Total Financial Management Board Secretariat, not previously authorized, negative $412,000.

Page 8, Executive, operations expenditures, Aboriginal Affairs, not previously authorized, $191,000 negative. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the things that are listed in the detail statement is the reduction of $20,000 in travel for the DM, ADM and director of regional operations. Does the Minister have a figure on what the total travel budget is for these three positions?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, no, I don't have a number on what their total travel budget is. It is substantial, though, because of the nature of the business they're in, and negotiations requires a lot of travel. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Aboriginal Affairs, not previously authorized, negative $191,000. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. While I appreciate that this is a department that has seen more increases in budget than probably any other government department over the last two or three years, there is also an understanding that it is an area where its work is becoming more immediate with the settlement of different aboriginal and self-government agreements. We have here, one of the items in the detail is a reduction of $62,000 for contract services. So while the information I have here is supposed to be detailed, without knowing what the original travel budget was, it's hard to know what the impact of that is. Would the Minister be able to provide me with that now? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I don't have it with me. All of the Members have that detail already, it's in the budget. It was given to everyone when we approved the budgets for 2003-2004, but I don't have it here, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Ms. Lee.

Mr. Chairman, I believe, with all due respect, I don't believe that we've gone though this detailed a review of budget in the life of this Assembly, and certainly not in any committee meetings I've attended. Mr. Chairman, the $62,000 reduction here states, the impact statement is that it will force the ministry to utilize existing personnel to carry out the costing modeling exercise, resulting in an overall lowering of the quality of work performed as staff are spread thinner and thinner. Mr. Chairman, we know that just last Thursday, the Special Committee on the Implementation of Self-Government -- one that both you and I have been involved with, Mr. Chairman -- gave the government a lot more work. So I am interested in knowing what the impact of that implementation side of this government's work might be. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure how to quantify the impact of that. The reduction was put forward by the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. Clearly, they feel that they can manage with this kind of reduction to help in our economizing efforts. So I would expect that the impact is certainly manageable and likely categorized as minimal.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Ms. Lee.

Mr. Chairman, it says here that the reduction is in contract services. Could I get information as to what sort of contract services the implementation section of this department engages in? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure of all the issues they would have gone to contracting services for, but certainly the costing modeling exercise they're referring to is one that they would have done with contractors, and instead are doing it with existing personnel. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Costing of implementation of self-government is pretty well about the most important part of the negotiations process, in probably all of the aboriginal self-government agreements. The GNWT itself is in constant argument or discussion or relationships with the federal government as to this element of our budgeting, and it's been stated many, many times in and out of this House that it is really important for us to have good information on costing so that all the important elements of costing and the cost of delivering services or whatever else might come about are addressed and dealt with in the negotiation process. Just as this work is becoming more important, we are reducing the budget by $62,000. Without knowing the amount of dollars that was allocated in the first place, I don't really know what the impact might be. So I'm wondering, would the Minister not think that that might be a problem here, given the importance of this exercise in the overall implementation and negotiations?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, no doubt that this reduction will be a challenge for Aboriginal Affairs in doing their work, but it's certainly not an impossibility or they wouldn't have put it forward as an economizing measure. So, Mr. Chairman, all I can say is clearly it's their view that this is doable, and they understand what they're doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The next item speaks about the reduction for $14,000 for contract services, which is exactly the same as the previous one. Previously under the implementation section, we're reducing $62,000 in the contract services area. In this next section, the section under IGF, we're reducing $14,000 in contract services. This again speaks to my inability to know what the impact of this will be, because we're just looking at raw numbers. We're looking at a $14,000 reduction in one, and $62,000 in another in the same area of contract services in two different sections, and it's really hard to know how that number came about or what the impact of that might be. So that is a little bit frustrating that I'm working without that information.

Mr. Chairman, I have a question on devolution, which is the next item, for $10,000. That $10,000 is a reduction of travel. This again is an area that is at the forefront of this government's agenda. The Premier has just travelled, and he travels extensively in meeting with the federal government and various counterparts, aboriginal governments across the Territories to advance this agenda. Again we're cutting this, and I understand that everybody else is engaged in the same thing, but without knowing what their travel budget on the devolution in this department was in the first place, it's really hard to know if everybody is taking their fair share of cuts and that the impact of those cuts will be evenly spread. So may I ask the Minister if he has any more information about what the travel budget for the devolution section was for this year in the first place? Thank you.