Caroline Wawzonek

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. Mr. Speaker, I don't know the per kilometer cost of the winter road offhand. I certainly can get that. There's different costs for some of the different roads as well, so I'll make sure that I'm getting the one for that stretch, and I'll commit to get that back to the Member here quickly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the current Territorial Health Investment Fund goes until March 31st, and the -- it does support work in a number of different areas with respect specifically to -- there's -- this one -- yes, this one goes until 2028, and that's -- so that would be the timeline for the health care system sustainability unit. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of finance. And on my right Mandi Bolstad, deputy secretary to the financial management board.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is firstly a shared initiative between different departments and one where we've -- although Infrastructure has been the lead under the element of being an energy -- the energy lead, ECC and ITI are both also engaged from the GNWT's perspective. One of the critical steps that we had to undertake was to ensure that we were properly engaged in aligning with priorities from the Council of Leaders and meeting therefore with IGOs and, indeed, the next step, I'm told and, in fact, is to take the -- what we've got from this group now to industry, and I expect...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, yes, it is being pursued. However, the circumstance that we found ourselves in, as the weather was starting to turn and as the location where some individuals were had been using as an encampment had another purpose assigned to it, namely, for public housing, a situation -- or a solution had to be found more quickly. So, again, another shout-out, really, to the non-profit sector for working very closely with the GNWT. A very lengthy and thorough review was done of every possible location in the city from hotels to available units and that's where these...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am here to present Tabled Document 200-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2024-2025. And I'll do a brief introduction to that before going to the next.

This document proposes a total increase of $236,000, comprised of the following items:

A $50,000 transfer of previously approved operations expenditure funding to infrastructure expenditure, allocated for the purchase of digital dispatch consoles;

$993,000 for increased construction costs associated with the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk fibre line;

$1.95 million to finalize the transfer...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Property Assessment and Taxation Act is what makes the Department of Finance or Minister of Finance the taxation authority. We establish the mill rates. We collect the taxes, provide MACA with a list of those tax dollars that are collected for those communities that are taxable -- taxation communities, then MACA distributes the grant monies that are equivalent to the actual amount of those property taxes that are collected back to the community less an administration fee, and that's -- does come in at an average of $600,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this was an initiative of the federal government meant to provide a vehicle by which provinces and territories could explain our priorities for the federal government and hopefully to be a pathway to unlocking federal investment. It was a bit slow getting off the ground. There was back and forths about how to get organized and who should be on the tables. But I am pleased to say that the GNWT was part of the second round of these tables that were launched originally and that they have been fairly active now since the spring of 2024 in order to scope out...