EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
To accomplish our priorities for the next three years and maintain current programs and services, the Department of Finance will need an increase of $3.9 million. This 6.9 percent increase moves the department’s total budget from $57.5 million to $61.4 million.
This proposed increase in base target funding covers four areas:
Compensation and benefits - $1 million;
GN Employee Medical Travel Fund - $2.3 million;
Insurance premiums - $760,000; and
Capital leases - $296,000.
Offsetting this is an interdepartmental transfer of $432,000 to the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs for the return of the corporate services function.
The department continues to exercise restraint in the number of PYs, which will remain at 209.
Members should note that only 204 of these positions are funded. The remaining five positions are frozen and will be funded as required, either by freezing other positions or seeking additional funding.
The department continues to work on a number of key priorities for 2011-12, which include:
Conclusion of the public consultation phase of the Minister’s Task Force to Review the Liquor Act, followed by a report from the task force
Completion of the WAN/LAN/MAN portion of the Building Financial Information Capacity Initiative
Increasing the focus on the territorial formula financing file in preparation for a new arrangement as the current arrangement expires in 2013-14
Working towards implementation of the Human Resources Strategy
I want to thank all members for the comments you shared during the last Committee of the Whole appearance regarding the 2010-11 business plan. My staff and I take your comments and suggestions seriously, and we have already started to implement some of the suggested changes and we continue to view others as we move forward.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister of Finance.
Welcome, Minister Peterson, who is the Minister of Finance.
Welcome. Does the Chair of the Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts have any opening comments?
I am pleased to provide opening comments on behalf of the Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts on its review of the proposed 2011-12 main estimates and 2011-14 business plan of the Department of Finance.
The standing committee notes that the department’s proposed 2011-12 operations and maintenance budget of $61,347,000 has increased by approximately 7.5 percent since the introduction of the department’s 2010-11 main estimates.
Mr. Chairman, the number of positions in the department remains stable at 209.0 PYs.
This is the third consecutive year in which the department has not increased in size.
The standing committee again applauds the minister for demonstrating restraint in this area given the tendency of too many other GN departments to increase the number of positions in their organization charts each year, despite their not being able to fill a significant percentage of their existing jobs.
This is an issue that the Minister of Finance, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Financial Management Board, needs to review.
Every dollar that is added to pay new government employees is a dollar less that is available for other priorities, such as providing increased financial assistance for students to pursue post-secondary education or constructing new capital infrastructure in our communities.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Finance supports the operations of the government’s Public Agencies Council, which has a number of important oversight responsibilities in relation to the governance of the GN’s Crown corporations and agencies.
The standing committee notes that Ministerial Letters of Expectation to the GN’s five largest Crown corporations and agencies for the 2010-11 fiscal year were not tabled in the Legislative Assembly until October 29, 2010.
The standing committee urges the government to ensure that these are prepared and tabled earlier in the fiscal year.
The department’s business plan indicates that the process of developing formal Memorandums of Understanding between the government and its Crown corporations and agencies is underway.
The standing committee looks forward to the timely tabling of these items in the Legislative Assembly, as well as the annual mandate letters to the chief executive officers of each of the GN’s Crown corporations and agencies.
The standing committee also urges the minister, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Public Agencies Council, to ensure that the corporate business plans and annual reports of all of Nunavut’s major Crown corporations and agencies are tabled in the House on a timely basis.
The standing committee also repeats its call for the annual contracting, leasing and procurement reports for all of the GN’s Crown corporations and agencies to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly in a timely manner.
Although the most recent Ministerial Letters of Expectation to the GN’s Crown corporations and agencies instructed them to prepare such reports, only information related to the Nunavut Housing Corporation’s activities has been tabled in the Legislative Assembly.
The standing committee would support firm action on the part of the minister and the Public Agencies Council to enforce discipline in this area.
The standing committee also notes its continuing concern with respect to the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation given the Auditor General of Canada’s recent denials of opinion of its financial statements.
The standing committee also notes the government’s recent announcement concerning the creation of a board of directors for the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
Members note that amendments to the Nunavut Housing Corporation Act will need to be approved by the Legislative Assembly before such a board can be established.
Members recognize that the input of the Public Agencies Council will be valuable during the development of these amendments and look forward to scrutinizing the proposed changes.
The public accounts for the 2008-09 fiscal year were not tabled in the Legislative Assembly until October 19, 2010.
The Government of Nunavut’s interim financial report for the 2009-2010 fiscal year was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on October 26, 2010.
The public accounts for 2009-2010 have not yet been tabled.
The GN’s 2008-09 annual report on procurement activities indicates that the Department of Finance awarded a $303,000 contract in 2008-209 to an individual to provide consulting services to assist in the production of the public accounts.
The same consultant received a $205,968 contract in 2009-2010.
Mr. Chairman, the 2009 Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Legislative Assembly noted that “the underlying cause of the government’s lack of progress on our previous recommendations is its limited human resource capacity.
The Department of Finance’s business plan indicates that one of its goals for the 2011-12 fiscal year is to “Continue the implementation of a professional training regime enhancing the financial expertise of the territory at all levels.”
The business plan also indicates that a number of GN employees have been enrolled in introductory accounting courses.
The standing committee supports initiatives designed to provide educational and training opportunities for GN employees, especially beneficiary employees, to pursue financial management and accounting courses that can lead to professional certification.
The standing committee notes that on October 27, 2010, the minister tabled a status report on the GN’s action plan in response to the 2009 report of the Auditor General and the standing committee’s own recommendations.
Members also note with appreciation the minister’s praiseworthy efforts to provide regular reports to the standing committee on the status of the department’s Strengthening Financial Management and Network Capacity Initiative.
The standing committee supports efforts to strengthen the working relationship between the department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with respect to information-sharing initiatives that are intended to combat the illegal sale of alcohol by bootleggers.
The standing committee also encourages the department to engage in dialogue with airlines concerning the issue of how liquor orders are transported to communities in order to address the problem of sudden influxes into communities of large volumes of alcohol.
The standing committee looks forward to ongoing updates on the status of the work of the Minister’s Task Force to Review the Liquor Act.
The standing committee emphasizes that such allocations should be viewed as a supplement to existing funding, not as a replacement.
In March of last year, the Legislative Assembly approved a motion calling on the Nunavut Liquor Commission to stop purchasing alcohol products from the European Union until such time as the issue of the EU’s ban on the import of seal products is resolved to Nunavut’s satisfaction.
The standing committee applauds the minister for having instructed the Nunavut Liquor Commission to respect the will of the House and encourages the minister to table a list of the products that the commission actually purchased as part of its 2010 resupply.
On October 26, 2010, the Minister of Finance tabled the government-wide annual reports on grants and contributions made by all departments during the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
Between the 2004-05 and 2009-2010 fiscal years, the government spent over $1,465,000,000 in grants and contributions.
In 2007, the Legislative Assembly passed a motion on the issue of the federal Northern Residents Deduction.
The motion called on the Government of Canada to increase the residency portion of the Northern Residents Deduction and to ensure that the residency portion be adjusted on an annual basis to an inflation index that reflects the cost of living in Canada’s Arctic.
The standing committee encourages the minister to pursue further enhancements to this benefit with his federal counterpart and notes the impact that such improvements would have in helping Nunavummiut address the high cost of living in the North.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s 2011-12 main estimates include $7.4 million in funding for the Nunavut Electricity Subsidy Program.
On a government-wide basis, the GN plans to spend approximately $33.4 million on utility costs in the next fiscal year.
Although the standing committee recognizes that any decisions concerning the Qulliq Energy Corporation’s General Rate Application will not be made until after the report of the Utility Rates Review Council has been submitted to the cabinet, it is important for the government to begin planning for the impact that any rate increases will have on its own expenditures.
According to the Government of Nunavut’s Energy Strategy, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on October 30, 2007, this fund is supposed to be managed by the Department of Finance.
However, the department’s business plan does not make any reference to the Affordable Energy Fund.
The standing committee recommends that the department’s future business plans provide significantly more detail on its activities in this area.
The policy states that “The GN believes that a cooperative approach to building infrastructure through public-private partnerships (P3) can be an appropriate, efficient and effective use of Nunavut’s resources to deliver services.”
On October 26, 2010, the Premier tabled in the Legislative Assembly a document titled Refined Direction from Cabinet Retreat 2010.
The document stated that one of the GN’s priorities is to “Explore financial partnerships (P3s and others) for major capital projects.”
However, the Department of Finance’s business plan does not make any reference to the GN’s P3 Policy.
The standing committee recommends that next year’s departmental business plan clarify the government’s intentions concerning the use of its P3 Policy.
Mr. Chairman, amendments were passed to the territorial Payroll Tax Act in 2006 to increase the GN’s payroll tax rate to 2 percent.
The government estimates that it will raise approximately $20.3 million in 2011-12 from the payroll tax.
The standing committee again recommends that the minister begin the practice of tabling an annual report in the Legislative Assembly on the administration of the Payroll Tax Act to account for such issues.
The government estimates that it will raise approximately $12.7 million in 2011-12 from tobacco taxes.
However, given the inelastic nature of demand for tobacco products, it is unclear if increases in tobacco taxes have actually had any impact on reducing smoking rates in Nunavut.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s proposed business plan again indicates that one of its priorities for 2011-12 is to “Improve forecasting and budgeting.
When this issue was raised during last year’s consideration of the department’s 2010-11 main estimates and business plan, the minister informed the House that he had no immediate plans to introduce the government’s annual main estimates and capital estimates at the same time during the annual budget cycle.
The standing committee urges the minister to formally clarify his intentions in this area.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening comments on the 2011-12 main estimates and business plan of the Department of Finance.
I suggest to members that wherever possible you ask your detailed questions during the page-by-page review of the departmental estimates. Are there any general comments?
Any member can have general comments.
If not, we will go to page C-4.
I can’t see.
My apologies, I forgot my reading glasses.
Thank you. $1,174,000.
Are there any comments? Do you agree?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Policy and Planning. (interpretation) Department of Finance.
C-5. $3,285,000. Are there any comments?
Financial Management. C-6. $2,821,000.
The total is $2,821,000. (interpretation ends) Comptrollership.
C-7. $16,045,000. (interpretation) Are there any comments?
Centrally Administered Funds. Department of Finance. $38,022,000. Are there any comments?
If there are no comments, do you agree?
We will go back to page C-3.
Detail of Expenditures. Department of Finance. Total Department. $61,347,000.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. Does the committee agree that the Department of Finance is concluded?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Again I thank the members for working with us for the last year in standing committees and other venues on fiscal updates. We got a lot of good feedback and suggestions. I hope we can continue to have your support in the Department of Finance as we go forward in these difficult times, as referenced in my Budget Address earlier this week.
I would like to express my appreciation to my colleagues for being here today as well. I would like to thank my officials who are here today. My soon-to-be ex-official, Mr. Ma, is going to go to the Department of Health soon, so this will be one of the few last times that he appears with me as the finance minister.
I would also like to thank all of our officials back in the Department of Finance here in Iqaluit and all of our officials and employees across Nunavut who work very hard every day to show that our finances continue to strengthen and we provide good services to all Nunavummiut.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much, Minister Peterson.
Sergeant-at-Arms, can you please escort the minister and his staff from the table, who we also thank for their time.
At the beginning of our committee meeting, we agreed that we would be dealing with the housing corporation, justice, and finance departments.
We wish to continue and commence the review of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation, the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, Nunavut Arctic College, and Human Resources.
Bill 01 – Appropriation (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2011-2012 – Consideration in Committee – Economic Development and Transportation
Minister of Economic Development and Transportation, do you have any opening comments?
Chairman (interpretation): Minister Taptuna, you may proceed with your opening comments.
I am pleased to appear before the Committee of the Whole to present the budget for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation for 2011-12.
I will use this opportunity to describe the changes proposed in next year’s main estimates and business plan and to outline some of our spending priorities.
Following my opening comments, I will be pleased to answer questions posed by my colleagues about the department’s proposed budget and program activities for 2011-12.
With me today are members of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s senior team. I will introduce them at the witness table and they will be assisting me in responding to your questions.
The total budget I am proposing for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s operations and maintenance in the 2011-12 fiscal year is $58,355,000.
The department’s budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year was $53,284,000.
Our budget for the coming year therefore represents a net increase of $5,071,000 from the current year’s budget.
These new funds will be directed to support two key Government of Nunavut priorities: Nunavut’s anti-poverty initiative and the maintenance of Nunavut’s air transportation infrastructure. The increases will be to four specific program areas as follows:
Increased funding for the Anti-Poverty Secretariat from $500,000 to $750,000. This will allow the secretariat to continue its work on the development of Nunavut’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.
An additional $1,707,000 will be allocated to a country food distribution system, including innovation in food storage technology, inter-settlement trade, and support for the distribution of country food within the community by place-based organizations.
This program will be managed by the Anti-Poverty Secretariat but will be built on partnerships with community organizations.
In the Transportation Branch, the department proposes important increases in the operations and maintenance budgets for both the Nunavut Airports Division and the Iqaluit International Airport Division.
These increases are identified in Nunavut’s Transportation Strategy and support the strategy’s first action item to “ensure adequate funding to support the existing transportation system.”
The budgets for airport operations and maintenance have not increased in recent years, despite Nunavut’s consistent economic and demographic growth.
The specific increases we propose are:
For the Nunavut Airports Division, an increase of $1,844,000 for the operations and maintenance of infrastructure in airports across Nunavut.
Airport operations and maintenance are delivered through contracts, usually by the local hamlet.
And finally, for Iqaluit International Airport, an increase of $1,270,000 is proposed.
The Iqaluit International Airport is Nunavut’s largest and busiest hub, and besides general operations and maintenance needs, it is subject to additional regulatory requirements.
There are also some minor changes we propose to make to current program funding within the 2011-12 main estimates.
However, these are reallocations of the department’s existing budget rather than increases to the budget.
An increase in the budget of the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation from $450,000 to $600,000.
The Nunavut Business Credit Corporation now has a Nunavut-based board and has appointed a permanent chief executive officer who is both a long-time Nunavut resident and a skilled financial manager.
Restoring funding for the Strategic Investments Program and the Arts and Crafts Development Program to original levels.
An increase in the Tourism Development Program, which funds the operation of Nunavut Tourism, from $1.6 million to $1.8 million.
The creation of the Tourism and Cultural Industries Division, which I will discuss later, required a reallocation of funds in the current fiscal year, but the budget we are proposing provides a good balance and reflects the department’s new focus on tourism.
Mr. Chairman, the department remains committed to the Government of Nunavut’s Tamapta Action Plan and our budget for 2011-12 focuses on three priority areas from the action plan.
The first of these priority areas is: “Reduce Poverty.”
As I mentioned, we propose an increased funding for the Anti-Poverty Secretariat to continue the development of Nunavut’s Poverty Reduction Strategy through public engagement, as well as allocating funds for the creation of a country food distribution system.
The department’s second key role in the Tamapta Action Plan is to “Increase support for culture and the arts,” which we accomplish through our administration of the Arts and Crafts Development Program and through support for Nunavut’s arts organizations, such as the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association and the Nunavut Film Development Corporation.
Finally, the department leads on the third Tamapta Action Plan priority: “Support community-based, sustainable economies.” Together with our business and community economic development programs, our support for community-based sustainable economies is guided by our sector strategies.
These strategies are Parnautit: the Nunavut Mineral Exploration and Mining Strategy; Sanaugait: A strategy for growth in Nunavut’s arts and crafts sector; and Ingirrasiliqta: the Nunavut Transportation Strategy.
In addition, as I reported last June, we now have a preliminary strategy for the tourism sector and we continue to work towards a comprehensive tourism strategy.
Besides the four program areas I mentioned earlier for which we propose new funding, the department’s business plan includes priorities for 2011-12 which will be funded out of our existing budget.
Completion of the consultation process for an initial draft of a comprehensive tourism strategy;
The Minerals and Petroleum Division will carry out year 2 of the carving stone evaluation project, following up on last summer’s work in the South Kivalliq.
This initiative combines the knowledge and expertise of both geologists and Inuit carvers to perform site assessments to help secure a reliable supply of stone for Nunavut’s carvers;
Another priority is the negotiation of development partnership agreements for the Mary River iron ore and Doris gold projects;
In the Transportation Branch, we will continue design work and exploring funding options for Iqaluit International Airport;
Also in transportation, the Motor Vehicles Division is working to identify a solution for Nunavut’s outdated motor vehicles information system.
In addition, the department continues to support of regional socio-economic monitoring committees, which bring together community representatives with representatives of mining companies, governments, and Inuit organizations to discuss the effects of major development projects.
While the Meadowbank mine near Baker Lake is the only operating mine in Nunavut, new projects are coming closer to production. The outlook for some of these new projects is good, particularly Mary River in North Baffin, Doris in the Kitikmeot, and Meliadine near Rankin Inlet, so the work of the socio-economic monitoring committees is increasingly important.
The department has undergone a significant restructure over the past year and this is now reflected in our business plan for 2011-12. These changes are three-fold:
The creation of Tourism and Cultural Industries Division mandated to focus on the development of Nunavut’s tourism industry and cultural industries, such as arts and crafts and performing arts.
This division is supporting the development of our Comprehensive Tourism Development Strategy, a project which is currently underway.
The creation of a business development section within the department’s directorate. This section provides critical support and advice on business development programs.
The creation of a South Qikiqtaaluk office in Pangnirtung to provide improved service to the communities in the Baffin region.
This office serves the communities of Pangnirtung, Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Sanikiluaq, Cape Dorset, and Qikiqtarjuaq, while the Pond Inlet office will continue to serve the communities of North Baffin.