Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There was an agreement relatively early on in Fort Smith with regard to the master development plan — community service, bed issues, the scope laid out within the master development plan. In Hay River there were questions about the catchment area, the population, bed numbers, questions over the master development plan. As well, there was a request that consideration then be given to, rather than a renovation, a new facility, which was also being considered.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Ms. Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance; Mr. Michael Aumond, deputy minister of Public Works and Services; and Mr. Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation.

Mr. Chairman, the cash flows are as in the information the Member has before him.

Mr. Speaker, we anticipate that we’re on about a 12 to 18 month planning frame here, in addition to the work we’ve already done. To get us ready to have all the work done, as the Member’s indicated, there’s a whole host of things we have to look at in terms of assessment. There’s legislation. There are a whole number of things we’d have to be clear on, sort out, put in the proper sequence, do the appropriate costings and all the other impacts that we have to do. So it’s going to take some time. We’re going to be working through it through the life of this business planning process for ’09–10...

We’ll be happy to consider that adjustment for the next go-round.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member raises some good points. Our infrastructure costs are due to distance, isolation and transportation issues that are often higher than other jurisdictions. In terms of the IT side and information services, we are, as well, coping with highly dispersed communities and that type of infrastructure with those costs. It is, as well, that the life cycle time, as the Member is aware, of IT systems is significantly less than a lot of the buildings that we invest money in. So the renewal time is shorter. We have equal distances and all the other challenges that we...

What is being proposed and worked on by the refocusing and the strategic initiatives committees will be, in my opinion, the single biggest piece of restructuring we’re going to do as an Assembly in terms of government and how we deliver services.

Clearly, with the Members and the Chairs coming on board as fully participating members, they’ll have access to all that information. We intend to fully brief committees as a matter of course as we proceed with the work that’s necessary as we move down the implementation path. There’s work we’re doing right now. While we have timelines, we have a lot...

I would ask your indulgence, Mr. Chairman, and defer to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the presentation that we provided to committee, we pointed out that the Gardner Group, which is a world leader in IT research and analytics, has determined that governments on average spend about 5 per cent of their overall budget on IMIS and IT. The GNWT, based on our budget, is below that, at between 4 and 4.4 per cent.

First let me comment that the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Members of Cabinet — the Premier on down — are all fully supportive of this approach and the investments we are making. I know that Public Works and Services has done work to do the monitoring the Member speaks of on some of the larger schools across the North.

I picked up a copy of a document when I went to the wood pellet fair that was held here a couple weeks ago. Clearly, we are going to have to develop all those types of support services and expertise in our own government and across the North in the communities as...