Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on the Premier’s statement earlier today and Mr. Menicoche’s statement. I appreciated those.

In this Assembly and throughout the community, we often hear the happy news of awards being conferred upon citizens who are selected for individual distinction. Acceptance remarks of people receiving these awards are so similar they’ve almost become standard phrases in our language. They usually say something like “I’d like to thank all those who made this possible.”

The awards themselves are important. I believe strongly in saying thank you to the people and...

That’s all I had on this page. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe the education system reform or review was mentioned on this page and I’m wondering, if there was a budget for that on this page, what is the amount?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize Weledeh residents. First of all, Barb Hood. Thanks for all the great work she does. Also, Anthony W.J. Whitford. I’d also like to recognize former Premier Jim Antoine. Also, I would like to mention Loretta and Dick Abernethy, who are long-time but not quite current residents of Weledeh, and I believe they are both awesome as well.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a very important division. Asset management looks after all our building infrastructure and so on. It looks after maintenance. We’re currently doing some good work and making some serious gains there. It’s also where Public Works and Services focuses on helping the GNWT achieve their government-wide energy efficiencies and greenhouse gas reductions, reductions of fossil fuel consumption, et cetera. I would just like to get on that topic generally.

I believe there’s a new Model National Energy Code for buildings. Can I just get where we’re at with respect to that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I notice that environmental management is part of the responsibility of the division and I’m wondering what sort of costs we encounter. Or do we have a few years of information on the sorts of costs that we encounter for environmental management? I assume that would include things like proper storage of fossil fuels, cleanup of fossil fuels, transportation. Let’s start with that one.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance.

What factors are taken into account in managerial review for approval of travel requests to ensure managers determine with certainty that travel is required and that business cannot be carried out by alternative means before travel is approved?

On the basis of a thorough analysis including a review of controls used in other jurisdictions, what policy and procedural improvements could be introduced to ensure that travel is approved only after verification that other communication means have been considered and determined to be...

I didn’t hear the timing of the three months’ work that’s happening now or the future, but I think the committee would be interested in how that pilot goes. What is the schedule? I think we heard in the Department of Health that the plan is to incorporate all of the health authorities. Is that true for all authorities in Education and so on? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, thanks again to the Minister’s commitment. I appreciate that. I do note that this year’s travel budget projections are slightly down from last year’s, in line with what the Minister was saying. The Minister will acknowledge that $17 million in annual travel costs is a big bill for half of our civil service. Even an efficiency of 10 percent would free up major dollars for other needs. Some departments seem to have extraordinarily high travel costs, in comparison to others, with no obvious explanation. We need a challenge and verification method for ensuring travel is being...

Presumably they used to cover that from their own funds and they did their own thing. Are the chargebacks, do we know, covering these new costs as we take them over, or are we having to fill in a bit? Thank you.