Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do.
Debates of March 4th, 2014
This is page numbers 4135 – 4182 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.
Topics
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
Thank you, committee. Please escort the witnesses in.
Good evening. Mr. Beaulieu, please introduce your guests for the Chamber.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my immediate right is Paul Guy, deputy minister of Public Works and Services; to my far right is Laurie Gault, director of the Technology Service Centre; to my left, Steve Lewis, director of corporate services. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Lewis, Mr. Guy, Ms. Gault, welcome to the Chamber. Committee, we’ll open up to general comments. Mr. Bromley.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob Bromley Weledeh
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Being the first, welcome to the Minister and his staff for this budget review. Thank you for your introductory comments here.
I guess I’m interested in some of the savings, the energy savings and so on. The Minister noted the 13.5 litres of fuel and almost $1.5 million worth of utilities. Just to put that in perspective, and I know the department is now sort of the utilities department for the whole government, what is our total fuel consumption for the purposes of heating specifically and maybe you could define the utilities? Are we talking about electricity there or are there other utility costs in that figure? I’m interested in what our total budget is for utilities. If it’s electricity, then what’s our kilowatt hour consumption? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. We’ll give him a minute to get that information. Mr. Bromley, go ahead.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob Bromley Weledeh
Sorry, Mr. Chair, did you want me to run through all of my comments? I’m easy which way we do it.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. No, I just wanted to give him a minute to gather that information here. We’ll go to Minister Beaulieu.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have a detailed breakdown for fiscal year ‘12-13, I believe. So we’ll provide that information and I’ll have the deputy minister just go through the chart.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Paul Guy
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll start with our utilities budget. It covers all aspects of utilities including heating, electricity, sewer, water, and garbage collection. Within the area of heating, the majority of our savings that we’ve identified have
come from both heating and electricity savings through work that we’ve done on the Capital Asset Retrofit Program. Within the breakdown of the savings, the split is between electricity and heating fuel, primarily on the heating fuel side from a conversion of diesel heating to biomass fueled boilers and on the electrical side it’s through things like lighting retrofits, electric heating boilers where we have access to electrical power on the hydro system and through some of the building control efficiency systems we upgrade with fans, variable frequency drives, those types of projects in the mechanical systems. So that’s primarily where the savings come from. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob Bromley Weledeh
Just the other side of the equation, what I’m trying to do is sort of figure out what proportion of the totals we’re dealing with here. With our 13.5 million litres in savings that the Minister noted, I’m wondering what our total consumption would be and if the utilities are primarily electricity savings as the additional energy savings costs. How many kilowatt hours are we saving versus what our total consumption is? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe
Thank you. I will get more detail with my deputy, but the total expenditure in 2012-13, of which we were drawing the $1.48 million from, was $28,793,460.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Paul Guy
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of cost, 53 percent of the cost that the Minister spoke to would have been in electricity. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob Bromley Weledeh
I didn’t hear what the units were for the $28 million. Was that the total litres of fuel consumed that year? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob Bromley Weledeh
Maybe I can pursue this at another time. I’m interested in if we’re saving 13 million litres this year, what is that as a proportion of the total litres of fuel we’re consuming this year? That’s a statistic. I’m looking for both fuel and electricity if it is available.
With respect to devolution, I’m asking the departments to maybe explain the changes that they’re encountering as a result of devolution. How many new employees and what will the duties be that will be new as a result of devolution? I know
some are going to be just expanding the TSC program; I recognize the need there. So if I could get a little bit of background there on those two aspects of devolution. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe
The change is in procurement, the Technology Services Centre and also in property management, office space and so on. As far as more detail in those three areas, I’d like to go to Director Steve Lewis to give you a more detailed response in those three areas. Thank you.