It’s September 2015. This coming September.

Again, the confusion on this file in terms of when these are going to be activating from private to consignment. To my question which still remains, there is going to be a significant shift happening in September of 2015, in terms of the overall model, 50 percent of our population, 50 percent of our inventory goes from private to consignment. What will the department do in order to make this seamless so that they can at least communicate that change to Members?

We’ve been working extensively on this. There is projected to be some savings to the consumers in Yellowknife, and we’ll track all the liquor that goes through and all the money that’s made and we’ll be prepared to report back to committee after September when things kick into gear and we start getting some actuals to look at.

I just want to make sure that I don’t mask savings with responsibility of accounting. I want to make sure that the accounting does make sense. I represent one of those liquor stores in my riding that is gravely affected by this change. I want to make sure that there is no disruption in service. I want to make sure that this business is duly protected under this new model and that I don’t want to see any undue hardship, financial or otherwise, being put on this business and including the business in the downtown. Again, I received a commitment that there will be some information sharing and I’m hoping that the department works closely and unilaterally with the proponents who are going to have a significant change to their business model.

Again, to the question, what is the government doing to help shepherd these businesses through this change over the next couple months?

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Kalgutkar.

Because this is a completely different change of business model, should there be a dispute arising with respect to the transformation and change forthcoming to the businesses in question, does the government have any type of dispute system, third-party adjudicator or any type of arbitrator that would be used in the event that there is an issue in this transformation?

The government has used, in the past, tools such as the Fairness Commissioner to help mitigate very significant RFPs and most recently the issue with the medevac program. What safeguards do we have for these businesses that we’ll have a degree of fairness? Again, they’re working with big brother, they’re dealing with big brother and they’re at the mercy of big brother. What tools do they have to make sure that big brother is playing nice in the sandbox?

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Miltenberger.

I’m not sure what type of problems the Member is anticipating. We shifted over fuel operations. This is a fairly routine piece of business. Contracts have been let. We’re in the process of changing to a consignment model and Mr. Kalgutkar has laid out the process. If there is something dramatic that happens that is totally unanticipated, we’ll deal with it. Fairness commissioners, adjudicators, gives this a level far in excess of something of this nature would justify.

If I can be as bold as saying it may be routine for the government to do these types of transformations, this is not routine for well-established businesses, businesses that have been in business for not just a couple of years but for, in some cases, a decade or two. I just want to make sure there’s fairness built in, there’s transparency built in and there’s the ability that if there is a dispute that we do have the mechanisms and the measures in place that these businesses can and have access to other than an MLA knocking on the door of Finance.

I guess my last question is: Even though we don’t anticipate any disputes, is the department prepared to have some form of dispute resolution in place in the event that it would be challenged? Again, routine is only subject to the subject matter. In this case here, we have two businesses in question that

are completely and utterly changing their business model 100 percent. So, I want to make sure that they’re well taken care of. There are employees there and I want to make sure they’re taken care of, and I want to make sure it is also seamless for the people that product line serves. Will the government at least grant some form of comfort, knowing that there’s something there other than it should be fine and it’s routine as usual? Thank you.

My

understanding is the successful proponents in both of these cases could be run under the consignment model and they are reverting to a model that they have long experience with. We have consignment stores running across the land. Once again, we believe we have the capacity, where the systems are set up, with enough checks and balances and accountability to address the issues that the Member has raised. The issue or the concerns that should something go wrong that is totally unanticipated in all the processes and structures and consignment models that we now run, we have the ability to sort those through should the need arise in these two cases. Thank you.

Madam Chair, I have no further questions.

Thank you. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If I can just get one question in, if the Minister would provide me some detail on. Hard copy would be fine. I wanted to ask about the gross profits from the sale of the liquor, on page 176. It’s a good business. I wanted to ask, from this number here, have they seen an increase again in the Sahtu region with the gross sale? That’s the only question I have.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Aumond.

Thank you. Page 176, Liquor Revolving Fund, information item. Agreed?

Thank you. Liquor Revolving Fund, active positions, information item. Any questions?

None. Could we please return back to page 147, Finance, total department, $211.262 million. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will be brief. This question was brought up in my general comments. Unfortunately, it didn’t get a response to this. There was a significant change in the amount of expenditures from what this process incurred back in the fall to what we see today. Again, without being able to table a number or share a number, that change is just over 2 percent. So there were significant changes in the amount of expenditure line in the Department of Finance in a very short period of time between what was discussed in committee and what was tabled here just recently.

Can the department indicate if this is a common occurrence where we would see such a fluctuation in terms of when this committee did our due diligence on this a few months ago to what was being tabled? I find that to be quite a significant departure. Again, I’m being very careful. I know the other numbers aren’t before the House, but they were before committee and they are significant changes. If I can maybe get a rationalization. What didn’t we know back then to what we know now?