Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for answering that question. Would the Minister be willing to up the ante and pay the proper amount to do service? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the backlog that we have in family law has caused me a considerable amount of concern, and I have directed the department to work with the Legal Services Board to examine what the options might be for us to deal with that issue. That may include things like increasing the tariff for family law, it may include opening a second office or a separate office to allow both sides to be represented, and it may involve hiring more staff lawyers. But in any case I would expect to hear back from the department with a range of options, and then I will have to work with my colleagues on the standing committee and, of course, the Minister of Finance to see whether or not we can afford those options. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 6, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to follow up on the honourable Member for Hay River South with regard to the pipeline readiness. Indeed, the 15th Assembly has shown that the government has shown it is ready and is showing it is ready, but I have always believed that the presence of the pipeline readiness office should be an impact area. I'm just wondering if the Minister of Renewable Resources is prepared to give some thought in that area about having this office in an impact area, preferably in the Nahendeh riding.

Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The DIAND pipeline readiness office that exists is, as I understand it, not in the Nahendeh riding. I think that as we sit down to talk about our approach to meeting this development head on, we're going to have to have a good discussion about a number of these issues and where our staff resources can best be situated. I don't think we should rule out any options. This is the kind of advice I'm hoping this joint body, Regular Members and Cabinet Ministers will provide. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, there's no doubt that we're ready to pursue this pipeline readiness office. I would just like to ask the Minister to ensure that the person years do indeed end up in the communities, because that's my priority. I would just like to ask the Minister to bear that in mind as we deliberate this new initiative with regard to being pipeline ready.

Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Thank you. I certainly agree with the philosophy that the Member is espousing. I think it makes sense that our staff resources be on the ground in the communities, ready, willing and able to work with local people so that they can take advantage of this development. Otherwise, as we know, it will simply pass us by and I don't think that that's either appropriate or acceptable to the Members of this House. So I think the Member has made some very good suggestions, and they are suggestions that we'll have further discussion on as we sit down and start up this joint body. Thank you.

---Applause

Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche. Time for oral questions has lapsed. At this time I would like to direct your attention to the visitors' gallery and recognize Mr. Dave Grundy, a former RCMP member and now with the Workers' Compensation Board. Also the two ladies in the gallery; welcome to the House.

---Applause

Item 7, written questions. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my written question is the Minister of Finance, the Honourable Floyd Roland.

Please provide actual travel expenditures on a department-by-department basis for the following fiscal years at your earliest opportunity: 1999-2000; 2000-2001; 2001-2002; and, 2003-2004. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 7, written questions. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to address questions to the Honourable Joe Handley, the Minister responsible for the Intergovernmental Forum, in response to his statement earlier today.

With the signing last week by DIAND Minister, the Honourable Andy Mitchell, of the NWT Lands and Resources Devolution Framework Agreement, could Mr. Handley advise:

1. Are all parties now fully prepared to engage in devolution negotiations?
2. Is the previously agreed to negotiation schedule, with an agreement by 2005 and implementation by 2006, still achievable?
3. What mandate has the GNWT assigned our negotiators in this critical process?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 7, written questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My written question is to the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Has the Minister responsible made any proposals to the NTPC board to reform its corporate policy which would allow private power generators to sell their excess power to the power grid?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 7, written questions. Item 8, returns to written questions. Item 9, replies to opening address. Item 10, replies to budget address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development met from February 19 to February 25, 2004, to review the 2004-2005 draft main estimates. The GED envelope includes the following departments: Municipal and Community Affairs; Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development; Transportation; and, Public Works and Services.

The government's corporate planning process, or CPP, continues to be a concern of the Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development. Despite concerns raised by previous committees, the government does not appear to have made any changes to this process. The criteria for prioritizing projects remains the same. The evaluation process continues to be done by the Capital Review Committee, which is entirely comprised of deputy ministers.

The committee has the following concerns with the CPP which are similar to those of its predecessor in the 14th Assembly: One, the prioritization process which is lead by the protection of people and the protection of assets unfairly penalizes less developed and less populated communities. Two, cost overruns on large projects, a lack of adherence to maximum construction costs in some cases and major increases to the scope of existing projects have the potential to impact funding and timelines for other projects. Members are concerned that there may be an incentive for contractors to purposely bid low if they are led to believe by past practices that overruns will be approved later.

The membership of the Capital Review Committee is made up entirely of deputy ministers. Regional representation on the Capital Review Committee is non-existent.

Travel, departments were asked to cut their travel budgets by 25 percent as part of a government-wide reduction of expenditures. From the travel expenditure reductions the standing committee noted some departments still have enormous travel budgets, even after the cuts. For example, RWED's 25 percent travel reduction amounted to $695,000. The committee believes further savings are possible. Suggestions from Members included using standing offer agreements, centralizing southern travel arrangements with existing resources, limiting the number of staff and others attending meetings and conferences, and making more use of telephone and video conferencing.

Members also noted that because travel is included in other expenses, the main estimates do not identify specific travel budgets. The committee understands that all travel needs cannot be forecasted a year in advance and that managers need some flexibility to allocate their

operations and maintenance budgets in response to the needs that arise throughout the year. However, Members believe that it should be possible to achieve greater transparency and accountability by instituting regular reports on all southern and international travel. Such reports would be a useful tool not only to committee, but also, one would hope, for Ministers and senior managers. The Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development recommends that the government establish regular reporting for all southern and international travel.

New positions, Members noted increases to headquarters positions in some departments. For example, in RWED there is an assistant deputy minister's position that isn't on the organization chart and neither a director of informatics position. MACA has also overall increases of five headquarter positions.

New positions are of a particular concern both because of ongoing costs and because once positions are filled with permanent employees, it is difficult and expensive to cut positions later if priorities change. For this reason the committee would strongly urge departments to find money from within to fund any new positions that require new positions, perhaps by cutting initiatives that are no longer a high priority. The committee would suggest that if there are going to be position increases the effort should be made to locate them in the regional offices instead of Yellowknife. Finally, given our current fiscal outlook, the committee would urge the government to consider a freeze on new positions until the financial forecast is brighter.

Duplication of functions, committee Members noted several apparent duplications of functions and would encourage government to address these areas to realize some cost savings. Some examples include MACA's community governance division, which appears to overlap and duplicate some Aboriginal Affairs activities, some departmental information technology functions which have not been merged with the technology service centre, and the records management functions in departments which would perhaps be better coordinated across government. Other specific examples are explained in more detail later in this report under the appropriate sections for each department.

Accountability, as discussed earlier under travel, travel managers have the ability to move funding around between different categories of other expenses, such as travel, contracts, materials and supplies. The government is also able to reallocate surplus compensation and benefits funding resulting from vacant positions to other expenses. The committee recommends that in order to save costs the departments discontinue the practice of using funding from vacant positions for other initiatives.

The committee would welcome further discussions on whether the current financial administration guidelines provide the right balance between accountability and transparency on the one hand and allowing managers to manage on the other. Committee also has some concerns with this inconsistency on how some departments certain expenditures as it makes it difficult to evaluate program costs. Specific examples of this are: PWS and FMBS computer chargebacks, and how compensation and benefits for different programs are presented in the main estimates. This is further elaborated on under PWS compensation and benefits.

Finally, the committee would like to see a line item in the departments' budgets specifically for travel in order to better understand the magnitude of these expenditures. Mr. Speaker, that concludes the introductory portion of the report of the Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development on the review of draft 2004-2005 Main Estimates.

Therefore, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay, that Committee Report 3-15(3) be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole.

The motion is in order. To the motion.

All those in favour? All those opposed? The report is referred to Committee of the Whole.

---Carried

Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and have Committee Report 3-15(3) moved into Committee of the Whole for today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.