Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay, I think I have a handle. So it was the sort of the price of volatility. I like what I just heard, Mr. Chairman, in that departments have been extended, if you will, half of the forecasted increment, but some obligation has been put on them to find ways to avoid or replace the other half. I like that. That’s putting some responsibility on managers toward our energy agenda.

Mr. Chairman, when it comes to dealing with the fuel and the volatility of it, we just went through a bill earlier in this session directed toward the petroleum products division, which...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the last two days, Mr. Speaker, the issue of parity or at least some degree of fairness in wages and benefits for NGOs that deliver programs on behalf of our government has been a bit of a topic here. It’s interesting to note some evolution in that issue, Mr. Chairman. I would quote from Hansard of February 23rd from a comment that the Honourable Michael Miltenberger, Minister of Health and Social Services, said in regard to a question about wage parity. The Hansard record says of the Minister, “I don’t recollect when the time was that there was automatic increases...

Mr. Chair, I think this is the first time in this bill that the information comes up about the rise in fuel prices and the impact it is having on our current year’s budget. People will remember, with some horror and trepidation, Mr. Chair, the way fuel prices skyrocketed last summer and fall. We are now seeing the impact of it on our operations. I believe this whole supp here, the cumulative impact on various departments is $4.3 million in unforeseen fuel costs. In this particular page, $281,000 attributed to or connected with Public Works and Services’ issues.

Mr. Chair, I have several...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As to the cause or the responsibility for the contamination in the first place, I know that in many community sites around the Northwest Territories, due to activities from years ago and decades ago under different owners or different parties, there are previous liabilities. Are we looking into whether or not there is a potential liability that could be assessed to previous owners or occupancy of this site, Mr. Chair?

Thank you. Again, we are going into some policy area here, and maybe it is something that I will take up at another time in more detail, but I am interested in how consistent this policy is across various losses or disasters or people who lose cabins and things due to forest fires, floods and various things of this nature. Unless the Minister cares to offer some comment, does disaster loss of any kind enable the victims to be able to get 100 percent of costs covered by the government? Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chairman, thank you. Does the GNWT then have a policy regarding disaster relief or disaster assistance to communities? If we can recover 85 percent from the federal government under compliant costs, is the balance, at least of this expenditure, which would be around $150,000, covered by policy somewhere, or is this a one of a kind issue-by-issue consideration, Mr. Chairman?

Well, okay, this is, I guess we’re straying more into an area here of policy, Mr. Chairman, rather than direct consideration of the budget here. I guess, you know, the Minister said there is some discretion connected with what then is a category two or category three organization and where I’d like to see our government being more proactive is to direct each department to really proactively look at all of the boards or agencies or NGOs that we contract with to deliver programs on our behalf and strive to bring forward new allocations or new requests for funding, as the Minister just explained...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That’s all.

Mr. Chairman, thank you. One of the details on this page is listed as a $14,000 contribution providing increased funding to the Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories for additional costs associated with the implementation of salary increases.

Mr. Chairman, at various times in this session, we have talked about our government’s responsibilities to various boards and agencies and organizations that deliver services to us and this detail very specifically identifies one of these organizations, or, sorry, two of the organizations, the Status of Women Council and the Native Women’s...

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman. So a bit under 10 percent. I guess I’m wondering what is the cause of this? Is this a trend? You know, when you look at the dollar amount here, a half a million dollars worth of additional un-forecasted services for children in care, it seems to me that it represents a lot of kids having difficulty. What’s the cause? Is this a trend? Are we going to be seeing continued sustained increases in this area? Can the Minister shed some light on what’s causing this, Mr. Chairman?