Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories expedite work on bringing municipalities under access to information and protection of privacy legislation, and that a phased approach to implementation be considered in order to take into account the needs and resources of smaller communities, while improving access to information and protection of privacy in larger population centres, and that the government table its review report and discussion paper in the fall sitting. If these are not available, the government should table a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories expedite work on the new Health Information Act with a view to introducing a bill as soon as possible; and further, that if the government is not able to introduce this bill in the fall sitting, the standing committee recommends that the government table a detailed progress report in that sitting, identifying a timeline and any additional resources required so that a bill may be introduced within the 2013-14 fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Nadli.

The Financial Administration Act Section 74 states that, “unless the Legislative Assembly otherwise fixes a date, the public accounts for the fiscal year must be laid before the Legislative Assembly on or before December 31st following the end of the fiscal year or, if the Legislative Assembly is not then in session, not later than 15 days after the commencement of the next session of the Legislative Assembly.”

The present committee reviewed the practice of previous governments and Legislative Assembly committees with regard to the public accounts...

I guess I can’t agree with the Minister’s assessment of that. Giving an organization money in one year and then pulling it in the next year because we funded you for that project, now we’re only going to fund a new project, in my mind, is destabilizing, not stabilizing.

We have a $1.6 billion budget within this government, and a twofold increase doubling the value of the NGO Stabilization Fund amounts to a 0.02 percent increase to our expenditures bottom line.

I’d like to ask the Premier if he could provide a rationale for the rejection by the Cabinet, by the Minister, his rejection of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Executive and the Premier. For the Standing Committee on Government Operations, we’ve heard from many Members today, and the NGO Stabilization Fund has been a priority for that committee, and the committee has corresponded with the Minister over the last year several times about the NGO Stabilization Fund. We’ve provided input and we’ve been dismayed to be told by the Minister that a review of the fund found no reason to make any changes to the criteria. Unfortunately, that view is supported by the Social Envelope Committee...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Members will have heard during the reading of the report, committee was somewhat concerned that the allowance for doubtful accounts had risen well beyond 30 percent and considered that that was too high a figure. This motion asks the government develop targets and measures specifically in terms of collections and in terms of reducing the allowance for doubtful accounts. Thank you.

DEAs and DECs who are allowed to own property can then legally set about acquiring housing for their teaching staff. Education districts need many options to help them deal with housing. One solution will not work for every one of them. The GNWT needs to be flexible and supportive, and good, strong northern housing must be available, well maintained and reasonable in price when it comes to rent.

Teacher housing in the NWT is hampered by regulations which forbid educational authorities to own properties, and this is perhaps not a solution for all of our communities, but as ECE consults with...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move, that consideration of Tabled Document 79-17(4), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 79-17(4) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill.

I can accept that explanation, but I guess I’m still wondering. If I was doing procurement within a department previously, now I’m not doing procurement any more. We’ve now set up a procurement officer and a centralized desk, so why would there not be savings on me as an employee, because I’m not doing procurement anymore?

Can we not see savings in each department that equals the cost of providing this service in a centralized place? I’m having trouble trying to understand how we have employees who are not doing as much as they were doing before, but it is still going to cost us money to bring...

Thanks to the Minister for the explanation. I have to ask the question, and I think I probably know the answer, but we are spending this money, we are going to probably be providing better services in terms of our financial services. Are there any savings from bringing things in together and doing things in a consolidated way? Are we saving money?