Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased today to be before the committee to present the Financial Management Board Secretariat's 2000-2001 main estimates.
The Financial Management Board Secretariat is a central agency of the GNWT whose primary responsibility is to provide support, analysis and advice to the Financial Management Board. In addition, the Secretariat is responsible for ensuring the government's financial, human and information resources are utilized in an effective, efficient and economical manner.
This means that any significant matters affecting the management of the financial, human and information resources of the GNWT impacts the FMBS. Changes in the labour environment, technological advances, trends in fiscal and economic conditions, public accountability expectations, new developments in public sector management or political and social reform all impact on the FMBS.
The 2000-2001 main estimates proposes expenditures of $25,591,000, which provides for total expenditure growth for the 2000-2001 fiscal year of $7,123,000. However, most of this increase is not new spending.
During the 1999-2000 fiscal year, the Financial Management Board Secretariat was provided with almost $6 million in supplementary funding for equal pay litigation, pension plan repatriation work, tangible capital assets implementation, public private partnership implementation, and collective bargaining. During the last supplementary appropriation review, Members recommended that these types of needs be forecasted and included in the main estimates. As most of this work will continue during the 2000-2001 fiscal year, the related funding has been included in the estimates. The amounts are:
1.Equal Pay Litigation$2,083,0002.Pension Plan Repatriation$1,024,0003.Tangible Capital Assets Implementation$774,0004.Public Private Partnership Evaluation$170,0005.Collective Bargaining$301,000
Additional funding of $1,678,000 has also been included in the main estimates related to the interim financing arrangements with the federal government which provides funds for the increased costs to the GNWT associated with the changes to the Public Service Superannuation Act. This arrangement runs until the 2003-2004 fiscal year. The FMBS amount includes the funding for the additional costs to the Workers' Compensation Board and the NWT Power Corporation, who will receive this funding as a contribution.
Funding has also been continued and increased to enable FMBS participation in the self-government processes, $481,000, and to provide for the projected increases associated with the power subsidy program, $498,000.
The FMBS has been, and will continue to be, aggressive in the recruitment and retention of affirmative action candidates. We have recently undertaken an initiative to solicit, through newspaper advertisements and postings on our web page, resumes from NWT students and recent NWT university graduates. We will be targeting respondents to this campaign for current and future job opportunities within the FMBS.
The most recent published data on affirmative action was as of December 1999. The data indicated that 53 percent of the FMBS staff were categorized as affirmative action candidates -- 28 are aboriginal, 27 are indigenous non-aboriginal, and 10 are women in either management or non-traditional occupations. In terms of regional breakdowns, 44 percent of the staff at headquarters are categorized as affirmative action candidates, 87 percent of the staff in the Fort Smith/Fort Simpson region are categorized as affirmative action candidates, and 100 percent of the staff in Inuvik are categorized as affirmative action candidates. The data also indicate that women occupy 38 percent of the senior management positions in the Financial Management Board Secretariat. Thank you.