HANSARD
NOVA
SCOTIA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO
REVIEW THE
ESTIMATES OF THE
OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR
GENERAL AND THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Tuesday,
March 5, 2013
Committee Room 1
Printed
and Published by Nova Scotia Hansard Reporting Services
SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO REVIEW
THE ESTIMATES
OF THE OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR
GENERAL AND THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Hon. Gordon Gosse (Chairman)
Hon. Frank Corbett
Ms. Pam Birdsall
Hon. Maurice Smith
Ms. Becky Kent
Hon. Michel Samson
Mr. Andrew Younger
Hon. Christopher d'Entremont
[Hon. Michel Samson was replaced by Ms. Kelly
Regan.]
In
Attendance:
Mr. Neil Ferguson
Chief Clerk
House of Assembly
Mr. Gordon Hebb
Chief Legislative Counsel
Ms. Annette Boucher
Assistant Clerk
House of Assembly
Ms. Deborah Lusby
Director of Administration
Office of the Speaker
HALIFAX, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013
SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE
ESTIMATES
OF THE OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL AND THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
3:00 P.M.
CHAIRMAN
Hon. Gordon Gosse
MR. CHAIRMAN: Good afternoon. I'd
like to call to order the meeting of the Special Committee of the House of
Assembly. On the agenda today, the first item is the review of the 2013-14
Estimates of the Auditor General's Office; and the second item for review will
be the 2013-14 Estimates of Elections Nova Scotia.
With no further delays, I will ask
the Chief Clerk to present the options.
MR. NEIL FERGUSON: Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. The first item on the agenda, as you said, is the Estimates of the
Auditor General for the upcoming year. The materials have all been circulated
to the committee but I'll just sum up the three options that they ended with.
Option 1 represents no change in the 2012-13
budget. However, cost-of-living and pay-for-performance salary increases would
require staffing reductions that would result in the loss of 1.5 staff
full-time equivalents and, therefore, one less performance or IT audit.
Option 2 represents the funds needed
to maintain the status quo of the AG's service, and in order to keep current
staff levels and the numbers of audits that they have been performing, to do
that they would need an additional $82,800 to offset the mandated
cost-of-living and pay-for-performance increases.
Finally, the third option they
outline represents an increase of three audits annually, which would
necessitate adding four staff members and increasing the budget by $379,800.
The various options are set out in a
table on Page 5 of the materials provided. The Auditor General's Office is
recommending that the committee approve and recommend to the Treasury Board,
Option 2, which maintains the current staffing and service levels. That's the
summary of the options.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Now
everybody on the committee has heard the options, so do I have a motion from
somebody on the committee that we select Option 1, 2 or 3?
MS. PAM BIRDSALL: I so move that we
accept Option 2.
MR. ANDREW YOUNGER: I'll second the
motion.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay, moved by Ms.
Birdsall and seconded by Mr. Younger.
Would all those in favour of the motion please
say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Moving right on with the agenda now
is the review of the 2013-14 Estimates of Elections Nova Scotia. I will now ask
the Chief Clerk to read those options.
MR. FERGUSON: The Chief Electoral
Officer has also provided the committee with three alternatives. They are set
out in the materials. Alternative 1 would see operations and staff levels
remaining consistent with the current funding; Alternative 2, increased
operations in areas of training and staff development; and Alternative 3 would
see a 3 per cent reduction in operating costs, excluding the registered party
funding. The risk of Alternative 3, they state, is that the plan includes fewer
returning office staff trained and that greatly increases the probability of
less effectively run elections.
The three funding alternatives are
set out in Exhibit 2 and the recommendation from the Chief Electoral Office is
that the committee approve and recommend to the Treasury Board, Alternative 1 -
a budget of $3.427 million, which funds constant staffing levels and an
election-ready team.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Now hearing all the
options, I look for a motion for Elections Nova Scotia for Alternative 1, 2 or
3. Mr. Smith.
HON. MAURICE SMITH: I so move the
adoption of Alternative 1.
HON.
CHRISTOPHER D'ENTREMONT: I'll second the motion.
MR.
CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary
minded, Nay.
The motion
is carried.
I
would like to thank everybody for showing up today for such a short meeting and
getting the business done. We now stand adjourned.
[The
committee adjourned at 3:05 p.m.]