Mr. Chairman, I would be happy to do it, but I cannot find it. I read it here. It has been on more than one occasion that the Minister and his deputy minister have indicated, through a piece of correspondence passed to us that the deputy minister and regional superintendent have, basically, the authority to sign away the budget. The Minister has stated in response to a Member that he is totally responsible for the expenditures of his department. I would like to ask the Minister, how often would the deputy minister or the regional superintendent advise him as to how much is left in his budget? Apparently, they have the authority to spend it.
Debates of Feb. 17th, 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
Page 869
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 869
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
Page 869
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department could check the expenditures of the superintendent as well as the deputy minister from the financial system we have in place. We could check weekly, but it is normally done on a quarterly basis to see how we are doing every three months. The system is suitable for these purposes so that we could check on them any time we want.
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 869
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Steen.
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 869
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on a normal working day, after the deputy minister has signed an extension for a lease for $10 million, how long after he has done that would he normally inform the Minister that he has signed away $10 million?
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 870
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
Page 870
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in this case, not being a new lease, then it could be some time before the Minister becomes aware of it. In this case because there was an extension of an existing lease negotiated, it would be a couple of weeks before the Minister might know something about 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
Page 870
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Steen.
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 870
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the past two budget sessions, in the main estimates, we were supplied with information items which identified all of the leases under commitments of this government up to the year 2017. It was in the 1997-98 main estimates and in the 1996-97 estimates it was up to the year 2015. I would like to ask the Minister why this information is not in this year's budget?
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 870
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
Page 870
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the deputy minister to provide the details on that. 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
Page 870
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. 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
Page 870
Lovely
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The commitments for leases in terms of the budget that we are reviewing today are included in the asset management activity under other operations and maintenance. The total budget for lease payments for the department to commit to for 1998-99 is $15.792 million. It is part of the $32.414 million you see under other operations and maintenance. The money for the upcoming year is included in this main estimates document and it is included in subsequent years as they arise.
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 870
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Steen.
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 870
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I came to the conclusion that the money had to be in the $32 million figure. What I would like to know is why this particular page, schedule of lease budget requirement which was in the past two budgets, is not included in this year's budget?
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 870
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
Page 870
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are not too sure which documents the honourable Member is referring to. Perhaps if we knew what it is, the department officials might be able to recognize it. I am told we do not know why this particular information item was not in this year's main estimates. We were assuming it was not required in the call letter from FMBS when information is required from the department. If this information is required by the honourable Member, then we would provide that. 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
Page 870
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Steen.
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 870
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 870
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Steen.
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 870
Vince Steen Nunakput
Mr. Chairman, this information which was provided previously is quite relevant to the budget. For instance, it shows new office leases for the year. It shows inventory reductions. It shows lease renewals. It is quite relevant to the budget. In particular it shows what this government is committed to per year. This information I have is only for the 1997-98 budget. It shows total commitments from 2002 to 2017 is reduced from April, 1996, by $52 million down to April 1, 1997 for $46 million. It also shows by year what the commitments are for this government. Obviously, if we signed a new lease, we would have increased the commitments of the government by $10 million. I have a number of questions in this regard. The most important one is, who or what is this government committed to in the year 2002, considering division must be responsible for some of these leases. Nunavut is, obviously, going to be responsible for a portion of these leases. Going on the information I have for last year, 1997-98 budget, it shows from the 2002 to 2017, this government was committed to $46 million. There are commitments for 2000 and 2001. If we add all those totals up, you will come close to $60 million. I would be interested to know what portion of that is ours and which portion of that is Nunavut's. I cannot question the Minister because he does not have the information I am talking about and neither do the other Members. I dug this out of my own budget books. It is very important information from my perspective, Mr. Chairman.
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 870
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you, Mr. Steen. This was your last question for the time being. Mr. Minister, would you reply 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
Page 870
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think it was a very good observation and a very good question. If the information was provided in previous budgets and it is not now, I do not know what happened. I would like to apologize for it. We have individual leases of different lengths and terms. The department could draw the information out and have it for the honourable Member and what kind of commitments we are going to have every year into the future and including the year 2002. We can do that. The information is existing information we do have. We have a Yellowknife office plan which has been implemented which will see us making some changes in dealing with the Yellowknife office surplus area in the next year or so. It will change the numbers as well. We will provide the information as close as we can with the information we have and including the commitments we have. 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
Page 870
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. I have on the list, 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
Page 870
David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is in regard to the disposal of government surplus property and assets. My question to the Minister is, how many billions concerning land have been given away as assets to groups or agencies for a dollar by this government?