Bob Bromley

Thank you, Minister. We’ll start with general comments. Committee, open for general comments. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you. Page 4-25, information item, intergovernmental relations, active positions. Questions? Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Just for clarity, are we on page 2-14, grants and contributions.

Page 2-30, activity summary. Mr. Ramsay.

Page 1-14, information item, Office of the Clerk, active positions. Questions?

The Minister brings up a good point. We do have a lot of stories to be told. Unfortunately, right now, it’s people elsewhere who are coming up and trying to tell our stories, spending a few dollars and then leaving and spending all the big dollars in production and labour and so on elsewhere. I know that’s one of the real motivating factors of our artists in the film industry, is that they want to be telling their own stories, the northern stories themselves. So I hope that will be considered as well.

My last focus, Mr. Chair, is will the Minister be bringing this review, the framework for the...

I appreciate that the Minister is in a bit of an awkward place here. It’s just that all the numbers are here. If he would play a role or take the lead on that, it would be great. I know at home I use Freeware myself and it does all the same things. I know there are lots of specific and specialized requirements and so on. I think there would be ways... If people have to, they usually get pretty creative and inventive about how to live within their means. I appreciate that commitment. Just a comment.

Page 7-10, information item, Public Works and Services, active positions.

I appreciate those comments and it’s a very positive move. Of course, there are many and they are easy to get at, a couple of clicks on the Internet and we can see what Nunavut and Yukon are doing. It’s very similar between the two territories, assistance with local hires. You can put conditions on it to ensure that the majority of hires are local or territorial before you get the support and so on; different mechanisms to maximize the degree of support with the investment made; travel assistance, recognizing the size of the Territory and so on.

I know the department has looked at it before...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of my concerns is that this is an area that seems to be a bit of a runaway train. It feeds on itself continually. I am just not convinced that we’re getting the best use out of this technology that we can. I see it’s up 17 percent this year roughly and I think we’re trying to keep our departmental increases to about 3.5 percent. This one continually outperforms just about all of the departments. I’m wondering if the department has thought of putting a cap somehow on this sort of thing or if the departments have to stay within a three-year running average of a 3 or...