Robert Bouchard

Thank you Minister. Thank you, witnesses. Sergeant-at- Arms, please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.

Committee has agreed to consider Bill 44, Hospital Insurance and Health and Social Services Administration Act. I will go to the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce, if he has any introductory remarks. Mr. Abernethy.

Schedule B.

Does committee agree that Bill 37, Financial Administration Act, is now ready for third reading?

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Committee, we are on general comments on Bill 37. General comments. Committee’s agreed no further general comments.

We’ll proceed clause by clause on Bill 37. Does committee agree to consider clause by clause in groups of 20? Is that agreed?

I’ll go to the Minister to just maybe respond to those general comments if he wants. Sorry, we did skip that step.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Committee, I’ll open up the floor to general comments on Bill 37. Ms. Bisaro.

Then I guess I’ve got a question about this communication report that was done. We’ve been given the information, as far as this report was done, in November. So, it should have gone through our regular budgeting process.

Why cannot we, as a government, get a report in November and have it ready for our March implementation of funding in the March review? Now we’re back here on June 1st looking at something that we don’t really have full direction on, we haven’t had full discretion about it, we haven’t had a business planning process to go through. I guess, why does it take so long to get that...

I’m trying to get clarification. I think on Ms. Bisaro’s question, the Minister indicated it was going to be added to our ongoing costs and you just indicated to me that it wouldn’t be added to our ongoing cost, but be part of ongoing devolution money. Can I get more detail? How are these positions going to be funded after devolution money has been expended completely?

So if we’re using Yellowknife as the base and also using the calculations of the community, it could be the price in Yellowknife went down or the price of the community went up or vice versa I guess. Is that the factor or, I guess, how do we keep that stable in the fact that the greater the northern living allowance adjustment to a community, the cost to the community may have gone up, but if Yellowknife was affected then everybody gets affected?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m just wondering if we’re able to get that information or is it available on a public website where we can get the new northern allowance adjustments or the new allowances and which communities went up and which communities went down.