Bob Bromley

No questions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I could get an update here, I note that Yellowknife District Education Authority No. 1 includes funding for K’alemi Dene School in Ndilo and I know the Minister is well aware that they’re looking for their own educational authority. Actually, they have their own, but it’s sort of been on hold and they agreed for some period of time to be under the umbrella of the Yellowknife District No. 1 and now they’re striving to be on their own. Will that be happening this fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank s to Mr. Devitt. Just for my own learning here, I think it might have been a couple of million or something like that a couple of years ago, half a million, and now down to $20,000. How do we define things as controllable asset versus infrastructure expenditures? Because this clearly seems like an infrastructure expenditure to me, but somehow it’s being designated a controllable asset. How do we know what’s what? Thank you.

The Minister keeps holding up this document. I’m not talking about this document. I’m talking about the current year’s budget that we’ve fallen short on. This government has failed, and when the government fails to put the funds to work and those funds can’t be spent as intended, why does the government not come back to committee for input on reallocation? Termination of program development without consulting committee defies our principles of consensus government. This year we might have said move dollars back to Inclusive Schooling until we get a meaningful start on early childhood instead...

That’s it, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. At one point it took a number of years to actually complete the program. Is the ALCIP program down to a two-year program now? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions follow up my Member’s statement earlier today and are directed to the Minister of Finance.

The budget reallocations Regular Members insist upon are our priorities and when approved become the will of the House. So how does that shake out into action through the Executive once the budget has been passed?

When I was a public servant, I’d allocate the funds to projects, keep track of my costs, and plan my work to avoid being caught with money unspent and no work to show for my time. That should pretty much be how this government runs its spending on a macro...

That’s great news. What would have happened last year with the extra dollars budgeted for utilities? How would they be reallocated? What’s the process there?

Thanks for the Minister’s comments. I think this is legitimately discussed in an operational budget. I think we’re talking facilitation of planning from public groups in these areas and the Minister providing some leadership assistance in helping organize efforts where our partners would be the major funders, perhaps, because I haven’t seen much interest from this government for funding such centres in terms of infrastructure. Anyway, I hope the Minister will look at that as an opportunity.

The language nests that we’re doing, moving on here under Aboriginal languages, I'm just wondering, once...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The role of Regular Members in setting spending priorities is one of the most important features of consensus government. When we insist on changes to budgets, Regular Members are expressing their highest priorities and we expect government to act. This government has failed miserably in that over the last year and I am fed up.

Last year Members prioritized $1.25 million targeted to finalize an Early Childhood Educator Program at Aurora College to graduate fully qualified professionals. Also included were developing community family centres and supporting community early...