Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to present the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight Report on the 2000-2003 Business Plans and the 2000-2001 Main Estimates.

Mr. Speaker, the review of the draft government business plans and main estimates by standing committees is an integral part of the annual budget development process within the consensus system of government. Business planning, with its processes of setting goals, strategies, outcomes and outcome measures, is crucial as a planning process and as a means to evaluate progress from one fiscal year to the next.

This year's review of the business plans and main estimates was different from the procedure used in previous years. Due to the timing of the territorial elections late in the fall of 1999, the reviews of the 2000-2003 departmental business plans and the 2000-2001 draft main estimates were delayed. The Legislature passed an interim appropriation in March to enable the departments and agencies to continue to function in the short term. For the 2000-2001 fiscal year, the review of the business plans and the draft main estimates was done concurrently. The review process for the 2001-2004 business plans and the 2001-2002 draft main estimates will be done separately, as in previous years.

The standing committees of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories met from May 23 through June 2, 2000, to review the 2000-2003 departmental business plans and 2000-2001 draft main estimates. This year was the first time that the Government of the Northwest Territories has used tangible capital asset accounting. Last year, the reporting of government accounts was affected by the formation of two new Territories.

These changes have resulted in a number of inconsistencies in reporting and difficulty in the overall examination process. During the review process, Members raised a number of concerns that are common to all of the business plans and pointed out issues of government-wide importance that require common strategies and solutions.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking and the need to have quantifiable and measurable outcomes and outcome measures were identified again as an issue in this year's review of the 2000-2003 business plans and 2000-2001 draft main estimates. The committee expressed that in the absence of targets, goals and benchmarks for programs, the departments have no need to adhere to a work plan or to strive towards a projected outcome. Members likened each department that collectively makes up the Government of the Northwest Territories to an economic venture.

When a business requires cash, a bank is usually approached and a business plan presented to demonstrate how the funds will help the company improve its operations. As with a bank, the business plan and main estimates process provides the committee with an opportunity to examine the direction the departments are pursuing, strategies used to attain the goals, and outcome measures to mark progress toward desired outcomes.

If the departmental business plans do not contain an adequate level of detail, it is impossible for the committees to truly understand what the department hopes to accomplish. The committee believes that if a bank had reviewed some of the departmental business plans that were presented, a request for funds would be rejected.