Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the Department of Public Works and Services’ main estimates for the fiscal year 2012-2013.

The department’s main estimates propose an operations expenditure budget of $93.6 million for 2012-2013, an increase of 0.7 percent over the 2011-2012 Main Estimates. This change can be primarily attributed to the following adjustments:

•

increased maintenance and utility funding

associated with new GNWT facilities coming into service;

•

addition of two positions in support of the

ongoing implementation of the government’s new Document Management System; and

•

a reduction in base utility funding resulting in

energy conservation initiatives implemented by the department.

To help demonstrate how Public Works and Services is positioned to support and contribute to the priorities of the 17

th Assembly, I would like to

begin by mentioning some of the departmental activities and initiatives planned for 2012-2013.

In support of this governments’ priority to increase employment opportunities where they are most needed, the department uses a combination of local and regionally contracted services to assist in completing its ongoing prevention and deferred maintenance programs. In addition, the department has 12 indeterminate settlement maintainer positions along with 11 apprentice positions in communities across the NWT. These frontline positions enable the department to better manage maintenance activities and availability of resources at the community level, while promoting and strengthening our local northern workforce. They also allow the department to be more proactive in completing its mandate of building maintenance, complying with code-mandated checks and repairs

and completing deferred maintenance requirements.

Many of the government programs that support priorities of the 17

th Assembly and the services

available to residents are dependent upon information and communications technologies. The Technology Service Centre’s ongoing efforts to improve the technology services available to government continue to be a priority for this department. As the demand for electronic service delivery continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important to manage the network and its growth effectively.

Over the past three years, enhancements to local network infrastructure have increased access speeds into regional communities by way of upgrades to the digital communications network and Internet. The new digital communications network contract is introducing new technology to provide additional bandwidth, while some of the other benefits of this new contract include:

•

improved network performance and reliability

due to additional bandwidth and new technology in microwave, satellite and fibre-served communities;

•

ability to prioritize different types of service to

allow the flow of critical data over the network, an example being health digital imaging;

•

ability to easily add bandwidth at lower per unit

costs; and

•

improved service response times when service

issues and outages occur.

Additionally in 2012-13, the Technology Service Centre will offer its support and expertise to the office of the chief information officer in its review of the government’s ongoing telecommunications requirements and the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link Project.

I would now like to mention a few of the department’s other important program and service initiatives for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Created in 2008-09, the department’s Risk Management and Safety Program established there was over $470 million in deferred maintenance associated with aging GNWT infrastructure that poses potential safety risks to employees and the public. In coordination with the capital planning process and other program funding, the Deferred Maintenance Program has addressed $145 million in deferred maintenance issues.

For 2012-13 and ongoing, the department will continue to focus on this very important issue to ensure government facilities remain safe, reliable and available to GNWT departments in delivery of programs and services.

I would now like to turn my attention to the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund program, one of the department’s most important energy management initiatives. This program is focused on reducing building operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions by assessing government facilities to identify and target program funding at those projects best suited for energy saving retrofits. Energy retrofits can reduce annual energy use by as much as 15 percent while greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced as much as 30 tonnes per building annually.

Since utility funding was consolidated in Public Works and Services in 2010-11, I am happy to report the energy conservation initiatives implemented by this department have realized $654,000 in ongoing annual utility cost savings. Since 2007-08, when the department commenced energy conservation activities, the cumulative energy savings have been $2.65 million while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 16,600 tonnes.

Preliminary estimates from the 2011-12 energy conservation initiatives undertaken by the department could generate an additional $550,000 in ongoing annual utility costs savings, bringing the estimated utility savings for the past two years to $1.204 million. The cumulative reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could reach 25,156 tonnes by the end of 2012.

For 2012-13, the department has re-profiled the 2010-11 confirmed utility savings to support ongoing capital investment in energy reduction through the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund program. With government support, this program is on its way to becoming a self-sustaining government program that reduces costs and increases energy efficiency.

The last initiative which I would like to mention is connected to the government’s increasing reliance on electronic systems and the paperless information they produce. I am specifically speaking to the e-mails and other electronic documents we and all government departments generate in the delivery of programs and services. The Digital Integrated Information Management System is an electronic records management system designed to effectively manage the electronic records created, received and maintained by government.

This initiative is a multi-year project managed by the office of the chief information officer for the implementation of a government-wide document management solution. The first phase of this initiative involved the document management system being implemented within Public Works and Services in 2011-12, while future implementations in other government departments will be completed in a phased-in approach starting in 2012-13. In support of this initiative, the department will be

establishing two indeterminate information system support positions starting in 2012-13.

It is through these and other departmental activities that Public Works and Service will continue to provide its many clients with the high quality of services they have come to rely upon.

Thank you for this opportunity to provide an overview of the department’s 2012-13 Main Estimates. I look forward to discussing them with Members in more detail.