Thank you. Member for the Sahtu.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026, Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, emergency management, not previously authorized, $5,465,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026, Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, total department, not previously authorized, $5,465,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Members, there is a schedule on page 10 that details the supplementary reserve impact. The schedule is not a votable item and is included as information only. Are there any questions on this schedule?
Seeing no further questions, as this is not a votable item we will continue on. Committee, do you agree that you have concluded consideration of Table document 388-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026.
Agreed.
Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of Tabled Document 388-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026, at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Consideration of Tabled Document 388-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026, is deferred.
---Carried
Thank you, Minister, and thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us.
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 385-20(1), 2026-2027 Capital Estimates. Members, we have agreed to forego opening comments and general comments on the overall documents. So we will go directly to the detail.
Committee, will begin with the Legislative Assembly. Does the Speaker wish to bring witnesses into the chamber?
Yes, please.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chamber.
Thank you. Would the Speaker please introduce the witnesses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. On my right, is Miranda Bye, Deputy Clerk, Members and pricing services. And on to my left is Glen Rutland, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.
Does committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?
Agreed.
Committee, the Legislative Assembly begins on page 15. We will defer the totals and review the estimates by activity summary beginning on page 16 with the Office of the Clerk with an information item on page 17. Are there any questions?
The Legislative Assembly, Office of the Clerk, infrastructure investments, $1,828,000. Does the committee agree? The Member for - the Premier - Hay River North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have some questions about the broadcasting system. Am I on the right section here? Yes, that's the only section, I guess.
I know that there have been some changes to the broadcasting system here. We used to have access to the Legislative Assembly proceedings on satellite, one of the only legislature required by law to be carried by satellite providers. But I understand that that has now changed. I think our equipment was outdated, and we couldn't get the signal out or something. So I was just wondering how this change has gone over and whether there is -- you know, any of these broadcasting system improvements are going to address that issue that we're not carried on satellite anymore. Thanks.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. So when we made the change, we had one situation brought to our attention. It was actually News North Network in Inuvik and who was talking about -- because they were advertising in Inuvik through the satellite, they had concerns, but we were able to connect them through our live streaming and they were able to broadcast that way. So we haven't had any other concern brought to our attention at this time.
Thank you. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you. So like other satellite providers, like STAR Choice and Bell, is the leg accessible on those platforms as well? Thanks.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker.
With your permission, I'll ask the deputy -- or the clerk to answer the question. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy clerk.
Clerk.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Madam Chair. To the Member, so we do not have -- so what happened is we went through a satellite service called TelleSat, so we would beam up to TelleSat, and then they would beam down to other satellite providers such as Bell and Shaw. The TelleSat satellite that we were using was actually end of life last year and our -- we were also end of contract. Both of those lined up at the same time. So the decision made at the time was that we would no longer stream on satellite but would make ourselves continue to be available on streaming and on internet.
One of the things that did factor into that is a recent report revealed that 46 percent, or almost half of Canadian households, no longer have satellite or cable, that they rely solely on streaming. So we've continued to stream. We continue to be on NorthwesTel cable in community channels in Fort Smith and Yellowknife and continue to be on the community channel in Inuvik. We just had to switch them over to the direct feed through the fibre line.
Member for Hay River North.
Yes, well, I've got seven and a half minutes left so I intend to take my time. Thank you.
So, you know -- so in Hay River, we don't have NorthwesTel. We don't have cable wired in. So I think people would actually watch it on satellite there in my office, my constituency office. That's what we would do. And so do we have -- do we know how many people watched through satellite versus through cable versus streaming; Do we have any of those types of numbers? Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you for the question.
No, we don't track. We haven't been able to track that information, and it's not information that's easily available. Yeah, so it's not been tracked or been recorded.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. And the satellite providers couldn't provide that information too when we asked to provide that information for us. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Hay River North.
Okay, thank you. You know, I'm happy that -- when I first started here, you know, we didn't have streaming online. We didn't have Facebook Live or anything like that. And so I've seen the progression so it's great to see how we can get information out there. And I know that in a lot of small communities I go to, the elders watch on NorthwesTel. They don't all have streaming devices, and I suspect it might be similar in other places where we don't have NorthwesTel, and so I just wonder how many people no longer have access to the Assembly's -- you know, the feed. So that was my concern. I see it's not being addressed here, though. So I guess I'll just leave this here for now. But hopefully as, you know, technology becomes cheaper, more available -- there's more satellites in the sky today than probably at any time in history. It would be great if there was more opportunities for people to access these proceedings. And I guess we'll see what the future holds. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. We still broadcast for the first two hours on CKLB. So we're trying to do it -- as technologies improves, as the Member from Hay River North talked about, we try to increase our membership, our visibility out there in the system. So whatever comes available and we're able to work on it, we try to get that out there as -- I can tell you we have our favourite fan in Ulukhaktok who still has access to us, and he made sure we know that we're misbehaving or behaving during session. So people out there are still able to get that information. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Legislative Assembly, Office of the Clerk, infrastructure investments, $1,828,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, Members. Please turn now to the Legislative Assembly summary found on page 15. The Legislative Assembly, 2026-2027 Capital Estimates, $1,828,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee, and thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the chamber.
Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I apologize to committee for delay. Madam Chair, I move that this committee concludes its consideration of 2026-2027 Capital Estimates for the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 385-20(1), 2026-2027 Capital Estimates. We will now consider Housing Northwest Territories. Does the Minister responsible for Housing Northwest Territories wish to bring witnesses into the chamber?
