Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess you could say we've learned from the past. We know that the next stages for potential development will increase significantly and what's going to be required of us to be prepared. We know that if we wanted to do it within existing resources, it probably could be done, but it would delay our ability to get the adequate information out within reasonable time limits. We would delay our response as a government in how we could deal with some of these and be better prepared for this type of development.

So if we are going to be serious about dealing with the potential impacts, we are going to have to resource to a certain degree and move forward. As I stated before, we've scaled this back from what was initially requested. We felt we needed a more coordinated plan, as well as departments needed to build some of this into their business plans, but this is required business planning so we can begin some of the critical work upfront in building the models required by each department.

Part of it is we have learned from the past. We know from our past experience that the timelines that are going to be required are going to pick up speed and move quicker than we can be prepared for. We know that now so we need to be more proactive in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know we are always learning from the past, and this government is definitely growing from the past with each new appropriation that comes through. I am just wondering if the Department of Finance has looked at the stats to date with regard to some major resource developments that have been ongoing and are still ongoing in the NWT today. Obviously there are significant changes in their spending with new developments as they come and go. Have these or any other programs been developed with the Department of Finance and the experts, the guys who handle the money and balance the books, and know that the impacts of resource development, does include more spending and more hiring just to move forward. I wonder how a statistician is going to somehow coordinate all the government departments into developing better program models, which we already have in place today.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There has been work done in the past and departments have used that to try to be prepared, but like I said earlier, we've also learned from past experiences with the larger development that's happened in the Northwest Territories. It's not to say that this one position will make everything better within every department. This position would help alleviate the workload now and allow us to better use our time and respond quicker and develop and gather the information, so that departments can react in a more timely fashion, can build into their business plans and do these things. So on its own, one position can have a significant impact by its ability to work with other departments. That's working within an existing area. To stand on its own if we were just creating this position and putting it out there on its own, it would be overwhelmed with the requirements out there and requests being made by departments. At this time, it was felt that with our existing structure that's in place to get the information together, to help departments, so that they can use the information in a more timely fashion. As I stated earlier, if we decided that this was not going to be done with the existing or additional resources and we had to live within the existing resources that are now there, that would just put us further down the line in the sense of timing. We wouldn't be able to react as quickly as we could if we had an additional position to help us deal with this and come up with the accurate modelling that departments can use. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Minister for his response. So basically what I am gathering from the Minister's response is that right now each department is not capable of assessing the impacts of resource development within their own department. Is this why we need this person here to assist each and every department in doing their own assessments of resource development? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This position would help us as a government overall. Each department has some resources and some staffing that's in place to help them with their area in doing some development modelling and some of the impacts, as we do with forced growth. That exercise would continue. What this would do is help us as a government, on a territorial perspective, look at those impacts that we would be feeling and let the departments use that information, so they can build in a more timely manner their plans around dealing with those impacts. From a territorial perspective, it would allow us, again in a more timely fashion, to present our arguments and have the best information available as we deal with our other governments in Canada. So it's not that this position alone, we will start creating within each department a better way of doing things. What it will do is help each department within what they have now available to build a plan that we can deal with in a more coordinated fashion. It's one piece of the puzzle. Alone it can't do it, but it can help each department in its plans and us as a government overall. So it's a piece of the puzzle that can definitely assist us as we go forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Any further comments? Page 6, Finance, operation expenditures, Bureau of Statistics, not previously authorized, $120,000.

Total department, $120,000.

Page 7, Municipal and Community Affairs, operation expenditures, land administration, special warrants, not previously authorized, $295,000.

Regional operations, special warrants, $1.382 million.

Not previously authorized, $889,000.

Total department, special warrants, $1.382 million.

Not previously authorized, $1.184 million.