Floyd Roland

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, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will go back and see where the assessment was put together; if it was, in fact, from a consultant whether northern or southern. I think it is important to remember, whether you are north or south, your ability to get the job should be one of the most important measurements taken. Thank you.

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, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it would be very difficult for us to try and forecast if a company was struggling and surviving and continuing to make their payments or preparing to shut down and go into receivership. We are more in a reactionary mode when we become aware that a company has filed for protection or have left the North and are no longer doing business. In some cases, for example, in the fuel tax portion, we became aware of it when we did not receive the previous month’s remuneration or payment on the fuel taxes and started making some calls. A cheque was then issued for...

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Again the years that the accumulation started to occur was as far back as 1999. The main area again was around ambulance service provision. For example in 1999-2000 there was an accumulated deficit there of $510,000; in 2000-01, $239,000; 2001-02, $169,000; 2002-03, $152,000; and 2003-04 another $11,000, in direct regard to the services provided through ambulance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this result is coming to us because we have, in a number of past years, told departments that they needed to come back with actual costs versus that of doing some forecasting. Budgets are built on an actual price as we prepare the budgets. As an example, the letters go out to departments in June to start preparing their budgets. They would build their information on the available cost of the day and they would also come forward and ask for forced growth and that could include areas such as fuel and electrical costs. They would review those within FMB...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, when we put in an account into the doubtful accounts section, we do not stop from having that on the books and continuing to pursue payment. It is not a forgiveness. It is not a write-off. The debt stays there. We continue to go after it. It continues to accrue interest even. But we can’t account for it in the revenue side because, if a company has gone out of business, we know that it probably won’t get paid, or if they have gone into receivership or filed with the courts for protection, this is the same as with individuals when people are issued a...