Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs as Members of the Accountability and Oversight committee were involved in the new pre-budget consultation process with the people of the Northwest Territories in late August of 2005. Hearings were held north and south of the lake and gave ordinary northerners and non-governmental organizations the opportunity to provide input to MLAs on the priorities that the budget should focus on.

The committee then met with the Minister and his officials on Monday, September 22, 2005, to review the draft business plan of the Department of Justice.

Members also received a briefing from the Minister of Finance on January 19, 2006, outlining the changes to the budget of the Department of Justice since the committee reviewed the business plan in September.

The committee noted expenditures of $83.800 million for operations expense and $4.029 million to be spent on capital projects.

Committee members offer the following comments on issues arising out of the review of the 2006-2007 Draft Main Estimates and budget planning cycle.

Pre-Budget Consultations

As we referred to it a moment ago, Mr. Chairman, under pre-budget consultations committee members took note of the following issues that were mentioned in a majority of the communities we visited: more support for local justice committees; resources for on-the-land programs for people who have committed less serious crimes, especially youth at risk and young offenders; the need for offenders to reconnect with traditional values; the need for training and education for offenders to make them more employable; and increased RCMP resources in smaller communities. These issues will be commented on by my colleagues and I will turn the next chapter of the report over to Mr. McLeod. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.