On the one issue there, I understand that some of the communities that are negotiating the aboriginal self-governance in terms of their process, is this something the department is assisting with the negotiations in terms of assets that are in the community looking at part of these self-government agreements that communities would be taking over? Are we giving them the opportunity to own a fairly good piece of asset in these negotiations when the committees do take over the buildings and so forth? Thank you.

Minister of Public Works, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. The support we provide is an area of assets and appraisals and condition ratings. We do work in supporting the departments that are in the lead.

I thank the Minister for that. Now, in terms of some of the assets that you have in the communities that are fairly old, how is this working in terms of recommendations to the negotiators that the facility that’s fairly old and the community doesn’t really want to take over the building? How do we rectify that in terms of some of the facilities that are not too desirable to be included? Once that happens and the communities don’t really want to take this over because…Well, there are reasons why the community doesn’t want to take over certain assets in their self-government negotiations. I’d like to ask the Minister, it may require some other work, but how is this being rectified with the self-government agreements?

Just for the record, on page 7-13. Mr. McLeod.

We take the same position as MACA with their New Deal. We try to ensure their facilities or infrastructure that’s being transferred over is in fair condition. We would make the assessment and let the community decide. It may involve some negotiations whether or not they want to have it upgraded or not accept it at all. It’s brought forward in a number of different ways. The only areas that have had that discussion are the people in the Tlicho and I think Deline has now embarked on that process. That’s usually the position we take.

The Minister is correct; there have been discussions in the community of Deline regarding asset management in terms of facilities they would like to assume in their self-government negotiations. I’m glad to hear that the Minister is

somewhat open to how these facilities or assets are transferred over to community governments. Sometimes it requires additional dollars to upgrade these facilities. I’m not sure if that falls within the overall financial structure of concluding these agreements. That’s what I’m asking right now. I have not done enough research. I have done some, however, I know the community right now is talking with the territorial government and there are discussions happening as to what facilities are going to be included in the self-government arrangements. I’ll leave it at that. I know what the Minister has said and I’ll take that as a means to go forward on some other questions in the future.

That’s more of a comment, but, Mr. McLeod, if you want to respond. We’re on page 7-13, activity summary, directorate, operations expenditure summary, $6.363 million.

Moving on to information item, page 7-14, directorate, active positions.

Moving on to page 7-16 and 7-17, asset management, activity summary, operations expenditure summary, $46.727 million. Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Chairman, the role of contracting and procurement services, I’d like to ask the department about the principle and philosophy of contracting and procurement services in terms of agreements that the territorial government has with the aboriginal land claim settlement groups, some of the discussions we had with the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs regarding certain agreements in the land claims. I kind of expect I know what the response will be by the government’s position on these contracts with this department, but I want to hear from the Minister in terms of the role of contracting and the services this provides with working with qualified contractors in the region who could do the work if given the chance to negotiate some of these contracts.

Minister of Public Works and Services.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We try hard to ensure that a lot of the work we have out for contract or negotiation stays local. It’s something we like to see happen. We certainly try to abide by the different chapters in the land claim agreements. For the most part, the aboriginal governments have been focusing or been more specific in terms of drafting MOUs with our government that we also are required to abide

by as a department. That’s our intention and that’s the procedure we take forward.

Certainly with the contracts and procurement services to our people in our region, I agree with the Minister in terms of trying to stay local as much as possible within the means of how community-based contractors could do the work. Certainly there are efforts all the time to improve what we do in the communities. The Minister indicated he was working within the chapters of certain land claim settlements. I think the position or what I know from the work here is that I think this is right across the board. It doesn’t matter if you have a land claim settlement or no land claim settlement. I think some of the work has been…It kind of looks the same in terms of some of the communities that are in negotiations are also receiving negotiated sole-sourced work in areas as when some land claim groups are in that same boat. I’m not too sure as to how this policy is Territory-wide or if it is more in the negotiations in land claims looking at this specific area of work that we think the territorial government is interpreting. A little bit of confusion in terms of the contracting and procurement services of work out by DPW.

When I look at the numbers in the book, I see a lot of other companies who are still negotiating. Through their regional governments, through land claim settlement or treaty entitlement, those companies in those regions are also receiving similar services as to the region like the Sahtu who settle and who have specific agreements with Canada. I’m not too sure how this is being interpreted and rolled out. It’s kind of a double-edged sword here. I want to ask the Minister where the role of contracting and procurement services, especially with self-government or land claim groups, fit into it.

This is probably a better question posed to the Minister of ITI, but the position across the government has been to try to keep as much of the work local. Try to use the contractors and businesspeople in the communities to develop and improve the market. Negotiated contracts and sole-sourced contracts are not only restricted to land claim traditional areas, it’s used across the board as a tool to stimulate the economy and keep the companies in the different regions.

The difference is, I guess from my standpoint, that in a number of areas that have settled land claims, there is an MOU, there is an economic chapter that we have to abide by and it really spells out and makes it more specific as to the conditions. It also includes, in most cases, a mandatory review every year to look at how many contracts, talk about the percentages, see if it’s working right or not working right, sets targets that we as a government have to work towards, and it usually requires us to provide

advance notice to the different governments. It also usually spells out who is a qualified contractor or the list of aboriginal contractors that fall under that land claim.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In every jurisdiction and region across the Territories, we have buildings that need tender loving care. Some just need outright replacement. We’ll certainly commit to the Member to put that information as to the work that’s been done in the Sahtu.

Thank you. Next I have Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick question. It’s kind of related to capital, but it does have to do with assets and management of assets with the changes that we’ve made in the capital planning process. Coming up in the fall, we’ll be looking at the capital budget. I’m just wondering if the Minister knew at this point approximately when Members might be able to have some input into the capital plan for 2010-2011.

Minister of Public Works and Services.

Mr. Chairman, I’m just checking with Mr. Aumond as to when the first opportunity for some of the capital would be available for review. We expect it will be late spring or early summer so that we can have some ability to have good discussions in the business planning process in the fall.

I thank you for that timeline. I’m a little concerned when the Minister uses the word

“review,” that there will be items available for review. Is there an opportunity for Members to provide their wish list to the department prior to a list being developed for review?