We are on the $147,000 under asset management, just for clarification, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Chairman, these are public funds that are being spent on behalf of this government. This is the only avenue that we have to question the Minister responsible for Finance on expenditures by this government. These are public funds. In several areas we see funds going for the same initiative in the questions I asked him. I personally believe we are here representing the public interest. Other people within the public do not have the same advantage as this organization to have use of public funds.

We talk about negotiated contracts and about sole-source contracting. We talk about the whole thing about contracting initiatives in this government and to be open to the public. Now you are telling me on one hand you have a society out there that is going to be spending these dollars on behalf of this organization, and you are saying you do not want to answer the question.

I, for one, would like to ask the Minister, will he answer these questions? If not, what are we doing here?

Mr. Krutko, I want to remind Members to address your questions through the Chair. If we could please stick to the items in specific detail. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regard to the investments we are making, is there a way we can track them? It says these investments will yield future savings. Will there be a report coming out showing us exactly where these savings are within this government?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, when we get into the contributions by Public Works and Services then you will notice that one of the initiatives they are undertaking, as I mentioned yesterday, is the development of a database on utilities consumption and cost information. That will provide us with a database and a way to measure whether or not we are getting savings or any payback.

The Financial Management Board as well directed the departments involved in these 13 initiatives to return in two years to report on progress. As the deputies group put this together, they worked on an indication that the investments would be paid back in three years.

We will continue the development of a database and the collection of baseline information is essential to that. That is part of the responsibility of the three departments cost sharing this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was anticipating page 9, so I will hold my comments until then.

We are on page 8, asset management, not previously authorized, $147,000. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Does the Minister have actual figures on how much the savings are? You mentioned we were going to do the savings over three years. Do you have an estimate of how much we are going to save next year or the following year? Are we going to save $25,000 this year and $25,000 the next and $50,000 the last year? Do you actually have those figures, as in your statement it says they will yield a future savings? Do you have the actual amount of those savings?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, no, we do not have exact figures of what the savings will be. We have other considerations to keep in mind including fuel prices, utility prices, rate increase we may face, so there are a lot of factors. We do not have specific information as to how many dollars will be saved.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this initiative has been ongoing for the last couple of years with this committee of deputy ministers to look at these types of initiatives. Is the Minister stating that they are now going to have to do an in-depth study to see how we are going to make these savings, or do we have to do a report to calculate how these savings are going to be accrued over the next couple of years?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A big part of this exercise is to collect the database and have a system in place so we can measure. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have been going through the business plans, so I would like to ask the Minister, these types of initiatives and strategies should be developed and put into business plans so we can have a better idea of these expenditures, so why is this item coming forward through a supplementary? Could it not be done through the business planning process?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, yes, I agree that these should be built into business plans. We are bringing this one forward because there is a need to get on with this one. The deputy ministers have worked and brought forward these initiatives and we need to get on with it. It is a way of cutting our costs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Will these initiatives be better planned for in the business plans? Will the Minister commit that we will not see any more supplementaries for these particular items and that we will do it through the business plans?