EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
As Premier I do have the authority to make appointments for Deputy Ministers, so it is very useful for me to assess candidates for the Deputy Minister level at the ADM level.
So it serves a very useful function, for my office in evaluating succession plans for Deputy Ministers that may be needed.
So that's what the main function is.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the clarification there.
I know last year I was asking some questions to I believe it was the Minister responsible at the time for Community Government & Transportation in regards to the relocation of a ADM. As I now know any questions in the future regarding relocations like that will now be directed to the Premier.
So I am glad to have that clarified and I wish I had known that last year.
We are under the main estimates.
General comments and questions were dealt with already.
Mr. Premier do you want to respond to that.
This was not really a question it was more of a comment.
So I will just wait until, if he asks me questions at any further time I will answer.
Mr. Chairman, on a different topic under directorate, it has listed 354 thousand dollars under contract services as opposed to 95 thousand dollars last year.
I am just wondering if the Premier could indicate what those services would encompass.
Last year it was 95 thousand.
Yes, from what I understand it has gone up from last year.
The main reason is that we have assumed setting up the new Power Corporation, NPC and a lot of that has been contracted, and setting up the Nunavut Public Utilities Board, which will be approximately 340 thousand.
We have assumed the role of training ADMs which was not in last year's budget.
So those are some of the reasons for this increase.
Mr. Chairman, we talked about the dollars for the Nunavut Power Corporation, I think that is under another item, under another division in there.
So I was just wondering for the contract services under the directorate, what those would entail.
I am just wondering if that 354 thousand does cover the money for the Nunavut Utilities Board and what else would be included there somewhere else in another division and the training of the ADMs are the other two that were mentioned.
Hon. Paul Okalik: At least 300 thousand dollars is for the Public Utilities Board.
What we would like to do is do a review of the functions of the Public Utilities Board.
Right now its sole function is to review power rates and perhaps we can expand the role of the Utilities Board to include for example fuel prices.
So those areas where there is a monopoly in place.
So we would like to do a thorough review this year to see how we can do a proper review of prices for utilities.
My colleague Hunter Tootoo raised a good point in regards to Assistant Deputy Ministers and Deputy Ministers and the relocation fees and budgets.
As the Premier, we know that our ADMs have varied experience and so do our Deputy Ministers.
It's a known fact now with decentralization is going ahead and your commitment to it is there.
We know that we are going to have decentralized departments in various communities, such as Igloolik, Pond Inlet, Cape Dorset, Baker Lake, Arviat and other communities like that.
Would you consider moving Assistant Deputy Ministers into these communities on sort of like a three to six month period to learn what it is like and to really have a feel for the departments.
Because you have the headquarters function for education in Arviat, and it would be nice to see the ADM and the Deputy Minister even go down there to spend three to four months to see how the operation is working.
Has our government thought about temporary relocations of ADMs and DMs out of the capital and into the decentralized communities.
Hon. Paul Okalik: Yes, we have considered the issue of perhaps sending a Deputy Minister to a decentralized community for a month or a year.
So that's been discussed and I am sure that we can explore those options further.
I know that we have at least two or three ADMs right now in the decentralized communities.
However, we have to weigh those carefully but I am sure that we can consider Deputy Minister or ADM level being relocated for a period of time.
At this time I have no more names.
Operations and maintenance, 1 million 798 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total expenditures, 1 million 798 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Page 2 – 5.
Operations and maintenance, Executive & Intergovernmental Affairs, communications, policy and planning, branch summary, operations and maintenance.
Total operations and maintenance, 1 million 222 thousand.
Mr. Chairman, I am not sure if this question was asked earlier during general comments.
I am just wondering if the department or the government has or is developing a communications strategy. I know that there has been a number of issues that have been debated in this House over the last year that I think everyone probably admits could have been handled a little bit more efficiently than they were.
So I am just wondering if there are plans for developing some type of a communications strategy so that not only members but to make the general public aware of some of the issues that the government is planning on doing.
Yes I totally agree.
One area that we have been lacking a bit is in communications and it will hopefully improve.
We are trying to hire an additional staff person for the communications department.
To date what we have done is sent all releases, government releases to Hamlet offices, and have provided pamphlets to each community on government initiatives, the major initiatives and we have done radio broadcasts.
There are always ways of improving the system and that is one of the things that will be on the agenda for our upcoming retreat is how we can improve our services there.
So hopefully we will staff it up soon and we can start making real progress in that department.
Mr. Chairman, again in this area under contract services there is 310 thousand dollars.
I am just wondering, it is down from 365 thousand last year and I am just wondering what types of services would be contracted under this item.
Yes, we produce pamphlets, brochures through the communications office, so we contract those services out.
You may remember the Bathurst Mandate for example, and the brochures that we released.
So it is for those types of printing costs that are associated with releasing those types of documents.
They say that they will be working with the people of Nunavut and the other governments in regards to producing communications throughout the Nunavut region.
It just seems like the communication they want to work on is the law is being broken or they are not following their mandate by having a different time zone.
In reading that communications policy and planning it doesn't seem to be true because it seems to be the opposite when they have a different time zone.
I have heard that recently something to do with the time change that some hamlets have a by-law and although they have a by-law that they have to follow the wishes of the Nunavut Government.
I couldn't understand the reasoning behind that.
I just wondered what the minister is going to do in this regard.
Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): We are still dealing with the time change or different time zone.
I am not sure exactly how I should respond to the questions or comments made by the member.
We will be reviewing the time change before fall comes about and we are looking into what we are going to do in regards to the time change.
At the appropriate time I will be reporting to the members of this House.
I do not think a question should be appropriately asked about time change on this page, but we have a commitment from the Premier that this time change will be reviewed again by the Premier's department.
I was just using the time change as an example because there have been some problems in the communities and those problems have to be resolved.
Are we just going to go ahead and do what the Nunavut Government wants us to do or do we have a chance to have a better system.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Premier.
Hopefully we will moving in the direction of a better system.
There will be the law review committee visiting the communities and they will be hearing from the public if there are any problems then they will have that law review committee and they can inform us in turn.
Like I said before I want to be able to have people in the communities that can collect data as to what they think about the government as a whole.
Those are the types of people that can help us in the future.
Maybe because I found it so clear, I think there is a particular word the Premier uses in Inuktitut and I believe Mr. Alakannuark can give us the true definition.
If I touched Mr. Alakannuark and it surprised him then that’s what it would mean when you use the qaujialak.
I think that you should use a different word because the people out there are watching.
Chairperson (interpretation): At this time we are in the main estimates we are not talking about the terms or the terminology as long as the people out there understand then it is okay.
I do not believe that you should be talking about terminology or various dialects and so on.
We have different dialects and I would like you to know that and if you would stick to the issue at hand.
The people out there, the people of Nunavut know the meaning of the world qaujialak so I just did not want people to misunderstand.
In regards to communications, we have to have some effective programs or implementations in there if the people are going to be aware of what the Nunavut Government is doing.
My question is, in the contributions for the year 1999/2000 there is some money set aside for contributions and then in the year 2000/2001 there is nothing.
The 150 thousand was set aside last year to provide funding for the Territorial Municipal Leadership Forums.
There is going to be a Nunavut Municipal Association meeting next week.
We have transferred this now to the Community Government & Transportation department and it is no longer under our portfolio.
Thank you for that response.
So for the year 2000/2001 you stated they will be used for territorial and municipal forums.
Does that mean that there will be less municipal/territorial forums this coming year.
We just moved that over to Community Government and Transportation.
There is still money set aside for such forums.
Chairperson Thank you Mr. Premier.
I do not have any other names on my list.
We are in the main estimates.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total expenditures, 1 million 222 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Turning to the next page 2-6, Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, communications policy and planing summary.
Again, I am asking a question on contract services.
It is the 115 thousand dollars, which is up from 35 thousand dollars from last year.
I just want to ask the Premier why it is up and what types of services are being contracted in that area.
I do not have such a line item on my page we are on.
We are on page 2-6.
Sorry that is on 2-7 so I will just wait until we get to that page.
On page 2-6, I do not understand the word that is in the Inuktitut translation.
I did not understand his question.
If he would clarify his question please.
Mr. Alakannuark (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Premier it is in the Inuktitut.
Chairperson: Mr. Okalik.
It says hamlet.
It is in the dialect of the translator.
Communication policy, turning over, Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, evaluation and statistical services.
Branch summary, operations and maintenance.
Total operations and maintenance 521 thousand.
I am finally on the right page.
I would just like to ask about the contract services of 115 thousand up from 35 thousand.
Why is there an increase and what types of services are being contracted back in this division.
Hon. Paul Okalik: The contracting services last year we anticipated staffing the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics but instead of having the position we will be contracting that service out.
We have been contracting with the GNWT for example for statistics in the past.
We will be using it also for auditing purposes with contractors. Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, the Premier indicated they were looking at auditing, the auditing function being contracted out.
What type of auditing is he referring to.
The main role of auditing is not an audit for financial purposes it is to evaluate how our programs and policies government wide are improving the situation for the people of Nunavut. So it is to evaluate and assess our programs for the people of Nunavut.
So it is not a financial audit but more of an audit to measure the progress we are making as a government.
I guess that is two areas in there that are being contracted out and I am just wondering if the Premier or his staff have a breakdown of how much has been allocated for each of those areas for that 115 thousand dollars.
I will get Anne Crawford to answer this question.
Ms. Crawford.
Ms. Crawford: There are probably about four changes that are going on between PYs and contracting services.
They are all reflected in these changes, we were contracting a lot of statistics services from Yellowknife last year.
Those have been reduced and put into PY's in the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics.
So this year we will only be contracting about 15 thousand dollars in the statistics portion.
In the audit which is a value for money audit, what were previously person years have been put into contract dollars so we can do a series of contracts in terms of value for money in terms of the Nunavut Government and program responsibilities.
At the same time last year audit evaluation statistics were underfunded because we were still not doing all the functions that we'd like to do.
So at the same time some of the functions have been supplemented.
All those things move up and down and each one has either pushed up or pushed down the contracting and the PYs and the salaries.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Ms. Crawford.
Mr. Chairman, I take it if we are contracting back statistical services for 15 thousand dollars then 100 thousand dollars is going to be contracted out for the audit function.
Ms. Crawford had indicated they have taken PY dollars and allocated them for contracts.
I just wonder why.
Wouldn't it be more beneficial to have our own people than have people hired to do that in the long run than hiring consultants to do that type of work.
So I am just wondering why they have chosen to go that route.
Ms. Crawford: We have retained one PY as a manager for the audit services both in the audit and the evaluations.
The feeling is that an evaluation of any program is going to be different each year.
So a series of programs that will be evaluated in any given year and the skills to evaluate that program are going to be very different and it is unlikely that we would be able to hire a big enough group of specialists that would have all those skills.
Therefore, it would be a better use of our money to be able to retain the specific skills that we need for a specific program evaluation, while having a manager on board to overlook the whole program.
I apologise for saying your name wrong.
Just to clarify then.
Basically the initial structure of the department when it was set up, I don't know whether it would have been through the design of the initial set up outlined in Footprints 2 or whatever allocated that. This is just a change that better suits or reflect the actual requirement or needs of the department.
I am just wondering if that is the change what was handed down from us as a government to something that we can use and work functionally with.
Ms Crawford.
Ms. Crawford: That is what we hope to achieve with those changes.
Getting back to the main estimates, total operations and maintenance, under 2.7, 521 thousand.
Chairperson: (interpretation): Total expenditures, 521 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Under 2-8, 2000/2001 main estimates, Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, branch summary, operations and maintenance.
Total operations and maintenance, 837 thousand.
Here again I just want some clarification of what types of contract services are being offered there.
I know it is a small amount of 40 thousand dollars but I am just curious.
Hon. Paul Okalik: Last year we had under funded this position, it is out of Ottawa and we used the Commisionaires services which are war veterans that provide services for us like secretarial work so it is bringing up to the level it should be at.
So 40 thousand is for the Commisionaires services of our Ottawa office.
Total expenditures, 837 thousand.
I do not know how to ask these questions but under other expenses I just wondered why in 1999 there is a difference in the figures from 99 to 2000/2001.
The reason why that was increased was that the people doing our work for us did not get enough money.
It is the same thing but the only increase is that 15 thousand dollars because they are doing some contract work for us in Ottawa.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total expenditures, 837 thousand. Agreed.
Chairperson (interpretation): Turning the page, 2-9.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, branch summary.
I just want to get some clarification on this page.
It mentions the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.
Is that the contribution to the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.
I just wanted to get that clarification.
It is just part of the contribution that we give to the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference receives some grants and contributions from other sources and as the Nunavut Government we support the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and they will be getting an office based here in Nunavut this year.
We are giving this contribution to the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.
Getting back to the main estimates.
Intergovernmental affairs, Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, branch summary.
Some Members: Agreed.  Chairperson (interpretation): Page 2-10.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, Commissioner of Nunavut, branch summary, operations and maintenance. Total O&M 155 thousand.
Mr. Chairman, the same question again there is 33 thousand dollars up from 5.
I am just wondering what kinds of services are contracted back in this area.
Hon. Paul Okalik: The 33 thousand dollars is our portion of the payment towards the house of the commissioner.
The Federal Government pays for the other half so the Housing Corporation, the Nunavut Housing Corporation has recently purchased a house and we are paying it down.
It is a down payment with half being paid by the federal government.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you Mr Premier.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): My question was asked already so thank you Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Alakannuark (interpretation): Thank you Mr. Chairman but that was the same question that I had too.
I do not have any more questions.
I guess many members had that same question.
Total operations and maintenance, 155 thousand. Agreed.
Some Members: Agreed.  Chairperson (interpretation): Total expenditures 155 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Turning the page, 2-11.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, Nunavut Power Corporation Implementation Secretariat, branch summary.
Total operations and maintenance, 2 million 600 thousand.
Mr. Chairman I know there is under a million dollar or just over 900 thousand for contract services related to Nunavut Power Corporation.
Are those going to be services that we are contracting back the continuance of the Power Corporation or is that separate thing. I am just wondering again what types of services that are being contracted.
I am just wondering if they refer to the Power Corporation or to consultants to set up our own Corporation.
Mr. Premier Okalik.
This has been the job of Mr. Picco.
Perhaps if Mr. Picco can respond to that question.
The Minister responsible for Nunavut Power Corporation Mr. Picco.
Mr. Chairman unlike the government which contracts back work to the GNWT department.
The Power Corporation is a crown corporation at arms length with the government.
Therefore, unless the contract Mr. Tootoo is asking about is not specific to contracting back to the GNWT and indeed to the NWT power corporation because at the same time we are still owners of the power corporation NTPC.
We are still minority of that.
The contract monies that Mr. Tootoo is asking about in the large part my understanding is that is from the Ikuma working group.
This was a group formed almost a year ago to give advise on technical, logistic as well as administration advise to me as the Minister responsible for the power corporation to look at the transition agreement in setting up our own power corporation.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Picco.
Turning on to this page.
Total operations & maintenance.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total expenditures 2 million, 600 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): 2-12.
Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs branch summery.
Decentralisation Secretariat.
Total operations & maintenance. 567 thousand.
The 52 thousand dollars for operations & maintenance is that for decentralisation travel money.
Yes, this is for the travel money for the decentralisation.
Leona Aglukark will be travelling to the communities and she will be travelling this coming summer.
Is that just for travel expenses for your staff or is it for decentralisation travel.
The money is from my department and it is for staff visiting to the communities.
However, there is more funding available about 3 million dollars for the decentralised staff.
In fairness. I am not showing any division in there.
There is money in there for contract services.
However small it is. I am just wondering what types of services are being contracted here.
Hon. Paul Okalik: We are getting better as we go along because we are prepared now.
It is for contracting services for office space and office equipment like printers, photocopiers.
So it is for those purposes that we will be using over the next year.
Thank you, for saying my name properly I guess you have been practising over the days.
My question is in regards to the decentralised positions and the increased population in those decentralised communities.
As for implementing this plan my question is whether the facilities or the infrastructure in those communities will keep up with the demand and would the increase population.
Do you factor in the possible affects of the increasing population or do you talk to community leaders.
For example the Hamlet Councils whether they are going to keep up with the demand of the population.
I am asking this question if we are looking at the whole picture.
Whether you are not bringing those positions to communities but also keeping up with the demands and needs of the community.
I think that is part of Mr. Anawak’s portfolio.
Mr. Premier if you would like to respond to that.
I can say that even before we became a government this was factored in by the Federal Government and they gave us infrastructure dollars that would be used for the communities.
For example, the larger communities were going to be given additional funds to purchase fire trucks for example.
That was part of the infrastructure program.
We have not done any planning on that aspect but the Community Government & Transportation was going to be looking into this issue and we have set aside some money so we can do a study.
We are on the details Mr. Puqiqnak.
Mr. Puqiqnak (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman for giving the opportunity to ask questions.
In regards to decentralisation. Since Community Government & Transportation and Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs people are working on this together. There are some positions that were moved to my community.
I have seen the increase population but I do not see any new dollars that would be used to meet the needs of the people in my community.
I can say that we will be looking into it.
We will be looking all the Nunavut communities and also the ones that will be affected by the decentralisation plan but of course we will look at all the Nunavut communities. Look at where the needs are and what kind of support they require.
One thing that we have been working mainly on is to set up offices and we would like to get local hire.