In your tabled document, page 6, 2019-2020 Supplementary Estimates No. 4, operations expenditures, Environment and Natural Resources, environmental stewardship and climate change, not previously authorized, $2,508,000. Does committee agree?

Environment and Natural Resources, forest management, not previously authorized, $1,670,000. Does committee agree?

Environment and Natural Resources, total department, not previously authorized, $4,178,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Now, for some general comments of the Department of Finance. If there are no further comments, does committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?

Page 7, 2019-2020 Supplementary Estimates No. 4, operations expenditures, Finance, Office of the Comptroller General, not previously authorized, $248,000. Does committee agree? Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. What resources are actually being transferred from the authority to the Department of Finance? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is a transfer of staffing positions. There has been no loss of positions, and there has been no movement from any of the communities. It is simply transferring staff who were otherwise or previously under different departments over to Finance.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I understand that each of the Health and Social Services Authorities have their own finance people. They are all being moved into the Department of Finance. How is that going to make them any more responsive to the needs of the NWT HSSA, when they're going to be part of Department of Finance? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.

The benefit of having these positions moved over to the Department of Finance is that now, rather than having six different financial systems all operating purportedly for the benefit of the NWT HSSA, now all of those individuals who are specialized in finance can actually report under one structure so that all the numbers can be coming in onto the one system, and better reporting and better data gathering can be had, which ultimately is hopeful to assist in terms of getting the NTHSSA's budgetary demands better under control, because we'll actually have a better sense of what, in fact, is happening in all the different regions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, I'm all for a coordinated, consistent financial tracking system where we might even be able to get at things like waiting times and so on, but why does it have to be under Department of Finance? Why can't it be under the NWT HSSA directly? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance

Thank you, Madam Chair. These staff roles are performing a financial reporting function and, from that perspective, it would make sense to have them in the same department as their other financial colleagues. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Maybe I just don't understand this. Are they using the same kind of financial reporting tracking system as the rest of GNWT, and that's why they all have to be in the Department of Finance? I guess what's underlying this is that, in the last Assembly, we saw a troubling trend of centralizing a lot more power and authority in the Department of Finance. We used to have a separate Department of Human Resources. Now, it's in Finance. We have this shared corporate services stuff happening out of Finance. I haven't seen any evaluation, any sort of statistics on how that is increasing efficiency effectiveness. Taking these people away from jobs, not taking away their jobs but transferring them into Department of Finance, how is this going to increase their efficiency and effectiveness? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.