Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Mr. Chair, we don't -- we don't want to lowball. And if anything, Mr. Chair, I would note, and folks should be aware, that, you know, there's a disproportionate impact on Indigenous residents of -- well, Indigenous Canadians and therefore a significant impact on Northerners with 50 percent Indigenous population as they have statistically faced higher and more -- higher risk of more serious COVID impacts. And so in this case, the doses were ordered in such a manner as to meet the public health recommendations of who should be prioritized of receiving them. And in this...

Thank You Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this funding is going to support a territory-wide program. So I don't know that I have the exact number of schools here but it is for all JK to 12 schools in the Northwest Territories to ensure that there's supports both for testing, for immediate remediation measures for fixtures found in -- fixtures and fountains, and also provision of alternate drinking sources while those measures are being undertaken. Thank you.

Sorry, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if I can get the Member to repeat the question, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, excellent question. That amount was not the cost driver on this particular request. I mean, that -- the amounts there -- I don't have that exact amount here, but that wasn't one that was of a sufficient nature to result in this request. This request is entirely because federal funding ended for COVID vaccines in 2024-2025 which meant that for the coming year for that -- for this 2025-2026 year, GNWT had to purchase their own vaccines. And so they went through the process of updating eligibility recommendations, running a diagnostic of what would be anticipated...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't necessarily have detail as to what sped it up. I'd be more than happy to report that back to the House. I take it from the tone of the question it certainly wouldn't hold up moving this through, but don't disagree with that. So can certainly -- I will say one thing is largely around with respect to mobilization and may well be in part as a result of just some of the mobilization costs and managing to streamline those. But, again, happy to perhaps report that in some more detail and I share the -- I share the view. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Mr. Chair, there was challenges on this contract, if I recall, last year as well, and so the negotiations that went on over a fairly extended period of time last year -- sorry, well, I guess a year more than last year ago, there was effort undertaken to actually see what the actuals were in the course of a year because it was, you know, brought to our attention that the contract authority was not able to perform the services required at the cost that they had. So the -- yeah, and so with that, we entered into the negotiations together with in hand what the 2024-2025...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So up to this point, the homelessness and the homelessness strategy that was developed in the last government and moved into this government resided initially in EIA and was a combination of staff, but not necessarily creating staff that was singularly responsible. As it's transitioned and coming to a point where implementation is reaching, you know, further down the process of implementation and moved into housing, the establishment -- excuse me, the establishment of the homelessness division now is getting dedicated staff. So if I recall, there was one staff previously...

Yes, please, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It certainly would not be acceptable that there's running deficits in general. The hope, of course, is that there's not a running deficit and that much as it was initially set up to do, that the report airport revolving fund can ultimately become self-sustaining. The last several years have had a number of different challenges and not the least of which first was although the airport was on a trajectory of receiving a high number -- high volume in terms of passengers and flights, COVID-19 shut everything down there, relatively speaking. And then the 2023 wildfire...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So that work is actively underway right now to make the determination between both ECC, who are responsible for the fire suppression directly, but also MACA who would have a role in terms of emergency systems and emergency planning. It does take a bit of time. The federal system is fairly particular about what they expect and the reporting that they expect. And so I don't have that number right now but certainly would, of course, be reporting it in to the House when it is available, Mr. Chair. And certainly to temper expectations, it is not all of this money that would...