Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The committee then met with the Minister and his officials on September 23, 2005, to review the draft business plan of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Members also received a briefing from the Minister of Finance on January 17, 2006, outlining the changes to the budget of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment since the committee reviewed the business plan in September.
Committee members made note that the department is proposing to spend $38 million in operations expense and $2.7 million on capital projects in fiscal year 2006-2007.
Committee members offer the following comments on issues arising out of the review of the 2006-2007 Draft Main Estimates and budget planning cycle.
Contract Registry Relocation
The Governance and Economic Development committee believes that the contract registry should be moved out of ITI and placed with FMBS.
The purpose of the contract registry is to make available on the Internet contracting opportunities with the GNWT for over $5,000 with NWT businesses. The registry also makes it possible to report on tendering activity at yearend.
The committee notes a number of reasons to support transferring the contract registry program. First, the secretariat's establishment policy clearly states, "the chairman of the Financial Management Board shall have charge of and be responsible for developing financial and contract policies, systems and procedures required in support of government operations." Secondly, the committee further remarked that the secretariat's 2006-2009 Business Plan notes that expenditure and procurement management is being considered for delivery through the 'service centre' concept. Finally, the committee points out that a recent report on best practices for public procurement recommends that the FMBS would be better suited to oversee the contract registry.
Recommendation
The Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development recommends that Industry, Tourism and Investment work with Financial Management Board Secretariat to review the possibility of transferring the contract registry to the Financial Management Board Secretariat and report back to the committee on the positive and negative aspects of such a move within a definite period of time.
Taltson Hydro Project
The government plans to expand the existing Taltson system to supply power to NWT diamond mines.
The committee is concerned about the growing amount of funds being devoted to this project. ITI came forward with a supplementary appropriation in October 2005 for $730,000 earmarked for the NWT Energy Corporation's feasibility and environmental studies on the Taltson hydro project. In 2006-2007, ITI is asking for another $1 million to complete the feasibility studies and environmental baseline work.
As far as the committee is given to understand, although letters of interest have been obtained from the mines, there are not any confirmed customers and there still may be the outstanding issues of agreement to proceed with the Lutselk'e band.
Furthermore, the committee is concerned about the accountability for this project. Formerly headed by the Premier, the responsibility for the NWT Power Corporation has changed and now the money flowing to the corporation is coming from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Recommendation
The Governance and Economic Development committee recommends that the government record Taltson hydro project expenditures in the capital plan to show the amount of money being spent on this project.
The committee further recommends that before spending any more money on this project, the responsible department present a business case for this project, including guaranteed customers and total project costs, and confirm who the Minister responsible is for this project
Interpretive Bison Centre - Chan Lake
During their pre-budget consultations, the committee heard from members of the public who suggested that the GNWT should provide more resources for product and infrastructure development and marketing.
The committee discussed the possibility of creating an interpretive bison centre at Chan Lake with the departments of ITI and ENR during their review of the 2006-2009 Business Plans. The committee thought this project was not only a great tourist attraction, but also a practical solution to some of the issues on that section of road. For instance, the road between Fort Providence and Yellowknife can be a long stretch of road without any services. MACA could locate an emergency phone centre there.
Transportation could also develop a roadside turnout, and the staff at the centre could advise tourists about driving safely in bison country. This recommendation also fits in with ITI's RV site initiative.
Recommendation
The Governance and Economic Development committee recommends that an interpretive bison centre be established at Chan Lake.
Thank you. That concludes the Governance and Economic Development committee's pre-budget review.