Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is simply an amount that allows us to ensure that the existing infrastructure that we have -- technological infrastructure we have remains current. There are a number of assets that come due for support and that are -- whether that's servers, the networks, storage, telecommunications, all of which, I think -- you know, I don't want to presuppose or assume, but technology changes very quickly. It changes quickly on a government scale as well and so this provides us the ability to maintain some currency within that space by using this project budget. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And -- doesn't help. Mr. Chair, I was -- I'm looking at a blank page. Can I turn that to the deputy minister, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of Finance. And on my right, Dave Heffernan, the government's chief information officer.

No, thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, nobody likes a short answer of one that just says no, but unfortunately this instance the short answer is no. The supplementary estimates are -- they come forward as having been gone through the financial management board to bring about issues or things that arise. One example is the collective agreement that was finalized, so this comes forward to bring a couple of collective agreements in. And I have to obviously comply with the collective agreement. Another major item in there was fire suppression funding. We have to pay the bill for our fire suppression funding. Another big...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This certainly is a challenge. It's a challenge across industry. But given the situation we're in, we are trying to bring in more licensed drivers. Some of that backlog, I will say, you know, a bit of a plug for folks who are looking to get their licenses as new drivers, if they want to take a driver's course first, that might reduce the number of repeat customers that we have over at the DMV. But with respect to those that are looking to be professional drivers, that's a different category. They're struggling with the same issue in that we have the same limited number...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is precisely what I was speaking to. But if I may, I might suggest having the chief information officer just speak to that a little bit further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can confirm on behalf of the department that someone's going to be there. There's no question that some senior representatives from the department can go. I want to just double check my own calendar. I've got commitments already to -- a couple of other regions where I've been waiting to get to. So certainly best efforts on my part. I'm always happy to go back. I've been to Norman Wells here a couple of times already in this government. Happy to go back. If I can't be there in person, I'll certainly make sure that I'm available in some other means. But I also wouldn't...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I actually have to say I was wondering if the question would be more around the waste that's created by electronic devices, but -- so, again, I can say, look, I appreciate that, bringing attention to this particular item, you know, maybe when we go back and we look a little more carefully, if there's some element that we still want to consider when we are putting forward the substantiation but, you know, again, the essential nature of having this basic equipment to run the government I don't think is lost but justa making sure we are turning our minds to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I mean, obviously every element of the budget does at some point come through the department of -- well, sorry, not the department of FMB but through the FMB. But this is an item that is a standing -- I guess a standing element sort of its own pot. It doesn't necessarily, quite frankly -- I mean, what we're dealing with is -- just to put some numbers to it, 7,000 different devices for all staff which, you know, 6,000 plus public servants, offices across 33 communities, some of which are on fibre, some of which are still on microwave, so an allocation of $1.95...