This is page numbers 241 - 272 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 7th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Does the committee agree?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

--Break

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

I would like to call the committee to order. We are dealing with the Financial Management Board Secretariat. At this time I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to call his witnesses?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, please.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Does the committee agree?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses in. Mr. Minister, would you like to introduce your witness?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On my right I have the Secretary to the Financial Management Board, Mr. Lew Voytilla.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. We are dealing with the Financial Management Board Secretariat. Mr. Ootes.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have some general questions. With division, there was a time leading up to division when we did a lot of work in relationship to negotiating the division of assets of the NWT Power Corporation and the Workers' Compensation Board and a question that I have, also in the area of handling the issue of division we had incremental costs to do this, has this government ever addressed those incremental costs with the federal government in order to accomplish division?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Minister.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, that issue has been addressed with the federal government and I must regretfully inform the committee that we were unsuccessful at convincing them to reimburse us for any costs.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Ootes.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

If I recall there were substantial costs incurred. I wonder if the Minister could tell us if he has some indication of what the incremental costs might have been?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Minister.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is referring to, for instance, the time the deputies and other staff would spend on this issue. It was tracked for a period of two or more years, but when it became clear that the federal government was absolutely refusing to even consider the issue for the last year or so, those costs were not tracked. We could certainly provide the committee with the information that we had up to the point that the tracking ceased.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Ootes.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess this is somewhat disturbing in that the federal government has been supportive of the creation of Nunavut and certainly spent a lot of money in the celebrations. We in the west and this government had to, at that particular time, absorb the cost of division which affected all programs throughout the Northwest Territories, including Nunavut at that time. Let me give you an example. If the incremental costs were $500,000, then legitimately we had to reduce our program funding by $500,000 somewhere that we could have devoted to our education programs and health and social services. I wonder if the Minister could tell us, is there an opportunity to readdress this with the federal government?

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Minister.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This argument has been advanced time and time again with the federal government, and it has been resolute in refusing to consider addressing that issue. It has been attempted repeatedly.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mr. Ootes.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do we take the attitude of rollover and be dead or do we take the attitude of saying what is fair? After all, I think we did our part and Nunavut did its part. The federal government has certainly been very generous, no doubt in this situation, to create the new territory, but has it been fair to the Western Territory? I realize that this money at the time was for both territories, but you know we get affected by it. We are into a new fiscal year, we do have a new Finance Minister and I have a lot of confidence in him and I think if he were to address this situation again with Minister Stewart or Minister Martin, on the federal level, I am confident that he can be very persuasive with these two individuals. He is usually very persuasive with us here in the House. I am wondering if he can take the opportunity to somehow find some kind of loophole that would address this? Thank you.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Minister.

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Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member's comments about my persuasiveness. I will keep them in mind the next time he is after me for not living up to his expectations on some other matter. I wish that I could say there was some loophole that we could access, but all that we have to appeal to the federal government is the basis that there is a moral responsibility for them to reimburse us for the costs that we have incurred in this area. I would say that given that the expenditures are past history and the federal government is now saying this government managed it is a moot question at this point, I believe we would be seen as doing nothing more than whining if we persisted in pursuing the issue.

I would say that knowing I will have to approach the federal government to re-examine our fiscal relationship with them, it would be better to bite our tongues on this one and pursue this much more important change we need to see in our relationship with the federal government. I agree it is regrettable that we have had to incur these costs without reimbursement, but you have to choose your fights. The fight that I addressed in the budget speech is one that is more important for us to undertake at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Ootes.