Thank you, Mr. Braden. I don't have any other speakers on my list. So we will move into detail. We'll stand down consideration of the bill and deal with the detail book as a first step. Is that all right with the committee?

Okay. On to the bill. We will consider the schedule to the bill first and then return to the clauses. Agreed?

Under tab 11 in your grey binders. Page 5, Legislative Assembly, operation expenditures, office of the clerk, not previously authorized, $115,000, total department, $115,000.

Page 6, Finance, operations expenditures, Bureau of Statistics, not previously authorized, $120,000. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Perhaps the Minister can detail for myself again an explanation of this line item. It looks like perhaps it's a PY. Perhaps the Minister can detail that for me.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is a salary and benefits for about $95,000 in there, travel transportation estimates are about $5,000, material and supplies about $20,000, and they are looking at a resource statistician, and those responsibilities will include areas of development in maintaining and making available estimates of cumulative resource impacts so that these can be used by other departments. Use impact information in conjunction with departments and FMBS to provide support in the development of cost driver models, to assess costs of development. So, Mr. Chairman, this position, again, is one of the ways that we think that we can use in a sense of being more coordinated in having the necessary information so departments can build their business plans and impact models so that we can try to resource the sections properly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not entirely convinced that we are going to need such a person. Perhaps the Minister is aware of utilizing existing resources within the department to perform this function. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the area of the Bureau of Statistics right now is not a huge area within the Department of Finance. It is a small shop and when we go to do surveys we hire casual staff to do the necessary legwork when it goes out to communities. It is felt that within the department it is required that we hire somebody with the proper qualifications so that we can do this, and commit ourselves to a longer period of work, not just short-term so that we can be prepared as a government. When we look at the impacts and cumulative effects on our government, we need to be able to plan properly, and this is one of the areas without the coordination of other departments we'll continue to squeeze things, and it will take longer. That is what we are doing right now, and it is going to take longer to develop and have models prepared so that departments can use that information as they build their plan. So it was felt that this is a necessary piece to ensure that we can get the minimums done, and get the critical areas underway so that as a government we can be better prepared for what is potentially coming down the valley. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Perhaps the Minister can detail for me just how big our statistics department is, just for my information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't have that information immediately available, but the total budget for the Bureau of Statistics is just over $700,000, and if this was to be approved we would be looking at $848,000, and that is for the total operations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Menicoche.

No further questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I share some similar concerns as my colleague, Mr. Menicoche, does on this. I know in the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, I realize that is not your department Mr. Minister, but there are positions that deal with economic analysis and assessing impacts of numbers, statistical information, things of that nature. Don't we have somebody who already does this sort of function in our government, albeit in another department? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, again, when the issue of being prepared as a government, the submissions that came forward from the departments were looked at, and we'd sent them back to the departments and asked them to be more coordinated in how they would do that. With that work it was still felt that this area is required within the Finance section, and that is being the NWT Bureau of Statistics. This level of resource person would be required in developing the models that would be required for us as a government. So there may be similar positions within another department, but we feel that even with those that from within a section here this is needed to ensure that we are prepared to just get prepared as a government overall. So I am not aware of the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development if they have a particular skill set that is comparable to this or not, I don't believe so. With what we have done is request departments to come forward in a coordinated fashion, and this was done, so and that is why we see this one as it is. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.