Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t feel that I’m newly minted. I’ve been the Minister now for four months, and I’ve had four months of hard riding on me. I feel I’m, I think, ready to roll — seasoned, as the Member says.

The issue of performance reviews. There are annual financial audits done. We have the ability though motions and requests to get the Auditor General in to look at Crown corporations. We’ve just structured a program review committee in government that’s going to start looking at the operations of government. As well, we have the opportunity, as has been mentioned in this House and spoken to by the Premier, the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, to take a look at the very fundamental operations of the Power Corporation and how we generate and distribute electricity and how we’re structured across the board for that particular service, including the regulatory regime. I think we have many opportunities.

Usually performance audits are specifically set up with a specific terms of reference. If the Member is talking about an annual process or a semi-annual process, we’d have to talk about that.

Mr. Speaker, I promised to be nice to the Minister because his little brother was in the gallery. I may not have used “seasoned.” I normally would have used “galvanized” or “crusty” Minister. But for the sake of being nice, of course, I won’t say those words today.

I’m asking for a reasonable time, value for money audit. The Auditor General does a value for money audit on the federal departments in between five and ten year blocks. That’s the kind of thing I’m suggesting. I wouldn’t suggest we do one every week, every year, every two years. Then they build up a program, and if the Crown corporation is working healthy, they push it back on the list. That’s what I’m asking for.

Would the Minister hear my call on this initiative for value for money audits and take a look at this and see if we could possibly implement something?

Mr. Speaker, I arise galvanized by my colleague’s questions to respond with alacrity and great definity.

Mr. Speaker, we have the opportunity, through the strategic plans…. For example, the Housing Corporation has just incorporated an accompanying action plan to look at having that built in. The government is moving, too, across the board for all the departments to have strategic plans. I’m sure they’re the same discussions we had in regard to the Power Corporation, and that is what is deemed beneficial or essential. So I think the opportunity’s there to look at those processes, especially if it’s tied into a regular strategic planning process and renewal process of that strategic plan.

Mr. Speaker, I didn’t hear an outright no, but it sure sounded like one slipped in there somehow.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister citing a strategic plan, but the problem is it’s not a strategic plan issue; it’s an accountability factor that could be built into legislation, and the legislation could be amended to reflect this issue specifically and on the appropriateness.

Would the Minister of Finance be willing to look at this issue and work with the Auditor General’s office? The Edmonton office has offered their resources to help with this type of program. Would he be willing to look at that and bring something back to this House to address this need of value for money audits?

Mr. Speaker, my assumption was that I was stating quite unequivocally that there’s an opportunity here through the strategic planning process that departments are moving to and that corporations like the Housing Corporation have moved to, to build that process in. If that is something that is deemed appropriate, through the discussions in the House and as we go through the business planning process in the coming week, and that is an issue that has value enough built into the way we do business, then the opportunity is there through that process. As I understood the Member to say, in his mind he thought it would be every four to five years.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can I get a commitment and recognition from the Minister that the NWTAC has requested the Auditor General’s office, through a letter to all Members of the Assembly, that the NWT Power Corp go through a value for money audit? Would the Minister be willing to commit to follow up on this issue? Recognizing that even though the Power Corp doesn’t necessarily fall under his portfolio, I think sound fiscal management falls on his shoulders.

Therefore, I hope he would lead the charge in recognition of this difficult problem. Would he be willing to follow up on it?

The Premier is the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation and has already indicated through questions in the House

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and it’s been well discussed with

Members in other settings

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that there’s an

opportunity here, as we look at the electrical rate review, the energy strategy and all the energy priorities that we’re developing, to take a very fundamental look at the Power Corporation

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the

regulatory regime, how we generate and distribute electricity. I think that opportunity is there. Through that process, if a regular, built in review is deemed appropriate, that would be the venue to in fact have that built in.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about the need for this government to look at helping smaller communities with their youth programs. I have questions for the Minister of MACA.

Mr. Speaker, last week I asked the Minister about increasing youth budgets for communities. His response was: if there’s an opportunity to increase funding for youth, that’s something he would look at. My question today is: will the Minister commit to taking action to ensure youth budgets are increased for 2009–2010?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I admire the Member’s perseverance and commitment to an important issue, and it’s an issue that we all share in this House. Having said that, we are identifying more youth funding, and as part of identifying the youth funding, we’re hoping to come forward in the business plan. That should increase some of the funding to a lot of youth organizations.

Mr. Speaker, I also asked about a review of the youth budgets and how they’re allocated to my communities in Tu Nedhe. I got a commitment from the Minister that he will do this.

I would like to follow up today by asking the Minister if he would give me a time frame as to when this review can be completed, keeping in mind that I’m talking about Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e.

Those commitments are coming back to bite me. I did say that we would do

a review, and I commit again to the Member that we will do a review. Once we’re done sitting in the House, we’ll have an opportunity to sit down with the department and give them a schedule of when I’d like to see a review done. I will certainly pass that information on to the Member.

Mr. Speaker, I felt one option for getting this government and the communities off on the right foot to start looking at youth issues in the communities is to look at a community based youth strategy specific to this particular community or that particular community of Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution.

I would like to follow up on this by asking the Minister if he will give me a time frame on when he can get started with the community based youth strategy.

Mr. Speaker, for a lot of the community youth strategy MACA will have to have a lot of direct input from the community to work together to come up with a plan for a strategy for the community. I did commit that we would start looking into this. As I said in my previous answer, once we’re done in the House, I’ll have an opportunity to sit down with the department and come up with a schedule of all the commitments I have made and try and see how soon we can come forward with strategies and other information for the Members of this Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. A final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for those responses. I also spoke about the Aboriginal Sport Circle and how they deliver programs in many small communities, including Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could commit to increasing the Aboriginal Sport Circle budget to be in line with other territorial sporting organizations.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to the questions I asked yesterday in the House, the public is always very interested in what MLA pay

and benefits are. To that end, the independent commission on Members’ pay and benefits is struck at least a once every term, and the recommendations go into effect for the following government. Members have an opportunity for input into that as well.

What I was trying to question the Premier about yesterday was the enhanced or additional benefits that are only available to Cabinet Ministers. I was trying to get the Premier yesterday to confirm — and I’ll try again today — that, in fact, the policy for the ministerial benefit is actually decided on and voted on by the Cabinet.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Yes.

I thank the Premier for that. I did mention yesterday that, understandably, capital accommodation, home travel, spousal travel, perhaps even the entertainment allowance — some of these things will definitely be there. There is one area of the ministerial benefit which I find a little bit curious and that I referred to yesterday as well, and that is the accruing of holidays that get paid out to Ministers at the end of the year or at the end of their term. This is something quite unique and different, obviously, than what Regular Members have access to. So I am going to ask the Premier: why would the Cabinet policy find it necessary to approve holiday benefits, vacation benefits, and pay them out to Ministers at the end of either the year or their term?