Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development met with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, RWED, on January 13, 2005, to review the 2005-2006 Draft Main Estimates. The restructuring of RWED into two new departments will occur in the new fiscal year but had yet to divide as of this report. In this unique year, the main estimates of the Departments of Industry, Tourism and Investment, ITI, and Environment and Natural Resources, ENR, were reviewed simultaneously by the committee and defended by the Minister of RWED.
The mandate of the Minister and the Department of ITI is to promote economic self-sufficiency through the responsible development of the Northwest Territories natural resource industries and the promotion and support of tourism, trade and investment, business and manufacturing to create a prosperous, diverse and sustainable economy for the benefit of all NWT residents.
Cost Of Restructuring
The committee appreciates that the government restructured RWED into the two new departments to improve program delivery. The committee also appreciates the difficulty in trying to quantify the cost of restructuring versus the cost of lost opportunity. However, the fact remains that the creation of Industry, Tourism and Investment alone will cost the government $1.765 million in ongoing costs. The committee is concerned about this expenditure.
Investment And Economic Analysis, IEA, And The Business Development Investment Corporation, BDIC, Amalgamation
The committee understands the focus of the IEA and the BDIC are different. The BDIC's main mandate is to help clients access programming in order to start businesses while the IEA provides economic strategic and policy advice to the government.
However, the committee believes there is still opportunity to amalgamate portions of these two programs. There are several positions within IEA that either duplicate positions in the proposed BDIC or may be more effective there. The NWT/Canada Business Centre would be one of several examples.
Amalgamating portions of the two programs would not only conserve resources but would streamline services to the public. The committee was pleased to hear that once both the BDIC and the Department of Investment, Tourism and Industry are operational, the Minister is prepared to further discuss this issue with the committee.
Expo 2005 Japan
As the committee observed in their review of the 2005-2008 Business Plans, the government plans to devote to the 2005 Expo only a fraction of the millions spent on past expos in Spain and Vancouver. The Japanese tourists spent an estimated $16 million last year in the Northwest Territories.
The committee argued this Expo requires a larger expenditure than $500,000 because there is competition from other places in the world for aurora viewing.
However, after hearing more information about the plans for the proposed funds, the committee is more confident of ITI's ability to increase the NWT tourism industry's exposure to the Japanese and international tourists at Expo 2005.
For instance, ITI will be maximizing private sector involvement by developing a sponsorship program to ensure that the private sector is involved. Furthermore, ITI has consulted with the NWT Tourism Association on the best dates for the NWT to exhibit at the Canadian Pavilion where one of three themes will be the aurora borealis.
Mackenzie Valley Pipeline
The committee is concerned about the government's human resources for the Mackenzie Valley gas project. The committee wrote to the Government House Leader on October 6, 2004, asking for a list of all the government positions devoted to the Mackenzie Valley pipeline project. The list was to include all positions both existing and proposed, including those in the regions and in all of the departments that are on the task team.
Further, the committee asked to see a justification for each position and explanation of what their role contributes to the planning and monitoring of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. Finally, the committee asked how all of the information is collected, coordinated and communicated to the lead department.
The committee has received some of the information but believes it to be incomplete because the response only shows positions for two departments and fails to identify those housed elsewhere in the government.
The committee is also concerned about the complicated committee structure. There are five interdepartmental committees that report to the Deputy Ministers' Pipeline Steering Committee. The Governance and Economic Development committee is unsure of these committees' responsibilities and their membership.
Finally, although not all of the staff has been hired for this initiative and the office will not be operational until April 2005, all of the money for compensation, benefits, operations and maintenance has been expended for 2004-2005. ITI is still operating the MVPO on a transitional approach between Yellowknife and Hay River until the Hay River office can open.
The committee has expressed all these concerns during their review of the 2005-2008 Business Plans and is disappointed to see that no positive changes have been made, in order to safeguard their interest and to answer any questions the public might have.
Recommendation
The committee recommends that the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment develop a communication strategy to advise the public how the government is organized;
And further, that a senior MVPO position be placed in the Deh Cho to better enhance communications in that region.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.