Mr. Chairman, I’d like to thank the Member for highlighting this very important piece of infrastructure. The City of Yellowknife and this department have worked on it for a number of years in terms of seeing how we could look at safety issues, look at serving both the department and the city in terms of this important infrastructure. It’s been in our long-term plans.

However, because of the funding that became available through the Building Canada funding arrangement, we accelerated, on the wishes of the City of Yellowknife, to see if there’s a way that we could expedite this project in terms of building a bypass road. The funds have not been concluded in terms of…. The Building Canada funding arrangement is still in the hands of the Hon. Michael McLeod, the lead Minister of BCF, in terms of the arrangements. We negotiated with the City of Yellowknife in terms of the funding requirements.

We ourselves have done due diligence in terms of this agreement, and I’d ask my Deputy Minister to speak specifically to the question Ms. Bisaro is asking about in terms of the funding by the government in the city in terms of the 50-50. We

believe this is a 50-50 partnership. Mr. Neudorf could speak to the funding arrangements in terms of how we see this deal with the City of Yellowknife.

Thank you,

Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Neudorf.

Mr.

Chair, yes, I accept the

explanation. I understand that they’re real dollars, but I do feel it somewhat unfair that there are going to be other infrastructure projects funded by the Building Canada Fund which will be the same real dollars, but in other communities the Building Canada Fund is only going to require a 25 per cent matching dollar figure from either the GNWT or the community. So I think there’s an amount of unfairness here. I would like to ask the Minister whether or not there’s any possibility that the Minister and/or the department would consider looking at the memorandum of understanding particularly, only in regard to the cost-sharing aspect of this project, to perhaps renegotiate.

I will take Ms. Bisaro's comments into consideration. We see it, in the eyes of this government and through the Building Canada Fund, that this is a good partnership with the City of Yellowknife and this department in reaching a common goal. However, if that's the comment and the wish of the Member, we would look at it. We will have to talk to the city, and specifically to the mayor, about this option. We are looking at various levels of partnerships in terms of building our infrastructure needs in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Minister, for those comments. I have a question in regard to the accounting aspect of this particular project. Since it is being cost shared with a municipality or another

organization — it wouldn’t matter whether it was a municipality or something else — I'm curious why this shows as a $7 million project for the GNWT when that's not the amount of money that we're actually spending. We're only spending some $3.5 million.

Mr.

Chairman, I'll ask

Mr. Neudorf to answer this question.

Thank you.

Mr. Neudorf.

Thank you,

Mr. Neudorf. Further questions?

Pages 8-8 and 8-9. We're talking Highways, Tangible Capital Assets, Total Tangible Capital Assets: $39.537 million.

Department of Transportation, Infrastructure

Acquisition Plan, Highways, Total Tangible Capital Assets: $39.537 million, approved.

Infrastructure

Contributions — none. Total Infrastructure Contributions and Total Activity: $39.537 million.

Department of Transportation, Infrastructure

Acquisition Plan, Highways, Total Activity: $39.537 million, approved.

Thank you, committee. I believe this concludes the Department of Transportation, with one more page to go?

Page 8-11. Infrastructure Acquisition Plan, Marine, Tangible Capital Assets, Total Tangible Capital Assets: $430,000.

Department of Transportation, Infrastructure

Acquisition Plan, Marine, Total Tangible Capital Assets: $430,000, approved.

Total Activity: $430,000.

Department of Transportation, Infrastructure

Acquisition Plan, Marine, Total Activity: $430,000, approved.

Turning further on to page 8-14, Infrastructure Acquisition Plan, Road Licensing and Safety, Tangible Capital Assets, Total Tangible Capital Assets: $1.27 million.

Department of Transportation, Infrastructure

Acquisition Plan, Road Licensing and Safety, Total Tangible Capital Assets: $1.27 million, approved.

Total Activity:

$1.27 million.

Department of Transportation, Infrastructure

Acquisition Plan, Road Licensing and Safety, Total Activity: $1.27 million, approved.

Total Department:

$56.437 million.

Department of Transportation, Infrastructure

Acquisition Plan, Total Department: $56.437 million, approved.

Does committee agree that this concludes the Department of Transportation?

Thank you, committee. I believe we next have the Department of the Executive up.

I'd like to thank the Minister and his witnesses. I'll ask the Sergeant-of-Arms to escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.

If committee is prepared to do so, does committee agree that we move on to the Department of the Executive?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I'm here to present the Department of Executive's Main Estimates for the fiscal year 2008–2009.

The Department of Executive works with all government departments to ensure that the goals and priorities identified by Members of the Legislative Assembly are being pursued in a balanced and effective manner across the GNWT.

Funding provided in this proposed budget will further contribute to Executive's capacity to provide advice and direction to departments on government priorities and to coordinate significant cross-department initiatives, such as implementation of the government's strategic initiatives.

For 2008–2009 the Department of Executive is requesting a budget of $12.976 million. That represents a decline of 1.4 per cent, or $185,000, compared to the 2007–2008 Main Estimates. This change consists of a combination of forced growth and strategic investment increases, and a series of specific reductions distributed between regional and headquarter operations.

The department's Main Estimates include slightly over $1 million in strategic investments as part of our Refocusing Government initiative. We are proposing $424,000 to support our critical evaluation of cost and effectiveness in government programming. Strengthening our ability to make our own decisions about how we develop and protect our land and resources is critical to the long-term well-being of Northerners and will be addressed through our Managing This Land initiative.

In order to advance devolution and resource revenue–sharing negotiations, we are proposing to invest $489,000 to replace sunsetted funding and continue our efforts to bring greater control over decisions about NWT land and resources back to the NWT.

Finally, we have proposed $100,000 to support the development of a comprehensive land-use framework for the NWT as part of Managing This Land. Sustainable development, the protection of our land and environment, support for the settlement of land claims, and capacity to support a broad range of public government services demand a relevant and comprehensive framework to guide our decisions and advance territorial interests.

There are modest increases attributed to forced growth related to collective agreement increases,

core funding to the Status of Women Council and Native Women's Association and increases to cover costs of operation for the Public Utilities Board.

Our Main Estimates also incorporate reduction of 11 staff positions affecting ten people. We are re-profiling our support for the coordination of regional operations, closing three of the five regional Executive offices. We have deleted two vacant positions and eliminated three administrative positions.

In addition, we have proposed reductions in various O&M budgets totalling approximately $300,000. These reductions affect regional office O&M, travel in headquarters, and contract expenses in headquarters.

That concludes my opening remarks. I would be pleased to answer questions the Members may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. I will now ask the Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, Mr.

Menicoche, to

provide his opening comments.

Thank you very much,

Mr. Chairman.

Department of Executive

On April 3, 2008, the members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations met with the Premier to review the Draft Main Estimates for the Department of Executive. Committee members made note that the department is proposing to spend $12.976 million in operations expense for the Executive offices during the fiscal year 2008–2009.

Committee members offer the following comments on issues arising from the review of the 2008–2009 Draft Main Estimates.

Mandate and Functions of Executive and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations

During the review of the Department of Executive, the committee discussed the elimination of regional offices and the re-profiling of the remaining two offices in the north-south region. Members recognized that the regional offices play an important role in relationship building and communications with aboriginal and community governments. This function is also carried out by the intergovernmental relations division of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, contributing to the committee’s concerns about duplication of functions and mandates between the two departments. Furthermore, the devolution office, as part of the

Executive, also deals with the aspect of tri-governmental negotiations and relations.

Members are disappointed that no progress has been made in the negotiations with Canada on resource revenue sharing and devolution. Self-government comprehensive agreement negotiations and implementation of existing agreements are proceeding very slowly. The committee also had concerns about the capacity of small stand-alone departments of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Pooling resources together would enhance the capacity of the GNWT to proceed with these activities while operating more cost efficiently. The committee felt that the number of senior management positions in the Executive would allow for absorbing the oversight of the functions of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.

Recommendation

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations be rolled back into the Executive.

With that, I will turn it over to a committee member to conclude the opening remarks.