Caroline Wawzonek

Pretty quiet whispers, Mr. Speaker. I don't think I've heard anyone whispering those words. Sales tax at this point would obviously have a pretty significant cost increase to individuals and residents. We are already finding that the cost of living anecdotally people say all the time the cost of living is very high. And the recent years and a number of challenges we faced have only made those challenges worse for everyone. So there's no whispers of a sales tax at this point, Mr. Speaker. We're going to have to see what we can do with the government to make sure that we're best utilizing our...

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is based at this moment on the agreement as it stands with Canada. I can't speak to what discussions or whether discussions are ongoing with education, culture and employment but just that at this point this is based on the agreement as it is. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, accounts receivable, March of last year, which would be the last time that it comes out with an actual, was at around $131 million. And of that, there is a significant amount that is due to the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority. There is ongoing work happening within the authority to make sure that they are billing back timely. So every time someone from outside of territory with a different health care card is in the territory, that does create, for example, an accounts receivable balance. And as I said, I know they are alive to it...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, Bill MacKay is the deputy minister of the Department of Finance. And on my right, Terence Courtoreille is the deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board.

Mr. Speaker, secure, affordable, and sustainable that is the vision for energy in the Northwest Territories outlined in the 2030 Energy Strategy, a vision for an energy system that is less dependent on fossil fuels and that contributes to the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of the Northwest Territories and its residents.

Since the energy strategy was released in 2018, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the entire territory have made positive strides in realizing that vision. The progress made on the energy strategy is detailed in the 20222023 Energy Initiatives...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm happy to be presenting this afternoon Tabled Document 1320(1): Interim Estimates, (Operations Expenditures) , April 1st to June 30th, 2024, for the Government of the Northwest Territories. The interim estimates will allow public services to continue to be provided until the main estimates for the fiscal year have been fully debated and approved by the Legislative Assembly.

The estimates propose a total appropriation of $782 million for operations between April 1st and June 30th, 2024, and $1.3 billion in borrowing for the GNWT for the 20242025 fiscal year.

T...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a number of different conversations happening both between the Government of the Northwest Territories as well as the Northwest Territories Power Corporation along with the Tlicho government. I make note, firstly, that we were all at Roundup together recently, both the Department of Infrastructure and, I think for the first time ever, the CEO of the power corporation also has attended, as did representatives of the Tlicho government, including the grand chief, and it was a very good opportunity to, I think, begin to advance some of these discussions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Yukon and Nunavut are under, long before we did, many, many years ago created their systems with the federal system. At this point, we would come in under the federal system much like Alberta and Manitoba and others did when the last round of changes came through. So, and I wouldn't I mean, I can certainly provide a more detailed comparison between the Yukon system and ours and between Nunavut's system and ours. There's differences in terms of the rebates that go to individuals. There's differences in the rebates that go to businesses, including...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's quite a bit of work underway already with respect, as I've said, to different phases of the project to the extent that they're known. So, again, planning study that was completed with the TlichoKiewit partnership, that was completed already in 2023. So, again, that does suggest that there is a good working relationship in existence. There does need to be some further conversation with that partnership in order to determine what the next steps would be based on their planning study. But phase 1 is where we would get to a point of having a more shovel...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could tell you that I've got some notes. They're in a paragraph, and that's not going to be a good way for me to answer a question on the floor of the House trying to get numbers like this. But certainly I can give a general and I certainly don't want to miss out on the amount of money that's been secured. That's my bigger concern here. There's been money that's going back to 2022 that has already been that's already been secured. We are working with the Tlicho/Kiewit partnership. They are doing planning studies. And so at this point, the project is...