Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my concern is in regard to what has happened the last couple of years with the downsizing of the different departments and also the responsibilities being allocated to other departments. Such is the case with the Department of Public Works and Services, who are at a point now where a lot of the responsibilities that they have fall within other departments. A lot of people take care of their own maintenance of buildings, that used to be a key role of the Department of Public Works and Services.

So I am just wondering again if, because of the possibility of doing away with the rate of petroleum products, it will really decrease the role of this department. I am wondering what role the department is going to play if they do decide to privatize POL to, say, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation? What will it do to the ability of this department to really be productive, in regard to saying that every time there is a change that takes place, it has an impact on this department either through human resources or through the ability to do what they used to do? It seems like it has diminished to a point now where they are not as active as they used to be.

So I would like to ask the Minister, knowing that these things are taking place, and we are talking about regional capacity and all this other stuff, have we looked at what the impact of all these things have had on this department and how productive is the department to continue on doing what they originally were intended for?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I believe that the department still has a major role to play in this government and, in particular, the asset management aspects. We still have a need, as a government, for somebody to carry out the projects. I think that although the department is considering privatization of POL, this is nothing new. This has been a proposal or initiative that has been put forward by the previous government and this government is following through with it but it plays only a minor part in the department's overall responsibilities. I think that if we take into consideration what we just passed here, there is only $566,000 that we are directing toward POL activities. So that is a small portion of the $39 million that the department is requesting here. To summarize, Mr. Chairman, I would say the department still has a very definite role to play in government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. In regard to the financial situation of this government, I do not think we are out of the woods yet and I think that we have to look at possibly making some big decisions. We have major cuts in place regarding the costs of the negotiations with the UNW. There is a court case regarding pay equity, which has not been really resolved. There are still a lot of problems out there.

In the 13th Assembly, positions were being thrown around, amalgamating the Department of Public Works and Services, either in with Municipal and Community Affairs or the Housing Corporation. The Minister stated that they still have a role to play in asset management, but a large portion of that role has been devolved to a lot of the different departments. Personally, I think that what I see happening once we get rid of that POL and you do anything more in regard to where the government is going with regional capacity, is the role of this department being diminished to a point that we have to take a serious look? Is it really economical to have the department on its own with such a small budget or administration operation? The same thing goes with the Housing Corporation.

We have to seriously look at the economics of how viable it is to have all these departments, with just a small, key core unit, the staff and also the dealings particularly with different small areas of reasonability.

So I think, as a government, we will seriously have to consider it. I am not saying this in spite of this department, I am seeing it in other departments too, like the Housing Corporation and other areas that we have to seriously see what the role of those departments are, and if we are getting the value for money in regard to having to compete in different areas. With public works, you have community institutions. You have the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs doing their thing, then you have the Housing Corporation doing their thing. Sooner or later, we are going to have to say is there more need of considering looking at the reallocation of some of these responsibilities to agencies or groups within this government that are already doing these things, instead of duplicating these services. I think that that still has to be considered.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Did you want to respond to those comments, Mr. Steen?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the department will take into consideration the suggestions and comments put forward by the Member. We will do this and look, at the same time we have our management meetings, as to what is the role and mandate of the department and how we carry out those roles and duties of the department. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen.

We are on page 5-7, Public Works and Services, department summary, operations expense, total operations expense, $39,148,000.

We move on to page 5-9, Public Works and Services, capital acquisition plan, directorate asset management, $80,000.

Directorate asset management, $4,178,000.

Petroleum products, $1,199,000.

Total department, $5,457,000.

Does committee agree that the Department of Public Works and Services is concluded?

I would like to thank the Minister and his witnesses for appearing. Thank you, Mr. Steen.

At this time I will call a short break and then come back to the Department of Finance.

-- Break

I would like to call the committee to order. We will continue with the Department of Finance. At this time, I would like to ask the Minister if he has any opening comments?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present the Department of Finance's 2000-2001 main estimates to the committee. The Department of Finance, for the most part, provides support to the executive branch and to program departments, rather than delivering programs and services directly to the public. However, the department, through its responsibilities for revenue generation and management and information gathering and dissemination, plays an important part in ensuring the government is able to deliver the programs and to make the informed decisions necessary to achieve its broader goals.

In 2000-2001, Mr. Chairman, the Department of Finance will continue to focus on three key goals, goals which are consistent with the vision laid out by the 14th Assembly in Towards A Better Tomorrow.

The first goal is that the fiscal regime of the Northwest Territories supports a stable political regime and a strong economy. Therefore, this fiscal year, the department will be addressing key issues such as:

•the adequacy of federal-territorial funding under both the formula financing agreement and other intergovernmental transfer arrangements;

•resource revenue sharing and devolution;

•the fiscal and economic impacts of non-renewable resource development;

•the financing of aboriginal self-government; and

•tax policy options and tax collection.

In addition, the department will be working to ensure that the government is able to secure appropriate and affordable debt financing and that government assets are appropriately insured.

The department's second goal is that the government has the fiscal and statistical information and analysis needed to support policy development and decision-making, particularly for key social and economic initiatives. Mr. Chairman, information is among an organization's most important resources. In order to properly address some of our largest challenges, we need information about our people, our social conditions, our economy, our fiscal situation and so on. We need to know where we are and whether we are making progress toward our goals.

The focus of the Department of Finance will be on ensuring that, as a government, we have good quality information that can shed light on our decision-making.

The third goal of the department is to be more responsive to client needs. The Department of Finance has many clients and endeavours to be responsive to all needs. In fact, in establishing its goals and strategies, the department has focused on the requirements of the government, including other departments, to achieve the vision of the Legislative Assembly. With respect to this particular goal, the department has focused on strategies to support efforts to promote the responsible use of liquor products.

In order to achieve these goals, the Department of Finance is requesting approval for a budget of $9,797,000 for the fiscal year 2000-2001. With five exceptions, the department's overall budget will remain unchanged from 1999-2000.

The major area of growth is that of interest costs. This budget includes an increase of $2,454,000 to cover the interest costs associated with increased borrowing. The budget also includes increases of $138,000 to fund increased property and liability insurance premiums and $167,000 to cover the additional cost of the federal government's changes to the Public Service Superannuation Act.

In total, the department has identified growth requirements of $2,759,000.

Offsetting these increases was a decrease of $1,120,000, reflecting the expiry of the 1999-2000 supplementary appropriation for interest costs and a decrease of $75,000 reflecting the end of the funding for the 1999 NWT labour force survey.

As I mentioned in the Budget Address, I am proposing a five percent tax on occupancy charges in commercial accommodation facilities with four or more rooms, effective April 1, 2001. If this tax is approved, the Department of Finance will be coming forward in the next business plan to implement the tax for inclusion in the 2001-2002 budget.

The Department of Finance has no capital budget, so is requesting no capital funding.

Mr. Chairman, I would be pleased to respond to any questions the committee may have.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Does the committee responsible for reviewing this department have any comments? Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.