Caroline Wawzonek

Yes, Mr. Chair. And I say that only in that I haven't actually -- I don't know if it's been updated. I know the documents were all filed publicly but if it hasn't been, it will. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Briefly, Mr. Chair, I am here to present Tabled Document 278-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2024-2025. This document proposes a total increase of $3.064 million comprised of the following items:

$2.551 million of funding to complete Phase 1 of the Prohibition Creek Access Road. This funding is partially offset by revenues received from the Government of Canada;

$1.17 million in transfers from the 2024-2025 operations appropriation to this infrastructure appropriation for the purchase of vehicles across multiple departments;

A...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the PUB is already doing their work. The proposal is seeking to bring down the proposed rate increase to a number that is lower than the 24 percent that would, you know, bring the number -- bring the final estimate down. Yes, I guess if the Member wants to check the math and doesn't like the decision that was made to bring it to this number, I'm not in a position to say whether we should defer or not. I obviously prefer to not defer this decision. I would obviously prefer to see that this is done so that the letter can go to the PUB to confirm that will, in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, so, Mr. Chair, I heard subsidies directed to the consumer, so that's the numbers I was sort of running through. There's also, of course, supports that the government provides to keep the cost of energy infrastructure reduced. So, for example, the Inuvik wind project, wind and battery project, and the Taltson upgrade project collectively were also -- came in at around $80 million and by subsidizing -- so, yes, we're subsidizing in that case the infrastructure by doing so, otherwise that would then have to be paid by the ratepayers according to the public utilities...

Mr. Speaker, only one side of this House is talking about cuts. The government is not talking about widespread rampant cuts. What we have talked about is having a budget that is providing stability. Beyond -- I won't get into the details of it because that's one of the rules of the House the public may not be familiar with, that we don't talk about things that are still going through the processes of the committee that happen on the floor later today. But, Mr. Speaker, Restoring Balance is about just that. It's about restoring balance. It's not about cutting things when we don't need to or...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, that's not my understanding. So we did file -- or the Northwest Territories Power Corporation did file its rate application in time for October 30th, and by that point were able to sort of notify or say that there would be a subsidy included. A formal letter then gets issued ultimately from the Department of Finance, from my office, to confirm that the subsidy has been approved. So they're aware that it has been proposed and hopefully coming and not my understanding that it's held up. There's quite a lot that's involved. It's, you know, many hundreds of pages of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is, indeed, relating to the school funding framework requirements and -- so, yes, there's an increase in this case -- yes, I'm definitely not going to be the right Minister to necessarily get into explaining exactly how that calculation gets made. But there is -- the good news is that yes, indeed, it does tend to be impacted by determination of attendance or a determinance of the number of students that are attending, and it gets adjusted in the year because our fiscal year and their school year don't necessarily quite align. But in this case, we did -- yes -- sorry...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: 2025-2026 Main Estimates and 2025-2026 Business Plan Update. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I receive a regular weekly report on what's been delivered, and I'm more than happy to make sure I do try to send that out to MLAs but I will, again, certainly make my best efforts to do that now.

As far as the schedule of deliveries, I'm certainly quite happy to ask that the department try to do that. I also am receiving the one from Imperial. With respect to the ones from fuel services division, the same folks typically that are actually doing the resupply would then be the ones having to issue out the schedule so there, at times, might be some delays...

Mr. Speaker, again, I'm not sure who all is here, but I know that Gayla Thunstrom, the UNW president was here and she also happens to be a Yellowknife South resident. Also representing Yellowknife South here today, Mr. Speaker, North Slave Metis Alliance president Marc Whitford, and I'm very proud to say he is a resident of Yellowknife South. Thank you.