Floyd Roland

I move that this committee recommends that the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act be amended to direct each Legislature to request that the Governor in Council dissolve the Legislative Assembly no later than the first Friday in September in an election year;

And further, that the Legislative and Executive Council Act and Elections Act be amended to allow the first Monday in October every four years to be the fixed date of the general election of Members to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly.

I was just trying to help things move along, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As required by section 32.1(2) of the Financial Administration Act, I wish to table the following document entitled List of Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 for the Period April 1st, 2004, to February 8th, 2005.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again, the area of the MAP program is being looked at to see how we can open it up and ensure that northern residents are having a fair opportunity to advance within the government. As we go through this first issue we have to deal with around human resources, we will be able then to take on these other areas with more horsepower, I guess you can say, to begin to look at this and hopefully bring solutions to Members of this House and to our workforce. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, scrutiny of what Members of FMB decide should not happen on this floor, as Members have been questioning us to the integrity of what has been happening. As I informed the Member and other Members on this issue, that once we have got a plan together to move forward, we would be bringing it to committee. In fact, a document will be going to committee in the very near future about where things are going right now and what our plans are for trying to improve our system. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I have been a part of three elections now. The first one was October. The second one, we went in December. The most recent one was late in November. Some of the things we need to consider when we do look at this -- and I heard a comment about the North -- is one of the things about a November election day is usually the ferries are pulled out and crossings start to freeze mid-October. So that would be difficult for some of those communities. As well, by the time you get into November, it is usually pretty cold. People that open their doors don’t...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on many occasions when we are looking at gathering information, whether it is about a program or survey affecting employees, we tend to try and have one section of that being open for anybody to make comment. Some people are very concerned that they may say something that would be brought back to bear on them as they are in the workforce. So there are some sections of our internal surveys that employees are told right off at the start that there is a confidentiality portion. We will have to look at that as we go through this. So with the information of...

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. There has been some discussion back and forth about their deficit situation and the Department of Health and Social Services did have a number of meetings with the Dogrib Community Services Board and, as a result of looking into it in more detail, this is the information that the Department of Health and Social Services has come forward with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The request for the $2.2 million is to cover the 2004-05 year. As I stated earlier, when departments came in with the last budget request, we denied forced growth in these areas until we could substantiate if the prices would stay as high as they were going and that’s why we see this coming forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The amount is in the area of $2 million for doubtful accounts. For this year, it has been about $500,000, but we have been able to, from within, eat about $200,000, but feel that we cannot take the rest of this. That is why it has to be booked in. So I believe we are over the $2 million mark. I think it is just over $2 million. That isn’t just one year; that is for as long as the taxes are in arrears. We do not write off the taxes that are in arrears. They continue to be booked and accumulate interest. So on an annual basis, for example, if we had 100 percent...

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The numbers that we have come up with are the accumulated debt over the years that have accrued and added to that as well as some of the administration, but Minister Miltenberger may have further details that he can provide to Members.