Ms. Lee, when tabling documents, you should just give the title of the document and not go through the entire document. Just table it. It will be read accordingly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Should I just read the letter again? Okay. The third document is a letter from the Hotel Association of the Northwest Territories dated November 6, 2000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I will just remind Members that these are your rules and that it is done in order to expedite the business of the House. Item 13, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the first letter is from the Hamlet of Fort McPherson to myself with regard to the water system costs in Fort McPherson.

The second letter is to the residents of Fort McPherson in regards to the water rates and the increases that have taken place because of the fivefold increase in the cost of water because of the water concerns in McPherson.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 13, tabling of documents. At this point in the business of the day, I would suggest that we take a short break. During the break, I would invite all of the Members to attend in the Great Hall where we have a bit of a surprise to help celebrate the birthday of Mr. Premier and the anticipated birthday of our Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. We will take a short break.

-- Break

I will call the House back to order. Item 14, notices of motion. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, November 9, 2000, I will move the following motion:

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Tabled Document 63-14(3), A Human Resource Development Proposal Related to Non-Renewable Resources in the Northwest Territories, be referred to committee of the whole for consideration. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will seek unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 14, notices of motion. Item 15, notices of motion for first reading of bills. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, November 9, 2000, I will move that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Minister Steen. Item 15, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 16, motions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with my motion today.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to deal with his motion today. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Dent, you may proceed with your motion.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, honourable colleagues.

WHEREAS the document titled A Human Resource Development Proposal Related to Non-Renewable Resources in the Northwest Territories has been tabled in this House;

AND WHEREAS the document is a proposal designed to provide a coordinated and effective approach to human resource development associated with non-renewable resources;

AND WHEREAS the document is a proposal that identifies a four-year schedule of activities to promote human resource planning, career development, short-term industry specific training, basic education, long-term career training, evaluation and financial supports;

AND WHEREAS the document is a proposal that indicates the funding required to carry out these initiatives with a total of $12,680,000 over the period 2000-2001 to 2004-05;

AND WHEREAS this report requires detailed consideration;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Tabled Document 62-14(3), A Human Resource Development Proposal Related to Non-Renewable Resources in the Northwest Territories, be referred to committee of the whole for consideration.

Thank you. We have a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. Question has been called. All those in favour? Thank you. All those opposed? Thank you. The motion is carried. Tabled Document 62-14(3) is thereby moved to committee of the whole for further consideration. Item 16, motions. Item 17, first reading of bills. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker,

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 13, Hotel Room Tax Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Thank you. The motion is carried. Bill 13 has had first reading. Item 17, first reading of bills. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker,

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Power Corporation Act and the Public Service Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? Thank you. All those opposed? The motion is carried. Bill 15 has had first reading.

Item 17, first reading of bills. Item 18, second reading of bills. Item 19, consideration in committee of the whole of bills and other matters. Committee Report 4-14(3) with Mr. Lafferty in the chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our committee has been through the Auditor General's report and had some serious concerns, but I think the one thing we keep coming back to is that the concerns we are expressing this year are not new. These are not revelations, as it were. There have been problems in various areas that seem to be ongoing and you can track these things back through many years, so I think it really begs the question as to whether when the government actually speaks to these issues, they really intend to address them. We say we are serious about correcting certain problems and issues, but I have brought up the Development Corporation before.

I am just going to go to a 1994 Auditor General's report and just try to illustrate the trend here that has been ongoing. In 1994, the Auditor General states that government corporations need to be held accountable for the responsibilities given to them. Immediately after, it says the Development Corporation has not complied with the FAA, the Financial Administration Act, in any of the last three years. This is in 1994.

It does not get any better for the Development Corporation. In 1995, the very next year, it talks about compliance with accountability requirements and specifically section 91 of the FAA, which sets out content requirements for corporate plans. The Act requires the plan to encompass all of the corporation's business and activities, including investments.

Mr. Chairman, it then says, and speaking to other corporations as well:

"The entities all presented some information on the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of their operations. We could not see that they had included, for all business activities, appropriate details of their performance compared with previously stated corporate objectives impossible to measure."

On to the annual report. The Development Corporation submitted, in 1995, to the Minister their annual report. At least 240 days elapsed. A 60-day extension was requested.

Now go to the next year, that is two brutal years in a row and obviously not much was addressed. In 1996, the Auditor General suggests that there has to be some way to link the Development Corporation's results to the government's economic objectives. They suggest:

"To demonstrate results, the corporation should have developed strategy and indicators that it could measure in response to the requirements and requests of the Minister. This type of response, commenting on successes and shortcomings, would demonstrate whether the objectives are being met."

We asked officials of the Development Corporation whether the board of directors had ever prepared a response and none could be found. This year, 1997-98, the years that we are dealing with now, we again go to compliance with reporting requirements. In the category, past performance and results included in the corporate plan or annual report, the answer is no. The annual report submitted on time? No annual report submitted. It amazes me that we continue to dole money out to the Development Corporation, which seems to have absolutely no ability or interest in maintaining accountability. Clearly this is one example. It is not isolated. There are other problems that the Auditor General has raised.

The Development Corporation really smacks us in the face here and makes us painfully aware that we are doing very little to ensure accountability. I talked earlier today about transparency when we are dealing with lending agencies that this government controls. It seems to me very obvious that if I go to a chartered bank, certain things are going to be kept confidential. I do not expect to have my name, the name of my company, the amount of money that I am borrowing, the date of repayment, all of these things publicized. If I am going after public money, public funds, I think we should be clear, Mr. Chairman, that this is not government money. This is public money. The government is simply there maintaining accountability, watching over the funds and ensuring that they are properly expended.

I do not know why. It just seems that the bureaucracy has a tight grip on this. We are saying we are very concerned about competitive advantages of businesses, and surely nobody could operate a business if these very simple details were released, but I think we have a long way to go in assuring the public that we are operating an open and transparent government.

I am glad Mr. Handley has agreed to take this under advisement and look at it. It is done in other jurisdictions and they do not seem to find a problem with it. Western Economic Diversification, this was the norm. They would have a press release and announce when monies were being loaned.

As I go through the recommendations that we will get to in our committee report after dealing with the Auditor General's report, another one that strikes me, and this is again something that is not here for the first time, but contracting is a serious problem. Contracting to northern businesses is on the decline for some reason, Mr. Chairman. Sole-sourcing is on the increase. I have no idea why we have not been able to clean up the tendering process and why we continue to slide further and further in this area. It is an ongoing trend. This is not something that has just popped up this year. It is something that we have not seemed to want to address for quite some years and it is not getting any better. I think the public and the business community have had enough. We have seen enough of storefront companies being set up under the guise of being a northern local business and allowing that to secure them contracts and a northern preference in the bidding process. It is not fair.

I think clearly everybody in the public can see the difference between a shell company that is set up here and a company that actually employs Northerners...if it is obvious to us and it is obvious to the public, and even obvious to the people in government who administer these policies, I do not know why we cannot find policies that will treat the situation fairly. I know we have looked at a review of the Business Incentive Policy this year. We are doing that this fall. I am glad to see that. I think it is high time, but we have to reverse this trend and I think that is going to take a political will.

Oftentimes, we have northern companies fully capable of doing the work but there is some sort of stigma attached. We assume that if this is highly technical or important work, we have to go south because surely nobody in the North could be qualified. I do not think that is the case, Mr. Chairman. As far as this government's contracting tendencies, we have a lot of work to do to turn the train around and start heading in the right direction. I hope the Minister will address that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we reviewed this in committee and the public hearings regarding this area, there were a number of areas of concern raised by Members. The area of accountability was a significant area. You heard Mr. Bell. There have been some concerns in the past of how things were allowed to proceed.

In this area, Mr. Chairman, I question specifically the party at the table, the assistant deputy minister regarding accounting and reporting procedures. I ask the question, how is this reporting done and what is the actual structure that is in place for reporting and if there are any inconsistencies? The assistant deputy minister told me that there is a reporting structure and a monitoring protocol. This draws concern because that questioning takes part in our report on page 12. I start questioning on page 11 and go over to page 12, and Mr. Doan's response is on page 12. The beginning of his response talks about there being a structure in place and protocol.

In light of the lack of information, because it was conflicting between the president of the Northwest Territories Development Corporation and the comptroller, Mr. Voytilla, there was a discussion about the lack of information. Mr. Koe responded that in fact he had reams of information on the subsidiaries and how they operated. It was a matter of pulling it together and that was what they were in the process of doing.

However, in a later response when Mr. Voytilla was before us, I questioned Mr. Voytilla as to the fact that there was reams of information and that goes again on Thursday, September 28th, in that portion of the document, page 12. Once again, I questioned Mr. Voytilla and responded to how Mr. Koe referred that in fact there were reams of information.

So I am very concerned that there would be a lot of information. We have heard about concerns in committee, the fact that there was no monitoring of the actual subsidy that was given out and the jobs it did create or did not create, how successful or unsuccessful, and the fact that Mr. Koe pointed out quite clearly that he reports directly to the Minister as well as the chairperson of the Northwest Territories Development Corporation. If that is the case, it shows me that there is that direct reporting structure from the Development Corporation right to the Minister. For as long as there were concerns regarding the Development Corporation and how it functions, somebody was asleep at the wheel.

To me, it is very clear that in fact the Development Corporation reported directly to the Minister, as was stated quite clearly, and there would have been direct contact. However, for a number of years, this Development Corporation was allowed to proceed without accountability and that draws serious concern to the management of it.

We know there has been a fair bit of work done this last year to try to correct that and hopefully, as we go about this and doing this report and reporting back to the House, that in fact this department and a new Minister will take this seriously and respond to what the committee is suggesting and motions that come out of this, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.