Robert Bouchard

Schedule C.

Bill 37 is now deemed ready for third reading. Does committee agree that we’ve concluded consideration of Bill 37 and the Committee Report 15-17(5)?

We’ll defer bill number and title under consideration of clauses. This bill has three schedules attached. We’ll deal with the three schedules first. We’ll go to page 98, Schedule A.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Committee, we’ve concluded clause by clause. To the bill as a whole?

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Next I have Mr. Dolynny.

General comments? Mr. Dolynny.

So I think I’m getting the picture here. This is funding from the federal government on an ongoing basis. Why would we continue to have these positions if part of these positions are just to assess our communications system now? The Minister indicated we need to assess our communications system and the way we communicate. In my perspective, that would be reviewing something that would only be a short period of time, something we would need as a term, not a full-time position where after the assessment is done, we don’t need that position anymore. Why wouldn’t we do that as a term position or...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think Ms. Bisaro covered a lot of the questions I had, but I will ask some of the questions a bit differently. I have concern with the fact that we’re equating these positions and this funding through our devolution fund reserves that we have, but after the devolution money has been spent, this becomes part of the cost of the GNWT. Obviously, on top of the positions we’ve added to devolution, we’re adding five more positions into Yellowknife. Is there any way we can make these term positions and we look at the assessment and the effectiveness after the devolution money...

I’ve just got a question about the ones that are going down. Is that based on the fact that the cost of living is going down in some communities? I would assume most of them or all of them would have gone up. So what would the differences be and why would there be a negative?

Thank you. I guess, would we have not negotiated these allowances in the process, or would we not have known that number or estimates based on April 1st when we went into budget?