EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
If you will allow me to ask another question on the same topic, since there’s going to be a review of municipal funding to make sure that they have efficient municipal programs, how many communities, if any, have over-expended their program or budget for municipal services? Are there any communities that have gone over their funding for municipal programs?
I hope I’m clear, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Chairman: Minister Savikataaq.
Right now, we currently have some hamlets that have financial difficulties. There are three in the Kivalliq, three in the Kitikmeot, and five in Qikiqtaaluk.
It’s not only to do with the water and sewer program.
That may be a part of it, but that’s what we have to study.
The hamlets have many different services that they have to provide and they have to collect the money for these services that they provide.
It’s not as simple as whether they get enough funding or not. It’s quite a complicated process to figure out why a hamlet is not doing good financially.
We work with the hamlets to figure out what the problem is and to help them get out of deficit, if they are in deficit.
If the problem is with the water/sewer and they are just not charging enough for the delivery, then they put in for an increase into the water/sewer rate.
In terms of the municipalities that are financially struggling, there are many reasons for them and each municipality has different reasons.
If I am out of line, please stop me.
I’m going to ask a question with regard to the same topic on municipal funding. I will probably be asking a question under page J-5. So if I’m wrong, please correct me.
Let me ask my question.
You are going to be doing a comprehensive program review of municipal funding and you stated that some communities are facing financial difficulties in the three regions of Qikiqtaaluk, Kitikmeot, and Kivalliq.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask this question.
Since your department provides assistance and services to municipalities, do you see their monthly financial accounts?
I cannot really understand.
I know that they have financial accountants in each community, but don’t you see their monthly statements?
I just want to ask how this is connected to that, if you will allow me, Mr. Chairman.
Minister Savikataaq.
I am not an accountant, but I’ll do my best to answer this question.
The hamlets have many different funding arrangements and different accounts for different things, such as the water/sewer program, mobile equipment, they get block funding, and it’s all broken up into different accounts. They also have reserves for many different areas.
How can I put this? The hamlets sometimes move funds from one area to another to make up for funds that are insufficient in other areas.
Sometimes it doesn’t show up immediately. That’s why sometimes hamlets go way into deficit before we realize that there is a problem.
For a hamlet to be in good financial standing, their reserves have to be up to where they’re supposed to be. Even if they’re not in debt, if their reserves are not where they’re supposed to be at, they are not where they’re supposed to be. There are many different areas.
If that’s not a good enough answer, I can get my DM to answer.
I’m not sure if that answers your question.
Let me ask this question: do the municipalities provide their monthly financial statements to your department?
Are they mandated and do you review the monthly financial statements from the municipalities?
Let me first get a response to that for clarity.
Yes, they are supposed to put in a monthly financial report.
Some do, but some don’t.
For those communities that don’t send in their financial reports, what happens to them?
Do you just leave them alone or do you do something about it?
If there’s a requirement to send in a financial report, then they should.
What do you do with the municipalities that don’t send in financial reports?
Our department works with the ones that struggle to do a financial statement on a monthly basis and there are different reasons.
Sometimes they have capacity issues in terms of qualified employees.
Some hamlets struggle to have good financial staffing and we just can’t get around that. Staffing is an issue. CGS works with every hamlet that is struggling and we will continue to try to help them through a struggle.
Our goal is to work with the hamlets so that the hamlets operate efficiently for their residents.
We will reach that subject later, but what jumps out is the request for large numbers of additional staff in your department. All this in light of communities that tend to be understaffed and the additional PYs do not appear to be in the non-decentralized communities.
Nonetheless, I believe we will get to that subject later.
Mr. Chairman, I have a question regarding the budget request in the 2016-19 business plan, which I do not have a copy of in Inuktitut. Your department indicates that “Program delivery has been improved by dedicating new PYs, focused on departmental programming at the community level.”
Can you specify the positions that you have created in your department?
What the member is talking about, I believe, is strengthen departmental internal controls.
We’re doing that through improvement of existing processes, training sessions to sub-delegation managers through CG&S, and resource management training for managers and directors.
Some of the activities that we have done are to have existing setup and delegation authorities so that more authorities can be delegated; examine opportunities for potential improvement such as consolidation of signing functions; create training material of internal controls and responsibilities and accountabilities; and deliver mandatory training to all employees who are in positions with delegated authorities.
What we want to do is just train the workforce we have now so that it can function better and cheaper and get the same results, if I understand the member’s question correctly.
Maybe you already answered some of the questions I was going to bring up later, but in your business plan for 2016-19, it indicates that you want to “Optimize the procurement function, through gradual migration of regional infrastructure procurement to a centralized procurement function in the department.”
Can the minister indicate what these changes will involve and if any positions will be transferred from other communities to Iqaluit?
In short, no, there will be no transfers of any PYs from the communities to headquarters.
We’re just transferring responsibilities and just the way stuff are done so that, instead of each region doing its own way of procurement and contracting, it is standardized and everybody does the same thing every time something comes up.
It’s just to make it more efficient. One way of doing that is to transfer some of the responsibilities to headquarters or the regional centres, whichever works better.
It’s just to make it more streamlined so that the process is uniform.
I will just go right to the business plan on 168. I think Mr. Enook touched on it a bit about program delivery and dedicating new PYs.
I’m wondering if the new PYs have already been hired. My second question to this would be: what kind of programs are you speaking about when you talk about departmental programming at the community level?
Can I just ask Ms. Angnakak for clarification on the PYs? I’m not sure what she’s talking about.
I’m on page 168 of the business plan.
Under the priorities, it talks about, “Based on the findings of the organizational review report, consider enhancements to improve program delivery.” The status that you put under that is “Program delivery has been improved by dedicating new PYs, focused on departmental programming at the community level.”
I’m asking what PYs. Can you identify which ones?
Where are they? Is this for Iqaluit or are they regional? Also, when you talk about departmental programming at the community level, what kind of programs are you actually talking about there?
That line when they talk about the new PYs, it was in the 2015 fiscal year, so those PYs are already there.
I, myself, don’t know where they are right now. I’ll just get the information here.
There is just one PY that came to Iqaluit and it was to provide consumer protection services for lottery and business licensing.
That’s the only PY that was created.
When you talk about “focused on departmental programming at the community level,” what do you mean by that?
If that PY was dedicated to Iqaluit for lotteries at the community level, do you just mean Iqaluit? To me, that means communities within Nunavut.
The position is here in Iqaluit, but it’s for all of Nunavut.
I assume that all the communities issue lottery licences and stuff.
The position is based here but it’s not just for Iqaluit; it’s for all of Nunavut.
Ms. Angnakak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the minister for that response.
It makes it a little clearer than how it’s written.
The other thing is you did elaborate a little about consumer affairs. Within the priorities of 2016-17, it says, “Develop and implement a consumer affairs public education campaign.”
Can you elaborate about why you want to do this and what you’re hoping to achieve?
The purpose of the consumer affairs advisory is to advise “citizens and businesses of their rights and obligations and is responsible for related legislation and policies. Consumer Protection seeks to create a positive atmosphere that fosters economic growth while protecting the public interest.”
One of the activities that we have done is develop a consumer affairs public awareness and education campaign. The outcome, we hope, is to ensure that all Nunavummiut have access to and are aware of the services that are provided by the Consumer Affairs section.
When you say “public education campaign,” what does that mean?
How are you rolling out that campaign?
There could be IT stuff on the website or there could be flyers, whatever works best for the communities and the people of Nunavut.
This is something that Mr. Enook touched on a little bit earlier, I think, if I was listening properly.
One of the priorities is to “Optimize the procurement function, through gradual migration of regional infrastructure procurement to a centralized procurement function in the department.”
If you’re starting to do that, what’s in place now? If that is not how you do it, how do you do it now?
The way it’s done right now is not completely uniform.
How they do stuff in the Kitikmeot might be different than how they do it in the Kivalliq or the Baffin.
We just want to streamline it so that it’s controlled and everybody in all of Nunavut has the same process when they’re doing any procurement.
I just want to say that I think that’s a good direction to be going.
When we’re talking about procurement, it can become a very sensitive issue when businesses want to put on a bid and they want to know that they are being treated fairly and transparently too.
That’s all for me right now in this section.
I believe we are still on page J-4, if I am not mistaken. When my colleagues were raising questions earlier, certain statements caught my ear.
It’s obvious that Baker Lake is one of the decentralized communities. Some of these responsibilities were originally undertaken by (interpretation ends) Consumer Affairs (interpretation) in Baker Lake.
However, when my colleague Ms. Angnakak was asking questions earlier, I really noticed the subject items.
Some of these positions are already transferred to here. With that being the case, I would like to ask firstly if some of the PYs moved to the headquarters will be returned to Baker Lake.
I am not aware of any positions that were moved from Baker Lake to here.
That’s all I can say. I am not aware of any positions that were moved.
The lottery licence position, I do recall even before I was elected as an MLA that that particular position was based in Baker Lake as a decentralized position.
If that position has been moved to Iqaluit, what is the Department of Community and Government Services equal value of power and authority replaced with?
If this position was moved before you and I were elected, I can’t comment much on it because we’re just dealing with the 2016-17 budget right now.
All I can say is that if it was moved before our government, then we are not aware of any that have been moved since this government was formed.
Maybe I will rephrase my question here. As Ms. Angnakak was asking regarding the lottery licence position and the minister indicated that that position was moved here to Iqaluit, I presume that was during our time in legislative office here.
My question is: does the minister have that information at hand when the position was moved here?
That particular position was actually based in Baker Lake.
The position that I was talking about with Ms. Angnakak is a new position and that position was created as a new position.
It was not moved from anywhere.
According to my information here, there have been no positions lost in Baker Lake.
There are vacant positions there, but there are none that have been moved from Baker Lake.
The position that Ms. Angnakak was talking about is a brand-new position.
It was not moved; it was made.
Why not in Baker Lake when it was part of the decentralized plan?
This position is not part of the decentralized plan. It was a new position.
The policy is that if we take a decentralized position, then we are supposed to put one back in. This was a new position that was not taken from Baker Lake or anywhere else.
That’s all I can say about it.
Lottery licence positions have always been based in Baker Lake and part of Consumer Affairs in Baker Lake as part of the decentralized plan when Nunavut was created.
Why are some of these new positions that Community and Government Services is looking at not based in Baker Lake at the decentralized office, which has already been established for so many years since Nunavut?
The member is right, the manager is based here in Iqaluit, but all the other positions, the consumer affairs analyst and the consumer affairs officer, are based in Baker Lake.
The one new position here is called a senior security and privacy policy analyst.
The positions that were in Baker Lake are still in Baker Lake.
I wholeheartedly understand what the minister is indicating, but my question here again is: why do you have that position based here when there was a decentralized model which has been working all these past years in Nunavut?
I’ll ask that question first.
The new position that I told him about, the privacy policy, it’s for ATIPP and they need to work with EIA, which is situated here in Iqaluit. Like I said, it’s not a decentralized position. It’s a new position to just help the consumer affairs department run better and it has to be based here because they have to work with EIA for ATIPP and privacy policy issues.
When we look at this new position, how does that change the authority and overrides of any decisions of the positions that are based in Baker Lake when that new position is based here in Iqaluit?
This new position has no bearing on the operation going on in Baker Lake.
It’s on its own and it doesn’t affect the operation in Baker Lake in any way.
It’s just more of a support for all of the consumer affairs stuff.
It doesn’t affect the number of PYs in Baker Lake. It doesn’t affect their operation.
It’s just to enhance and help out.
Okay, I’ll ask this question in a different angle. When you look at this new position and you have established positions in Consumer Affairs, Community and Government Services in Baker Lake as part of the decentralized model, how would you rank this new position of senior security as opposed to the positions that are currently in place in the decentralized model of authority and power?
It doesn’t relate in any way in terms of authority and power.
The way the consumer affairs department runs in Baker Lake will still run the way it always has.
This is just a position to help out if there are any issues with ATIPP and privacy issues. It doesn’t affect the operations in Baker Lake.
It’s just to help out with ATIPP and privacy issues because privacy issues have become more and more of a concern in this day and age. It’s to help out.
Would it be correct that I’m hearing the minister correctly that all the current positions based in Baker Lake under the decentralized model with not lose their power and authority with their current positions?
Chairman: Mr Mikkungwak.
With this new position that CGS is looking at, you indicate that it will help the decentralized model and communities.
Will this position be advocating or implementing any suggestions or work strategies to current staff in Consumer Affairs who have been, in my opinion, doing a very excellent job in Baker Lake with lottery licence and consumer affairs? Will there be any changes to the current system that is in place?
No, there will be no changes in the way Baker Lake is operating and has operated. I am sure they run very well.
This is a policy and planning position here in Iqaluit to facilitate and help out with ATIPP and privacy issues.
It will not affect the Baker Lake Consumer Affairs operation in any way. It will just enhance them if they need to be helped.
I’ll angle my question in a different manner.
Seeing that you have created a position and, if I’m listening correctly, you are already considering this new career of senior security possibly being hired, if not, I presume there is already an employee.
As the minister indicated, there are current vacancies in the Consumer Affairs Office in Baker Lake. How soon will you get those vacancies filled in Baker Lake?
To clarify the member’s position about the new position here, this was in 2015-16. He is incorrect when he says there is a person there already because that was approved in last year’s budget.
As for Baker Lake, we will do our best to fill any vacant positions.
We will be working with HR to make sure any vacancy is filled.
We work with HR to fill any and all vacancies anywhere in Nunavut. Our goal is to have Nunavummiut take these jobs as soon as possible.
There are many obstacles, but we do the best we can to fill any and all positions.
When we look at these vacancies that are currently in Baker Lake and it’s part of the decentralized model, the department is going to look at filling in those vacancies.
Considering the fact that some of them are senior and middle management positions, will they be looking at the internship program that this government has been addressing also as part of the filling in of the vacant positions?
The internship program is run by EIA. As the Premier said in his statement today, they had a graduate from our department from that program.
Yes, we look at that and we are open to any suggestions about it, but EIA is the one who runs the internship program.
With this new senior security position that is already in place, is that the only one new PY or are you looking at additional PYs? If there are going to be additional PYs, will they be here in Iqaluit or are they going to follow the decentralized model, which would be based in Baker Lake?
Under the Directorate, we are not asking for any new PYs.
Chairman: Mr. Mikkungwak, you’ve got 70 seconds left.
Thank you for identifying the clock.
In your business plan on page 168, it’s in black and white under Priorities (2015-16), second bullet, “Based on the findings of the organizational review report, consider enhancements to improve program delivery.
Status: Program delivery has been improved by dedicating new PYs…” Are you sufficient with new PYs or are there still any vacancies?
As the member pointed out, this is 2015-16. Under the Directorate, we are sufficient in PYs right now and we are not requesting for any.
Would it be correct that the decentralized model in Baker Lake for Community and Government Services’ consumer affairs and lottery business licence work will not be affected?
Yes, there will be no PYs taken from Baker Lake from Consumer Affairs.
The way they operate will not be affected.
It will just be status quo and they will work along their merry way and do a good job of it.
Chairman: Four seconds, Mr. Mikkungwak.
Mr. Mikkungwak: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the minister for his comment and I hold him to that.
The next name on the list is Mr. Joanasie.
Mr. Savikataaq, (interpretation) welcome, (interpretation ends) along with your staff.
It’s a good announcement you made this morning. I just wanted to recognize that.
Going back to our review of your business plan, I have a few questions.
First off, we recently heard about the NNI Policy review occurring.
CGS being the lead department on procurement, contracting, and leasing for government agencies, will your department be having a role in that review and, if so, what are you anticipating participation in that review?
CG&S did have a role in it, but the NNI Policy is under ED&T. ED&T will be the actual department that rolls out the NNI Policy, but we did work with them and we did have a role in it.
Are you done with your part or are you still going to be involved moving forward?
We will still be working with ED&T with the policies and guidelines when it comes out because we are the procurement department, so we will be working with them, but it is their project.
I just wanted to get that out of the way. However, going towards the Inuit Employment Plans on 182, there’s talk about a two-year co-op program created and funded through Arctic College to train NLCA beneficiaries for informatics positions.
In this budget, you’re proposing, I believe, 21 new informatics positions.
Have you already started identifying the candidates to fill these positions or once this budget is approved, are NLCA beneficiaries being canvassed?
All government departments want to hire as many beneficiaries as we possibly can.
The recruiting process will follow the normal recruiting process through HR, but beneficiaries will be having hiring priority just like every other department because we want to hire as many beneficiaries as we can.
The hiring process will follow the regular route in which the government hires and its recruitment policy.
I know that the hiring process will go through and it’s normal, but as departments, you do have a role in recruiting new, potential staff. I’ll take your example as the Technical Professional Studies Scholarship.
It says here that there were 18 scholarships awarded and out of the 18, there were 15 NLCA beneficiaries.
I’m trying to get at: what is your department looking forward to doing in recruiting or do you guys attend career fairs, going to high schools, and say, “These informatics positions or infrastructure jobs are up for grabs. Come get them”?
The scholarship program is to help students who are in school to help them out with funding and the ones that qualify get the funding.
We hope to hire as many qualified beneficiaries as we can, but we can’t make them work for us. We hope that they will work for us, but there are many different opportunities for people once they get an education. Sometimes when beneficiaries get used to living down south, some of them like living down there.
It’s challenging. Just because someone gets a scholarship doesn’t mean that they are going to work for the government, but we sure do hope that they will.
Mr. Joanasie: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for the response.
Also in addition to that, can I ask the minister to work with his colleagues in the Department of Family Services?
I know they have a great program, Getting Ready for Employment and Training, initiatives to get people at the community level filling these positions that might be sitting vacant. Maybe we can start filling these positions in the future.
Yes, we want to fill all vacancies. With informatics, we want to make sure that they are filled by well-qualified and well-trained individuals.
As we all know how frustrating it is when the computer is just not working right, we want to make sure that we have the best possible people to help all you guys in the communities.
Just for the record, I was speaking all across the different divisions or the department as a whole, not just informatics.
I’ll just make that comment and I’m done for now.
Your committee has been considering Bill 13 and the main estimates, and would like to report progress.