Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the chair of the Financial Management Board.

1. According to section 10 of the government contract regulations, how can the chair of the FMB enter into a sole sourced contract for $450,000 to an American company?
2. Where did the $450,000 contract come from within the FMB? I would like detail on which activities the money came from or was transferred from.
3. Can the FMB be certain which departments the problems came from in the amalgamation of our human resources functions and, if so, how can responsibility and accountability for the apparent neglect of duties be addressed by the chair?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Written questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Tabling of documents. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Communities and Diamonds 2005 Annual Report of the GNWT Under the BHP Billiton, Diavik and De Beers Socio-Economic Agreements.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 2, 2006, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that the Legislative Assembly request the Auditor General of Canada to undertake a performance audit of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and report thereon to the Legislative Assembly; and further, that the performance audit examine the corporation's organizational structure, activities, practices, attitudes, philosophy, decision-making processes, internal performance measures and procedures to ascertain the corporation's planning and management capacity and effectiveness; and furthermore, that the audit examine the adequacy and appropriateness of the corporation's governance model and accountability relationship to the Legislative Assembly and its committees and, in particular, the quality and relevance of the business plans, main estimates and other documents put before the Legislative Assembly and its committees; and furthermore, that the Auditor General examine such additional factors as she, in her opinion, feels are relevant; and furthermore, that all employees and officials actively cooperate with the Auditor General in providing all appropriate documents, records, papers and information; and furthermore, that the Assembly request the Auditor General to complete this audit as expeditiously as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Notices of motion. Notices of motion for the first reading of bills. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bills 12, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 20, and Committee Reports 5, 6, 7 and 8. By the authority given the Speaker by Motion 9-15(4), Committee of the Whole may sit beyond the hour of adjournment until it is prepared to report, with Mr. Pokiak in the chair.

Good afternoon. I call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee wishes to consider Legislative Assembly, the NWT Housing Corporation, Bill 18, Committee Report 5-15(4), Committee Report 6-15(4), Committee Report 7-15(4) and Bill 20, followed by Bill 19 or Bill 12 and Bill 15. Mahsi.

Thank you. Does committee agree?

We'll take a short break before we commence.

---SHORT RECESS

Good afternoon. I call the meeting back to order. At this time, I would like to ask Mr. Speaker if he has opening comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the 2006-2007 Main Estimates for the Legislative Assembly. As was the case last year, the proposed operating expenses for the Legislative Assembly for the upcoming fiscal year are characterized by fiscal restraint. A total of $14.54 million in expenditures is proposed for 2006-2007 compared to $14.48 million last year. This represents a 0.6 percent increase. This increase was due largely to forced growth expenditures and was mitigated by reductions in a number of categories, most notably in the financial support provided to statutory officers of the House.

In response to the general fiscal restraint exercise undertaken by the government this year, the Board of Management felt a responsibility to again look at its own operations for sources of potential reduction and savings. Among these is an additional $25,000 reduction in the Assembly's travel budget and a $70,000 reduction in the budgets of the Assembly's statutory officers, most notably in the budget of the Official Languages Commissioner and the Equal Pay Commissioner.

Funding for the Electoral Boundaries Commission and the Independent Commission to Review Members' Compensation and Benefits was also reduced, as most of the work for these commissions will be completed in the current fiscal year.

Despite the climate of fiscal restraint, the Assembly is moving forward with a number of important initiatives that will improve the level of service to Members and promote the importance of our institution. There is $35,000 earmarked this year for a Legislative Assembly Outreach Program modelled upon a successful initiative in the province of Manitoba. The program will see the Speaker and MLAs travel to schools in small communities throughout the Territories with the mace to promote the importance of public government and the vital role of MLAs.

As you know, extensive public input was gathered when our mace was first being designed. Since its completion, however, it's never left the capital. This initiative will allow the residents of the NWT, particularly those in small and remote communities, to see the mace up close and learn a little bit about the work that is done in this House and by all MLAs.

A major priority for the Board of Management this coming year will be to find a long-term and comprehensive solution to the Assembly's broadcasting requirements. In a jurisdiction as long and diverse as ours, it is absolutely

critical that all our residents have adequate and equal access to the proceedings of our Assembly. The loss of APT coverage is an unfortunate reality. However, with every loss comes an opportunity for renewal. The interim measures put in place during this session indicate that alternative forms of broadcasting do exist. The introduction of audio and video web casting during this sitting puts our Assembly on the cutting edge of broadcasting technology. It is not enough, however. Next week, I, in cooperation with the Speakers of Nunavut and Yukon legislatures, will be issuing a request for proposals for a comprehensive solution to our broadcasting needs. The highest priority for my office in the coming months will be to implement a broadcasting solution that will far outperform our previous efforts. The preferred solution is a channel dedicated to broadcasting the proceedings of the three northern legislatures in every community in the Northwest Territories and in all its official languages. Throughout this process, I will consult all Members to ensure that our needs and the needs of your constituents are met.

In the meantime, I would like to thank CKLB Radio and the community cable and radio stations in Fort Smith, Hay River, Fort Simpson, Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk, Holman and Yellowknife for their efforts in making our proceedings accessible to residents.

As Members are aware, the Independent Commission to Review Members' Compensation and Benefits was tabled during this sitting. While Members have not yet had an opportunity to consider the commission's recommendations in the House, a number of them followed up on concerns raised by Members in the House last year. Notably, the recommendation to expand the current Page program such that each Member will be entitled to bring four Pages a year to Yellowknife from their constituencies is one that I welcome.

---Applause

In addition to recommendations to provide Members with adequate funding from the Assembly's appropriation to visit each of the communities in their respective constituencies at least five times a year is one that I feel will greatly level the playing field among all MLAs to meet and represent their constituents. I look forward to your deliberations on these matters and I stand ready to respond to your needs.

Parking remains a critical issue for the Assembly. Last year, engineering work was completed for the creation of 21 additional parking stalls to the east of the access road into the building. This project has been delayed for two reasons. First, the Assembly was in a position of reducing its overall expenditures this year. To proceed with this project value at over $150,000 would have meant unacceptable reductions to the services provided to the Members of the House.

Secondly, the proposed law court building is likely to have a significant impact on the traffic level into and out of the Legislative Assembly and the current parking capacity. The board is interested in seeking further details on these impacts prior to proceeding with a project that will leave a significant impact adjacent to the Legislative Assembly. As design work on the proposed law court building proceeds, we will be in a better position to determine the best way to proceed.

Supporting the work of the statutory officers of the House is a critical component of the work of the Legislative Assembly. This year, the budgets of the Languages Commissioner and the Equal Pay Commissioner have been adjusted to reflect the lower-than-expected number of complaints received by these offices. The budget for the Equal Pay Commissioner has been reduced from $175,000 to $68,000; $35,000 of this reduction has been transferred to the office of the Speaker to fund the Legislative Outreach Program and $22,000 has been transferred to the ATIPP Commissioner to provide her with a small operating budget. The remaining $50,000 was used to meet the Assembly's expenditure reduction targets. The Languages Commissioner's budget was reduced from $200,000 to $180,000, also to meet the fiscal restraint target.

The budget for the Chief Electoral Officer has been increased by $75,000 in preparation for the 2007 General Election. While the budget for the Human Rights Commission remains steady at $630,000, an increasing number of complaints to the commission is putting pressure on this allocation and will likely require adjustments this year or next.

Mr. Chairman, 2005-2006 saw the successful completion of a number of large pieces of work including the Electoral Boundaries Commission, the Independent Commission to Review Members' Compensation and Benefits and a general review of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act. The year ahead will be focussed on implementation, particularly in the run-up to the general election in just over 18 months from now.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues on the Board of Management who have the unenviable job of administering the services and benefits provided to all Members. I am proud of the work that they have done on behalf of all Members and our institution. This concludes my opening remarks, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, I would like to ask the Speaker if he would like to bring in any witnesses.

I would.

Would the Sergeant-at-Arms please escort the witnesses in? Does committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can you introduce your witnesses, please?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my right is the Clerk of the Assembly, Tim Mercer; and to my left is Myles Moreside, director of corporate services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. General comments to the Speaker's opening comments. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to just make a few comments on the Speaker's opening comments with respect to the Legislative Assembly budget. Mr. Chairman, I just want to show my support for any work and the work that the Speaker's office, Clerk's office, and the Board of Management is doing regarding doing the public campaign or communications out to the

communities and travel with the mace and let especially the young kids all over the Territories know about the power that we've been given by them to be here and to represent them and make decisions on their behalf. I think there's always...You know, kids change and they grow fast, and just when...That experience with myself in my riding you need to, you can never visit enough and talk to them enough about important issues of the day and what it is that this House means to our democratic system and what place it has. So I want to applaud the Speaker and his officials for that.

The second issue that I want to speak about is the importance of communicating to our residents about the work we do here. I appreciate that we've had some hiccoughs because of the complications we have had in getting the coverage aired in APTN. But I think the one idea that we should really consider, and in partnership with all northern jurisdictions, is to have our own northern channel. I don't think we can underestimate the power of TV and media for the public to disseminate information. It is an essential part of the democratic system and it is something that we should really focus our energy on in working out a workable arrangement. It is not just to advertise, so to speak, what we do, but TV is a very, very important medium and any government has to rely on that to make...I think it's a connecting agent between a public body like this and the public. With the cooperation and partnership of other northern jurisdictions, I think there is a lot we can do with this. Not only to broadcast the House proceedings of the NWT Legislature, Yukon Legislature and Nunavut Legislature, but on an ongoing basis there are very important press conferences that happen here that could be aired.

Not only that, there are lots of cultural activities that happen in all corners of the Territories that people outside of that specific locality do not have privy and access to. I think one of the privileges that we have as a Member is to be able to travel to different communities and, say, the festivals all over northern communities, for example. There's a very distinct culture and music in Tuktoyaktuk, or Inuvik, or Aklavik. I mean, there are a completely different set of songs and ways of singing in the North that we have the privilege to visit and take part in; Dene hand games and all of the assemblies. There is just so much going on and I think this government has to, even if it costs money, to take an important step of being the agent for serving that need.

I think when CPAC, the national channel, came on, there might have been a question about whether would anybody want to watch committee proceedings or the goings on in the Supreme Court about lawyers appearing before the Supreme Court and arguing on issues that may not be understandable to laypersons. But that's not the way it turned out at all. In fact, CPAC is one of the most watched channels in the country and I think it's because people appreciate getting information from the source and not being filtered by any other middle agents, whether they be, you know, whatever that might be. It's commercial free. The Arctic Winter Games we have going on in Alaska, if we could air those.

I think the opportunities are limitless and I think the CBC being the national broadcasting, they do try to have a component, like absolutely Canadian. But I think we could do something absolutely northern and really use it as a medium to share our common experiences and common culture and also display our distinct, you know, differences in the different regions. I think there is just such potential there and I would encourage the Speaker's office to keep on working with the other partners to see how we can make this accessible and make it possible, but also to try to tap into CRTC or any of the heritage funding or anything, because I don't think we realize the shortcomings that we have in not having the medium that communicates so much that is going on in the North.

Lastly, another thing about it is, people like to see themselves reflected on TV, especially if it's a national media. All the children, and all the culture groups, and the students, and sports groups, and all that should be reflected on our TV. The national media can't do that. We can do that with a northern channel. That's something that I really, really want to encourage our Assembly to take the leadership role on, because the benefits are going to be tenfold, twenty-fold. We are not even aware right now what the positive impact of that might be.

Lastly, Mr. Chairman, I know I probably ran out of my time here. In a jurisdiction where at times it seems like there's so much going on in the NWT, that might be putting pressure to separate us and sort of highlight the more differences than the common culture and common history that we share as a jurisdiction. I think there is a lot more than just broadcasting the Legislative Assembly sessions that we could tap into. There's just so much more good to it and it's an opportunity, and any problem has to be seen as an opportunity. Minor problem we had with APTN, we just have to turn it around and it's an opportunity for us to capitalize on and to move forward. So that's my statement.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Next I have Mr. Ramsay.