Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, March 11, 2013, I will move that Bill 4, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2013-2014, be read for the first time. Thank you.

For further clarity, with respect to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment:

$600,000 to increase funding identified for the tourism industry for increased investment in tourism marketing activities.

A transfer of $100,000 identified for energy policy initiatives to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to increase funding to the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program.

With respect to the Department of Health and Social Services:

An additional $330,000 to establish midwifery services in Hay River. The total amount to be allocated in 2013-2014 for this initiative is $470...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Over the last few weeks, Members of the Legislative Assembly have been working hard on reviewing the departmental budgets for the 2013-14 fiscal year. This review started with the review of the departmental 2013-14 business plans last September and consideration of the 2013-14 Main Estimates in Committee of the Whole during the current session.

As part of their review, Members of his House have recommended amendments to the 2013-14 Main Estimates:

With respect to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment:

$600,000 to increase funding identified for the tourism...

Thank you. The Member has quoted a number of technical issues at some length and I don’t have it before me. So I will get in gear and I will take that question as notice. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills.

---Unanimous consent granted

We get revised amounts monthly, but the date by which most returns are in is October, so October is a month we look to to get more certainty.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are reasonably happy. There are many things we don’t control when it comes to risk management. For example, the majority of our communities are in the middle of the Boreal Forest. There are more and more extreme weather events across the land. The whole concept of stationarity, which is the predictability of those types of occurrences, has all but disappeared. The insurance business, in fact, no longer looks at stationarity because it makes forecasting and doing insurance, and making projections almost impossible. Given a number of those broader major variables, we...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me the deputy minister, Mr. Mike Aumond, and the deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board, Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar. If either one of them faint tonight it’s because I was insensitive and did not invite them in to have supper, and I publicly apologize for that.

Thank you. We’re looking at two things here, but we’re going to be, from the start and on into the future, a major partner in this if we go out to Aboriginal governments. Once the debt is paid off it will generate revenue. What we’re looking at is what would be a more modest than would be normal return on investment so that we can make our best efforts to keep the cost of service into the communities as reasonable as possible, which we think will generate a longer-term benefit and get us more customers. So, yes, there is going to be revenue generation and it’s also going to have some broader...

I do, Mr. Chairman. I am here to present the Department of Finance’s Main Estimates for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

For 2013-14, the department has identified a total operations budget of approximately $156.3 million, which represents a 10 percent increase over the current fiscal year.

The operations budget is comprised of:

A $67.5 million contribution to the NWT Housing Corporation to provide the Corporation with its operating cash flow for the fiscal period.

The remaining $80.8 million for department operations represents a 10 percent increase from the 2012-13 Main Estimates. This is primarily the...