Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, this too has a bit of complication in that there's more than one utility involved. There is, right now, an existing line between Hay River and Enterprise that does provide hydro power from Taltson, which is NTP asset, into the Naka distribution system in the community of Enterprise. And in terms of what, whether or not to go single phase to three phase, unfortunately, Mr. Chair, although NTPC provides the power, the distribution decisions about what kind of power or how it is –- how it exists essentially within the community is one that will rest with Naka Power. So I am not, unfortunately, in a position to support -- or to assist the community, but we could certainly -– I mean, we do meet with Naka Power and are trying to have a more -– a better working relationship with them. So I'd be more than happy to put the question to them and to support the Member in finding out that answer. Thank you.
Okay, and thank you. I will go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you. No further questions, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further questions? I see no further questions, please turn to page 280.
Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains. $6,104,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, we have concluded Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains. We will excuse the responsible Minister and her witnesses, and I thank them for appearing before us today. I will invite the Minister of Infrastructure to return to the witness table for consideration of the remainder of the department. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the chambers.
Does the Minister of Infrastructure wish to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, please, Mr. Chair.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chamber.
Okay, thank you. Would the Minister please introduce the witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Deputy minister Cathy Maniego and director of corporate services Miranda Bass.
Thank you. Committee, we will now continue on consideration of the Department of Infrastructure.
Committee, there are additional information items on page 284 to 292. Are there any questions?
Thank you. Please return now to the departmental summary found on page 259 with information items on page 260 to 264. Are there any questions?
Seeing no further questions, I will now call the department summary. Infrastructure, operations expenditures, total department for 2026-2027 Main Estimates, $322,314,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister. Thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out of the chamber. Thank you.
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates. We will now consider the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Does the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs wish to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay, thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers. Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me, deputy minister Gary Brennan. And also Catherine Boyd, director of corporate affairs.
Okay, thank you. The committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does committee agree to proceed to the details contained in the tabled document? Committee, agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, we will defer department summary and review the estimates by activity summary beginning on the community governance starting on page 339, with information items on pages 341 and 342. Are there any questions? No further questions, please turn to page 340.
Municipal and Community Affairs, community governance, $4,260,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to community operations beginning on page 243, with information items on page 345. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a simple question on this one. What is the position that is being lost under community operations in headquarters? We're going from 13 positions to 12 positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. It's an admin position in community governance.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Nothing further on this section. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. No further questions, please turn to page 344.
Municipal and Community Affairs, community operations, $2,231,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to the directorate beginning on page 346, with information items on page 348 and 349. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So looking first at the active positions, there seems to be a net change of three. But can the Minister tell us both what additional positions are being proposed and what reductions are being proposed in directorate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have an increase of four positions here: director of emergency management legislation and systems review; manager of emergency management policy; legislative policy analysis; director of finance and administration; and a decrease of an administrative assistant.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of those four additions, can the Minister tell us which are intended to be term positions and which are indeterminate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Mr. Chair, they're all indeterminate positions.
Thank you. I will go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the director of finance admin is an indeterminate position, and the manager of emergency management policy is an indeterminate position. Legislative analyst and the director position sunset in 2028-2029. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So what's the rationale for needing two new director positions? That's quite significant. Especially given that one is only to be there for two years, why go to all the trouble of establishing a new director that's only there for two years as opposed to an additional staff person at some other level? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I will get the deputy minister to answer that. Thank you.
Okay. I will go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I will speak to the director of finance and admin position. So what we've done on that one there is we've taken the director of corporate affairs position, which was in charge of both policy, legislation, and communications and finance, and what we've done is split that position so that we can focus more on policy, legislation, communications, including some of the emergency management and other legislative requirements that we have. We're actually -- and then created a new director of finance position, which is funded from within, there's no new other funding associated with that there. MACA has grown in recent years with returns to funding, especially around the emergency management, and we're looking to basically have some more financial oversight in that regard. The director of emergency management was designed to be a temporary position overseeing the implementation of the recommendations under the after-action review. We're actually reviewing that position right now to see if it makes more sense to make it a lower-level position, such as a manager, and that would sunset in a couple of years so -- or an assistant director-type position. So I think that work is still ongoing, and we're hoping to have that figured out here in the coming months. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Before I go to the Member from Yellowknife North, just for the translators maybe we could slow down just a bit.
I am going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I would like to pursue more information. I don't imagine you have it now, so I will be doing some research on my own. But just looking at how many director positions there are in each department and how many ADMs compared to the amount of staff in each department, I think it would be interesting to look at because we're -- you know, we don't really have anything to compare it to right now when there are new, for example, director positions being proposed as to what is an appropriate ratio for each department.
I did want to ask more about -- it seems that there's a new finance and administrative division being created within MACA. So why is there a need for this whole new division; can the Minister explain. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
