Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Boot Lake, that Bill 95, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 20232024, be read for the second time.

This bill makes supplementary appropriations for infrastructure expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 20232024fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 95, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 20232024, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of good news for United Way today. Obviously, the announcement has gone out from the federal government that they'll be watching donations. We're likely looking at over a million dollars going into the United Way all in the space of less than a month. That is fantastic news. So folks are aware. The United Way works with communities, community governments, local organizations, nonprofit organizations, and then disburses funds to them. So two parts to my message is, number one, if you have a cost and expense and need a concern, that you need some supports with, to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I can now confirm that indeed there is a phone number. The contact number is now noted online. The application form is actively being updated as I'd indicated it would be yesterday. The message has gone out to the MLAs of the ridings, or will this morning, with that information.

As I said yesterday, this is a role that public servants weren't occupying just a couple of weeks ago so, you know, I appreciate some patience from folks, but those numbers are there now directly so that people can contact. They'll be going to the manager of financial operations...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, dealing with land leases obviously, I know the Member is well aware, is primarily the responsibility of now ECC. The Department of Finance certainly works with other departments but we really are, essentially, just the financial agent in that respect. So I can't pause the accounts of going out on my own, we would be relying on government policy to do that, and I know that work is happening right now over at ECC. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I was hoping to do some brief closing remarks, largely for the sake of ensuring that the purposes here are clear to the members of the public, so if I may, with that, Madam Chair, we are indeed seeking some supplementary funding for infrastructure expenditures in the amount of $124.5 million. This will bring total proposed expenditures for 20232024 to $462.146 million. As I outlined in Committee of the Whole yesterday, the additional numbers are mainly comprising capital carryovers.

Madam Chair, the GNWT does intentionally budget an amount above what we are...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 92, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, No. 3; Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 (April 1st to December 31st, 2022); and, Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 (April 1st, 2022 to March 31st, 2023). Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the public reporting, performance measures really are a part of well, there's a number of places where it would come in. They're a part of the work that Finance does in preparing the main estimates that's in the budget papers that are presented as part of those main estimates. It is often part of reporting that takes place when we're doing budget dialogues to help orient participants to what's going on in our fiscal picture. We certainly also are reporting on the provisions when we report in the public accounts. And, really, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this was certainly an interesting opportunity between the committee and the Department of Finance. We wouldn't necessarily, on the regular practice, certainly in the past, have sent a what is a financial management policy, an internal policy with internal application, for comment and review, but we did do so in this case, and I I don't know that I would say that everything was rejected. I've looked again back at some of the detailed responses provided, both from committee to department and from the department back. Just because, you know, the exact wording...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just days ago the Member from the affected region came and said why don't we ask for banking information right upfront on the page; it'll save an extra step when someone is deemed eligible. We have already made that change, Mr. Speaker. The new forms are now already on the website so things can change quickly. This issue of the need of having a contact point was raised today, and I can already assure the Member if he hasn't directly received a response from me, it's probably only because I've been in the House. So he will have that information before he...