Mr. Chairman, this $150,000 is a one-time expenditure. Having said that, there are going to be ongoing costs as we get the new accounting system put in place for tangible capital assets. Any future requirements will be built into the business planning process.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like the Minister to clarify the comment of the ongoing costs, especially as it pertains to the development and adding on of positions. With PeopleSoft, we end up with an additional 12 staff built into a service system that was just replacing an old one. For some reason, we now have all these extra staff because the system does not seem to be doing what it was supposed to.

We have this particular one with tangible assets, as well as the one with the pension plans, all of which have significant, ongoing human resource costs. Can the Minister indicate to us how they are going to link those together, so they do not keep dealing with these in a piecemeal fashion, but it is part of the broader business planning process? Thank you.

Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I do not think this one should result in a lot of staff increase, in fact, of any staff increase. There is no intention to set up a division or a section that is going to deal with tangible capital assets. The costs we will incur come about as we implement the system and we need to do an accounting of all our assets and figure out what the amortization period will be for them and how the system will be structured.

Once it is in place, it will be run out of the departments. From my knowledge of the system, which I admit is probably limited, it appears to be a system that is going to save us money many times over by doing proper replacement and maintenance of the assets we have. But there is no intention to create a whole division to manage this new accounting process. Thank you.

The Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister is aware, as am I, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We have heard of the optimistic goal before. The reality is we have found that things that were supposed to save us money and be done with existing resources are not doing that.

I refer once again to the PeopleSoft system, which I have been watching. This strikes me as having the same kind of potential as the pension plan move to be repatriated to the Northwest Territories. I will just note for the record that I hope the Minister's best intentions come true. I will be watching closely to see that is done with existing resources. Thank you.

Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, it is good advice. I also hope my best intentions come true. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. We are on page 6, budget evaluation, not previously authorized, $150,000.

.Total department, special warrants, $646,250.

Not previously authorized, $223,000.

Page 7, Finance, operations and maintenance, treasury, special warrant, $1.12 million. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, in the area of special warrants for short term borrowing costs, does the Minister have information available regarding when payments become due on our line of credit, which I believe this points toward? Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Mr. Chairman, we have overdraft provisions with both the Royal Bank and with the CIBC in order to get the best rates. In overdrafts with the Royal Bank, they are due on the 15th of each month. With the CIBC, it is on the 1st of each month.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Roland.

Can the Minister provide a little more information? We have agreements with CIBC and Royal Bank to get the best deal possible, but again, a special warrant is a situation where I see it as being urgently required. Was this the case? Did a certain timeline come upon us that we have to do this, or could it not have come in as not previously authorized? Thank you.

Minister of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, this was a difficult one to predict in advance. I think the reason for it was we underestimated the interest costs we would incur. Two things came about that caused that to happen. One being the equal pay payout. I think there was some retroactive pay on salaries that also had an impact. Thank you.

Comments. Mr. Roland.