Thank you, Mr. Schauerte. Member for Frame Lake.
Debates of Feb. 23rd, 2021
This is page numbers 2019 - 2082 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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 communities.
Topics
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. I have a question for the Minister, if I could. I want to get a commitment out of the Minister that she is going to give the committee an opportunity to look at the evaluation framework and a draft of the report before it is finalized or Cabinet starts to make decisions about it so that Regular MLAs will have some input into the ongoing 911 program. Can the Minister make a commitment to share the terms of reference for the evaluation and then the evaluation report itself before Cabinet makes decisions around it? Thanks, Madam Chair.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you. No further questions? Do any other Members have questions under public safety? Seeing no further questions, please turn to page 343. Municipal and Community Affairs, public safety, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $2,839,000. Does committee agree?
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Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you. We will now turn to regional operations, beginning on page 346, with information items to page 350. Member for Thebacha.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
Thank you, Madam Chair. I was just listening to a lot of the comments that were made so far today with these estimates. A lot of consultants were used, a lot of reviews, a lot of reports. I just wonder how anything could get done if we are always waiting for a report, a consultant's deadline. A consultant who probably doesn't even understand any of us here in the North. How could anything really get done, Madam Chair, when common sense is not being used in making sure that deadlines are met? Just observing everything today was mind-boggling. My first question, Madam Chair, is: we spend a lot of money on consultants, reports, and lack of deadlines and not enough on common sense, making sure that we do have a decision, and meeting deadlines. I want to know how the department deals with that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have Mr. Gary Schauerte respond, as I would like to know, with the reports and evaluations that are done, if they are done in-house or by a consultant. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Schauerte
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will speak to the 911 evaluation, which is the most recent one that I just referenced. When we develop an evaluation framework, we do that in conjunction with the Department of Finance through their Management Board Secretariat and the evaluation folks who they have in their department. These are people who are specially trained in evaluation who could help guide the design and the development of the evaluation framework. They are also mindful that, when we do an evaluation, we want to do it properly within government.
One of the cautions that I have heard is when departments go and do evaluations on their own without working through a coordinated approach, we end up with 15, 20, 30 different types of evaluators out there evaluating things, and it just leads to more confusion. It's been a practice of the department to work through the evaluation unit within the Management Board Secretariat to complete our evaluations for a number of years now. In addition to designing the evaluation framework, the Department of Finance has already pre-reviewed evaluators who have the competency and the ability to evaluate for government purposes. There are pre-approved evaluators who the department can use to implement this work.
A good chunk of this work is done, again, to underline the consistency so that we are looking at programs the same across all of government. That's a big part of the reason why we are conducting the 911 evaluation the way that we are. We are also very early in the years of that program. We are one year in, and there are a lot of questions about how the program has been set up and how it has been resourced. I think that Members of this House and our government are interested in completing this evaluation so that we can inform answers to those questions. That's the larger reason why we are working within that system and why we are using exterior evaluators to help inform that question. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
That was a big explanation on something I never asked about, really. I wasn't worried about the other section. I was just making a general comment. Anyways, first of all, the travel on page 347, last year, actuals were $250,000, and now we are up to $566,000. Is that just to cushion the budget, or what is that? I just want to know exactly what that is. I want my answers to be very precise and short because we used up over half of my time just with that one question, please, Madam Chair.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will make sure that my responses are right to the point. I want to say that, the $566,000, there had to be a COVID impact of our department getting into the smaller communities. I will just have Ms. Eleanor Young elaborate quickly. Thank you.
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Young
Thank you, Madam Chair. The number you see there is 2019-2020. In part, it is COVID, but this is regional office travel into communities. It is determined primarily by engagement with communities and working with them to schedule visits in. Wherever possible, we also look for other sources of funding to pay. If we have a good year with federal money, then we pay for some of our capital planning travel, for example, out of federal infrastructure money instead of using our internal budget. Travel budgets do vary up and down depending on needs and staff, I think, is the fairest way to put that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, Deputy Minister. I think the Member was looking for why it has doubled since 2019-2020. Member for Thebacha.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
Community government funding remained the same all the way through. Is that done by per capita with 33 communities, Madam Chair? Sorry, $49,853,000 on page 348.
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Schauerte
Thank you, Madam Chair. The operation and maintenance funding, the $49,853,000, is distributed according to the municipal funding formula. The municipal funding formula, and I will be brief, takes into consideration the total value of the municipal assets in the community and what it would cost to operate those on an annual basis. It really comes down to the assets on the ground in the community and the operational costs for those, which is all standardized right across all of the communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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