Sergeant-at-Arms, would you please escort the witnesses in. Thank you.

Premier McLeod, can you please introduce your witnesses to the House today?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left I have Penny Ballantyne, the deputy minister of Executive and secretary to Cabinet. To my right I have Lisa Turner, director of Finance with the Department of Executive. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier McLeod. Ms. Turner, Mrs. Ballantyne, welcome to the House this evening. Committee, general comments.

I am hearing detail. Committee, we will defer 2-7. If I can get committee to turn to 2-8, Executive, information item, infrastructure investment summary. Any questions?

Thank you. Page 2-9, Executive, information item, revenue summary. Are there any questions?

Thank you. Page 2-10, Executive, information item, active position summary. Are there any questions?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that this division hosts the office of devolution. I am wondering, anticipating that we must be nearing a devolution draft agreement, what is the budget in here for public consultation should our draft agreement get signed in the near future or whenever? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We haven’t finalized the exact number, but it will come out of the $22.5 million that we will be receiving from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. What else will that $22.5 million be expected to cover as well as the public consultation aspect? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, it will cover a number of different things: the IT systems, also the planning processes for organization, and also the hiring and job offers and positions that will have to be staffed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I am sure that the Premier can relate when I tell him that I have seen IT eat up a lot more than $22.5 million in a year. I am concerned that we have the participation of our public in this agreement, as the Premier knows. He has listed quite a list of demands on this $22.5 million. None of those were small expenditures.

How are we going to ensure that there is enough public consultation dollars? I say this knowing that the Premier has stated publicly that we are a public consulting government, a leader in North America I think he said on that front. I appreciate that. We obviously have quite the diversity out there. That is our responsibility. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, we are not neophytes in devolution. We have been involved in devolution for 30 years. Devolution is the administrative transfer of programs from the federal

government to the Government of the Northwest Territories. We are finalizing our communications strategy. There will be unprecedented consultation and public engagement with this particular devolution.

Certainly, we have been doing implementation planning for at least the past three or four years, so we are confident that the resources that are identified will be sufficient to allow us to have unprecedented engagement and consultation approach. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I guess that just elevates my concern here. I know the Premier is aware of how much consultation costs. I certainly am aware that we are not neophytes at devolution. I think that our public might be in that they have not been involved in the massive discussions and consultations that have been going on. That’s where my concern comes from, is that we’d be sure to bring them along with us on this historic development.

If we’re going to do an unprecedented level of involvement, I would expect an unprecedented level of cost, thus my concern. Would the Premier be expecting to supplement if the overlapping demands on this budget didn’t leave enough for an unprecedented level of consultation? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I would like to remind the Member that we have been at it for 12 years, and this latest round we have been to every community several times. We do have our Aboriginal partners that have been very active in this area. We have been to every community. We have also been with Aboriginal governments. We have briefed; we have fulfilled every request. It is our expectation that the resources that we have will allow us to do the job and meet the requirements for consultation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I guess I will leave it at that. I will maybe ask the Premier to bring his plan forward for committee to comment on. I guess I wish I had the confidence he had. I know we have lots of experience at this and, on that basis, I know we know how costly it is. I do want to acknowledge that Aboriginal governments have been very much involved, and I appreciate the opportunity for them to be at the table and keep their people updated. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for 50 percent of the people in the Northwest Territories, so somebody needs to speak for those people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I didn’t hear a question in there, but we’ll allow Premier McLeod to respond.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member can look forward to seeing our draft communication strategy and I don’t agree with his assessment that nobody has been in contact with

anybody else that is not part of an Aboriginal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.