Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Chair, the intent is to carry on with the work and get it done as soon as possible. They have another school year coming up in the fall. The anticipation is they’d like to have this system functional by then. I would point out one of the other purposes of the student information system of course is tied to the funding for DEAs and DECs which is based on enrolment as of October. The plan would be to get it done and hopefully to be up and ready by the upcoming school year in September.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014. This document outlines an increase of $17.757 million in operations expenditures for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The major items included in the supplementary estimates are:

$9.7 million for the Department of Executive for funding for costs associated with the implementation of the final Devolution Agreement. The net impact on government operations is nil as these costs will be offset with funding to be received from the federal government.

$2.5 million for the Department of...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What we are going to see is efficiencies in effectiveness and service delivery. We are going to see avoided costs, especially on the procurement model side. This is not a cost savings where we are going to realize, as the Member said, millions, hundreds of thousands of dollars of money. What we are looking at with the resources we have available, how do we better organize ourselves to be more responsive and effective and this is what you’re going to get, and you will have, over the long-term, the avoided costs, the realization of the coordinated approach we’re taking...

Mr. Speaker, I seek consent to waive Rule 69(2) and have Bill 11 moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you.

---Consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the procurement side, one of the clear areas, of course, is anticipation through volume discounts when we have more coordinated and integrated procurement processes. Those economies of scale will become more clearly evident across the board. In a number of ways we have different departments, different regions all doing their own purchasing. I believe I mentioned, in a previous sitting, using the bundled water plants as an example, where we recognized that as a government we did five water plants in a coordinated way, we had a common procurement policy, we had a...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 23, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What we are going to get is some efficiencies and economies of scale where, recognizing that as a large organization, a corporation, there are some core services where you need to have consistency and integration where there is some standard volume directed processes, transaction issues, as Mr. Aumond indicated, where you need that consistency yet you can have more economies of scale. We are better coordinated. We tried to have a very devolved, decentralized type of model, which works in some program areas, but as we’ve discovered with information, IT, with finances...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 11, Financial Administration and Public Agency Statutes (Borrowing Provisions) Amendment Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, titled “Natural Resources Conservation Trust Fund Annual Report 2012-2013.” Thank you.

I would suggest that if folks are interested, businesses are interested, that they look to the subsidies and grants that are available to start up and assist with alternative energy infrastructure; solar, biomass and that type of thing. Those have been increased; the amount of money has been raised; the ceilings have been raised so that the level of support, and I believe where it was $25,000 is up to $50,000. So if they’re just wanting to get started today and they want to think about it, then they’ve got to do their plan and they’ve got to buy the infrastructure and I think that would be the...