Debates of June 3rd, 2014

This is page numbers 4589 – 4648 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 services.

Topics

Oral Questions

Prayer

Expansion Of Single-Window Service Centres

Update On Investments In Housing Infrastructure

Generating Local Hydro Power

Wek’eezhii Land And Water Board

2014 Canadian Disability Awareness Week

Transportation Services For Seniors And Persons With Disabilities

Canadian Travellers’ Report Card

Health Coverage For Snowbirds

Transportation Issues In Nahendeh

Skills Canada Territorial Competitions

Construction Of Mackenzie Valley Highway

Maintenance And Improvements To The Dempster Highway

Top Employer Designation

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

New Energy Initiatives

Distracted Driving Programs

Highway Repair And Maintenance In Nahendeh

Mackenzie Valley Highway

Residency Requirement For NWT Health Coverage

Federal Funding For Dempster Highway Construction

Skills Canada NWT

Handi-Van Service In Hay River

Giant Mine Environmental Assessment

Action Plan For Persons With Disabilities

Evaluation Of GNWT Employer Awards

Tabled Document 93-17(5): Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2014-2015 Tabled Document 94-17(5): GNWT Response To Cr 2-17(5): Report On The Review Of The 2012-2013 Public Accounts Tabled Document 95-17(5): Program Review Office 2013 Annual Report

Tabled Document 96-17(5): Junior Kindergarten – Fact Package

Tabled Document 97-17(5): Letter From Prime Minister Harper, Dated May 16, 2014, Re: Extension Of The Term Of The 17th Legislative Assembly

Tabled Document 98-17(5): Tundra Science And Culture Camp 2013 Annual Report Tabled Document 99-17(5): 2012 Annual Report Of Wildlife Research In The NWT

Tabled Document 100-17(5): Canadian Travellers’ Report Card, The Canadian Snowbird Association

Funding To Implement Junior Kindergarten

Appointment Of Sole Adjudicators

Extended Adjournment Of The House To October 16, 2014

Support Of Federal Bill C-583: An Act To Amend The Criminal Code

Recorded Vote

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Compliance Audits And Action Plans

Providing Compliance Audits And Action Plans To The Standing Committee On Social Programs

Tabling Of Modified Compliance Audits And Action Plans

Reporting By Director Of Child And Family Services

Tabling Of Annual Report Of Director Of Child And Family Services

Performance Measures Indicators

Assessment Of Financial And Human Resources For Delivering Child And Family Services

Standards And Procedures Manual

Revisions To Child And Family Services Standards And Procedures

Process For Sharing Best Practices Information

Training For Child Protection Workers

Child Protection Workers’ Recommendations For System Improvements

Funding Methodology For Regional Authorities

Caseload Standards For Child Protection Workers

Enhancement Of Aurora College Social Work Program

Front-Line Workers’ Tool To Assess Long-Term Risk

HSSas’ Compliance With Legislation, Standards And Procedures

Assessment Of Services By HSSas

Services For Youth

Comprehensive Response Within 120 Days

Ece, Education And Culture, Deletion Of $114,000 For Electronic Tablets To New Parents Under The Early Childhood Development Framework

Recorded Vote

Concurrence Of Tabled Document 93-17(5), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2014-2015

Report of Committee of the Whole

Bill 31: Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2014-2015

Orders of the Day

Committee Motion 75-17(5): Concurrence Of Tabled Document 93-17(5), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2014-2015, Carried
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Does committee agree?

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, committee. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Minister Miltenberger, if you could please introduce your witness to the House.

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Mr. Warren St. Germaine, the assistant deputy minister and comptroller general, Department of Finance.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Mr. St. Germaine, welcome to the House. Thank you for joining us this evening.

Committee, I will now turn to the floor here to see if anyone has any general comments. Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have some questions. I don’t really have comments, but in going over the bill at committee, there were a number of things that I wondered about. Maybe I can just, sort of, wonder those out loud and then the Minister can respond.

We haven’t seen a bill like this every year and I wondered if I could get a sense of the trend over the last, say, 10 years or even five years of how much we are writing off annually. Is it an amount that’s going up or going down?

I also wondered about the policies and the guidelines that we use to write off debts. I know these are, as they mentioned, debts of the Business Development Investment Corporation, but how often are our policies and guidelines reviewed and updated? Since we’re basically taking money off the books as we write off an amount of money, I wondered how hard, I guess, we, as a government and as the Department of Finance, how hard they work to collect the money that we are about to write off, and in terms of collections, if we do write it off, if once this bill is passed there are still some debts there, does the government still try to collect that money? Or once it’s written off, do we just say, okay fine, and we totally forget about it and it’s gone away?

I know the Minister mentioned that these are Business Development Investment Corporation’s, but I gather that we do write-offs of public agencies, and I wondered if there were any other public agencies besides BDIC that we would encounter write-offs for. Thank you.

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. For those responses we will go to Mr. St. Germaine.

St. Germaine

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of the trend over the last several years, and the Member is right, we haven’t presented a write-off bill annually, but we have presented bills in ‘08-09, ‘10-11 and ‘13-14. If you want to annualize the write-offs, this decreased from an average write-off in ‘08-09 of $424,000 per year to $225,000, if you look at the current write-off.

In terms of policies around write-offs and specifically for the BDIC, they look at a couple of issues. One is the likelihood of collectability, and part of the write-off itself has been recorded in their books through their allowance of doubtful accounts, so they have recognized the loss in their financial statements already. This is just, in some respects, administrative bookkeeping to get it off the books so you don’t have continuing growth in the allowance number.

The policy is basically to review their accounts receivable, their allowance for doubtful accounts on

a regular basis and make a determination whether or not an account, if there is any real legitimate prospect for collection or if we are better off just removing it.

That being said, as the Minister mentioned, we do continue to keep a record of any accounts that we have written off, and an example of where we are monitoring is if another department entered into a contribution agreement with an individual or a corporation, my office has the opportunity to put those accounts on hold when we set off amounts. We would continue to collect on a fairly active basis.

In terms of other public agencies, in the past we have not seen other public agencies presenting accounts for write-off. Housing Corporation, as we’ll see in the subsequent bill, is presenting stuff for forgiveness, which they haven’t done in the past, so they’re presenting more to the House over time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. St. Germaine. Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thank you to Mr. St. Germaine. That answered all my questions. I have nothing further.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you. Committee, are there any other general comments?

Some Hon. Members

Detail.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Okay, I am hearing we should proceed. Does committee agree to go clause by clause?

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, committee. We are actually going to defer the clause by clause until we give consideration to the schedule found on page 3. So if I can get everyone to turn to page 3. Schedule, debts written off, total amount, $898,682.31. Does committee agree?

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, committee. Bill 8, Write-off of Debts Act, 2013-2014. Clause 1.

---Clauses 1 and 2 inclusive approved

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you. Bill as a whole.

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that Bill 8, Write-off of Debts Act, 2013-2014, is now ready for third reading?

---Bill 8 approved for third reading

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you. Bill 8 is now ready for third reading. I would like to thank the Minister and Mr. St. Germaine for joining us this

evening. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witness. Thank you.

We are going to move our attention again to what was previously agreed on earlier today. We are going to go to consideration of Bill 9, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2013-2014. I will turn to the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce it. Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to introduce Bill 9, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2013.2014. The bill authorizes the forgiveness of debts listed in the schedule to the act.

Pursuant to Section 25 of the Financial Administration Act, Legislative Approval is required to forgive a debt to government that exceeds $1,000.

Pursuant to Section 83 of the Financial Administration Act, Legislative Assembly approval is required to forgive a debt owed to a public agency that exceeds $1,000.

The debts being recommended for forgiveness are as a result of death, compromise settlements, a business no longer in operation, or in the public interest.

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

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. I would now like to turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, the committee that considered the bill, for opening comments. Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations reviewed Bill 9, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2013-2014, on May 29, 2014.

Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report to the Assembly that Bill 9 was ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.

This concludes the committee’s general comments on Bill 9. Individual Members may have comments or questions as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. I will turn to Minister Miltenberger and ask if he has any witnesses he would like to bring into the House.

Debates of June 3rd, 2014

Topics

Help us improve OpenNWT