Legislative Assembly, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $155,000.

Page 6, department, Executive, operations expenditures, executive offices, and turn over to page 7, committee, total executive offices, $1.530 million. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the things, having gone through the supp in some detail with the Minister previously -- and I had mentioned this before and I'll mention it again -- it's kind of misleading when you see a supp come before you midway through the year, like this one is, and you state numbers here. For instance, $38,000 for the Commissioner's office, when the reality of the matter is, that expenditure is going to turn, next year, into $117,000 per year; and the same holds true for other positions that are being added in the supp. I don't really think it's a fair way to let us know what's really happening, because you have to go in and see that it's only until March 31st, and then after March 31st, you're hit with the big numbers, and these numbers are just partial numbers only until March 31st. So it doesn't paint the full picture for Members, and I think when the government does go out and develop a supp, they should also have an accompanying document with it that will tell us what the real costs are going to be going forward because, right now, it's just guesswork, and you have to put your math skills to use to try to figure out what it's going to cost. I think that's a shortcoming of the supp process. I'd like to ask the Minister if, in the future, he might be able to do that for us.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the supplementary appropriation document, as it is laid out before you, is following the rules, the processes established, and accounting for this year's fiscal requirements that we are asking for. Because we're asking for the money for this year, that is why this document is presented that way.

The Member is correct; by approving a number of these, it also puts a requirement for future years, or it gets added to the base, as we call it, and then that adds to the budget document for the next year as we go through it. Looking at how we can structure the report, and making changes that would identify what would be added to the base, and what is just the one-time amount, is something we can do. I think in the meetings we've had prior to this, we identify, through discussions, what can be added, or what will be added to future years. But, yes, we can have a look at making this clearer, so that Members are aware which of these would be added to future year requirements. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that would be helpful to Members, if there was something. It doesn't have to be an official document, but something that accompanies the supp, so that we can see exactly what it's going to cost into the future, and in a full fiscal year; because, right now, as I said, we only get part of the picture, and we don't get the whole story. The whole story, Mr. Chairman, is that this supp is going to cost us about $2.2 or $2.3 million on an ongoing basis, period. I just wanted to make that known. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Minister, do you have any comments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, one of the other things, as is highlighted in this document, when you come to the capital portion of the document and we highlight our number, we highlight the requirement, or the ask, for this year that we're in, but we also identify the next year's requirements for however long the project will go. So we can take this same way of reporting this and include it in the rest of the document for the O and M side, as well.

As well, Mr. Chairman, the fact is, as we go forward and prepare another business plan and main estimates for this Assembly, if every item activity and the requests of

departments are looked at by this House, and requires the approval of this House. So, yes, there are things that can be added to that, but if we go into a cycle where we've got to tighten our spending practices, then a number of these initiatives may also be removed. But, as I stated earlier, we'll make some adjustments to the document so it's clearly identified when we are seeking money if it's one-time or requires future expenditures. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Ramsay.

That's good, Mr. Chairman, thank you.

Thank you. Page 6, Executive, operations expenditures, executive offices. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To page 6, executive offices, an area that I wanted to probe a little bit was the $200,000 requested for contribution funding to the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council to partially offset the costs associated with the Tlicho 13th annual gathering held in Behchoko in August of this year. Mr. Chairman, I attended that event for a day and a night and enjoyed myself. It was a terrific launch for this historic event for the Tlicho people. To the $200,000 now requested to partially offset the costs, I'm wondering if the Minister could advise what were the overall costs associated with this event, and are there any particular parts of it that have been referenced for us to contribute the $200,000? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member is right; this is for the request that was made to help offset the contributions for their ceremonies as the Tlicho Government coming into existence, or into law, where they can now start their journey as a self-governing nation. The request was made of us for the $200,000, as identified. We've been informed, from their council, that they were targeting approximately $900,000 for expenditures for their celebrations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess at issue is not the amount that the Tlicho chose to spend -- that is not our jurisdiction -- but $200,000 as a contribution to this. Mr. Chairman, I guess there are two things that I would like to investigate here. I would certainly want to put them in the context not at all being critical of government assisting with a contribution to an event, especially an event of this nature, but the amount of money is significant: $200,000. I would put it against, Mr. Speaker, information that I have that suggests that in the last couple of years, in each year we have, this territorial government, through its Arts Council, in support to northern performers invested about $70,000 a year to festivals and events across the territory. I think this went out to 10 or 12 communities. So we have a case where our government invests about $70,000 in festivals and events across the territory, and here's one event for $200,000. Is this appropriate? Is there any precedent for it? Where does the Executive feel that it is on good grounds coming to the Legislature to ask for this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I should add a little more information to this. The amount of funding that was provided was to help partially offset some of the celebrations, but, as well, to initiate their first gathering as a self-government, and help them defray some of those costs of their initial meetings. As well, this is the first self-government agreement in the Northwest Territories that has been finalized, and it is in the process of being implemented now. That is some of the consideration when we talked about working with other groups in the Northwest Territories and governments, in this situation, and the relationship we have with them. So I think the comparison is somewhat different from the one of the Arts Council, which does its work and promotes arts and crafts across the Northwest Territories. This is a one-time event of supporting them in their initial kick-off of the self-government journey that they are undertaking now, and it was in that light that this amount was agreed to be put into this document. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

So then, there's no further detail as to the particular expense or costs, or part of this that we're contributing to?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.