets the deputy minister or superintendent have full signing authority so they will go out and expend the funds. There are a lot of controls in place and we have the Financial Administration Act and there are long-term leases in place that we have to comply with. Yes, we have an appropriation that is approved every year for office rentals and so forth, in our budget. Once it is approved that is the limit that this full authority has. There are a lot of controls in place and we have to comply by all the policies that this government has. There are a lot of safeguards in there so that an individual who has full signing authority does not expend needlessly. Again, the deputy minister just answered earlier on that there are occasional reviews of the different staff under the deputy minister on their expenditures. There are a lot of safeguards in place. 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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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. I have 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
Mr. Chairman, I would like to refer back to the Financial Administration Act. The item that the Minister is referring to is actually a 44(2)(b) and I will read it.
No person shall enter into a contract or assume an obligation for or on behalf of the government that requires an expenditure in a subsequent fiscal year unless:
b)the contract is entered into or the obligation assumed in accordance with the directions of the Minister whose department administers the contract for any particular case or class of cases
Mr. Chairman, the deputy minister stated last week that he did not inform the Minister of the signing of the Lahm Ridge Tower lease. It says right here that it cannot be entered into without the direction of the Minister. This does not give him direction to sign a multi-year lease. What is the explanation of this?
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 John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister, would you substantiate please.
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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Jim Antoine Nahendeh
It is the same thing. The opinion of the department, and also other departments, is that we, as Ministers, delegate full authority to the deputy ministers to carry on the work. The deputy ministers are the managers of these departments and they have full authority under their budget to do that. The explanation to the honourable Member is that yes, through a Minister we fully delegate our deputy ministers to do this work. They have a full authority to do it. 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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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Ootes.