Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development's Report on the 2007-2008 Pre-Budget Review Process. The Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development is pleased to present its report on its 2007-2008 pre-budget review process. This report covers both the committee's review of the 2007-2010 Draft Business Plans, which took place in September 2006, and also its review of the 2007-2008 Draft Main Estimates, which took place in January 2007.
The GED envelope includes the departments of Municipal and Community Affairs; Public Works and Services; Transportation; Industry, Tourism and Investment; and Environment and Natural Resources.
General Comments
ITI And ENR Position Growth
Since the beginning of this Assembly, the Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development has encouraged departments to streamline programs, amalgamate divisions and control position growth, wherever possible, in order to conserve resources. When the former Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development was first split into ITI and ENR this Committee stated in its report that, while we appreciated the government's restructuring of RWED into the two new departments to improve program delivery, and while we also appreciated the difficulty in trying to quantify the cost of restructuring versus the cost of lost opportunity, the fact remained that the creation of Industry, Tourism and Investment cost the Government of the Northwest Territories $1.765 million and the creation of Environment and Natural Resources cost the Government of the Northwest Territories $1.074 million in ongoing costs. We recommended that the government investigate how to mitigate this expenditure.
The committee is disappointed, two years later, to find there has been a combined growth of 28 positions over and above the 17 new positions that were approved for the initial reorganization. In fact, it appears there were actually 26 positions created as a result of the reorganization. This position growth is remarkable considering 15 positions were transferred to the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Human Resources, and the Business Development and Investment Corporation.
The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight has expressed an interest in a zero-based review of positions in this government. The increase in positions in the Departments of ENR and ITI is an excellent example of why such a review is needed.