This is page numbers 6419 – 6480 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 public.

Topics

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Blake.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This will come into effect immediately at assent.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you. I have no further questions.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Committee, we’re on general comments on Bill 66. Committee is agreed we’ll go to clause-by-clause review of the bill?

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

The Chair Robert Bouchard

I’ll pass the bill number and the title. Go to clause number 1.

---Clauses 1 through 7 inclusive approved

To the bill as a whole.

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

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Does committee agree that Bill 66 is ready for third reading?

---Bill 66 as a whole approved for third reading

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Thank you, witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber. Thank you.

Committee, as we’ve agreed, we’ll go to Committee Report 16-17(5), Report on the Review of 2013-2013 Public Accounts, and I’ll go to the chair of Government Operations, Mr. Dolynny.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On June 2, 2015, the House received a report from the Standing Committee on Government Operations on the Review of the 2013-2014 Public Accounts. The report contains eight recommendations to the government, and on January 22 and 23, 2015, the standing committee examined the public accounts of the Northwest Territories with the assistance of staff in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and the Office of the Comptroller General and the GNWT’s Department of Finance.

On February 12, 2015, the standing committee examined the consolidated financial statements of NT Hydro Corporation and its subsidiary companies, with the assistance of the staff from NT Hydro. The standing committee thanks the Assistant Auditor General, Terry DeJong, and his staff for their assistance in this review. The committee also thanks NWT comptroller Bill Merklinger and his staff and the NT Hydro president and CEO, Emmanuel DaRosa, and his staff for their appearances before the committee during the public review.

The standing committee has seen a notable improvement in the timely completion of the financial statements by the department, boards and agencies and the government reporting entity. The standing committee acknowledges this achievement and encourages the GNWT to keep up the good work. 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

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Committee, we’ll just deal with the motions in the report. First I’ll go to Ms. Bisaro.

Committee Motion 123-17(5): Annual Date To Provide Interim Public Accounts, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

June 4th, 2015

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of motions. I move that this committee again recommends that the Minister of Finance provide the committee with the interim public accounts by August 31st of each year in time for committee review of the government’s business plans.

Committee Motion 123-17(5): Annual Date To Provide Interim Public Accounts, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you. Motion is on the floor and being distributed. Motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.

Committee Motion 123-17(5): Annual Date To Provide Interim Public Accounts, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to make a brief comment here. The committee has found, as we’ve reviewed public accounts over the last couple of years, that Finance has done a good job at getting the public accounts ready earlier and earlier each year, and they were able to get us the interim public accounts prior to August 31st in 2014 and we simply wanted to reiterate that this is an excellent practice and we want to make sure that Finance continues to do that in years going forward. Thank you.

Committee Motion 123-17(5): Annual Date To Provide Interim Public Accounts, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.

Committee Motion 123-17(5): Annual Date To Provide Interim Public Accounts, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Some Hon. Members

Question.

Committee Motion 123-17(5): Annual Date To Provide Interim Public Accounts, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Question is being called.

---Carried

Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee again recommends that the Department of Finance continue to work with the Auditor General of Canada and GNWT departments, boards and agencies to complete the interim and final public accounts at the earliest possible date each year and in time for their respective statutory reporting deadlines.

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a couple of brief comments again. There are or there have been, over the years, quite a number of agencies and boards that have not met the filing deadline for their public accounts and it has meant that the final public accounts were delayed. In this past year I think there were two who didn’t meet their deadline. Some of them asked for a deadline and I think there was only one that didn’t meet the deadline after they asked for an extension. So, committee feels very strongly that it is a requirement by law that people meet their statutory deadline for filing their audits and we wanted to, through this motion, note that and make sure that Finance continues to work hard with the agencies to get it done and it is working with the Auditor General, as well, which helps boards and agencies get their audits done at the right time.

So I just wanted to explain the motion. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to, again, just add a little bit more context to what we heard from Ms. Bisaro and talk about, with respect to this public accounts review, that there was a number of public agencies that did not meet reporting deadlines and, according to the Auditor General, they were the South Slave Divisional Education Council, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Aurora College and the NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation, otherwise known as BDIC.

Now, we went through the review of each one of them as to why and the Auditor General was indicating to us that the NWT Housing Corporation and Aurora College were working towards improvement, but the Auditor General did note that the Aurora College was a bit of an anomaly this year and they have to apply what he referred to as more of a big picture approach. So what they call a “no qualification” was warranted. That’s a terminology used in accounting. However, I should note that the Auditor General made very specific claim that if the Aurora College was to find themselves in this anomaly again, that a qualification would be warranted as they moved forward.

So I just wanted to put some context to this motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Question is being called.

---Carried

Mr. Moses.