Agreed.
Thank you. Department of Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, long-term continuing care services, not previously authorized, $3,700,000. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions.
Department of Health and Social Services, long-term care and continuing care services, not previously authorized, $3,700,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Department of Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, out of territory services, not previously authorized, $26,624,000. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions.
Department of Health and Social Services, out of territory services, not previously authorized, $26,624,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. The Department of Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, supplementary health benefits, not previously authorized, $4,293,000. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions.
Department of Health and Social Services, supplementary health benefits, not previously authorized, $4,293,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Department of Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, total department not previously authorized, $47,510,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Please turn to page 9, the Department of Infrastructure.
Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, asset management, not previously authorized, $1,095,000. Are there any questions?
I am going to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is $1.095 million for repair costs associated with the Deh Cho Bridge. Could the Minister please provide a substantiation around what those repair costs entail. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is being driven by some unexpected issues that came to light once the bridge system was opened up for the already-known repairs that were taking place, and as a result of that, when they identified an opportunity to do some additional work on shuttering plates, rubber control springs, that these two warranted replacement, and as an opportunity, given that the bridge was already opened up -- well, paused for traffic or reduced traffic and had these cable systems opened up, it was an opportunity to ensure that this work also got done at the same time. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Sleeve.
Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. I was just trying to confirm it wasn't more cable work. So thank you for that. Nothing further.
Okay, thank you. Is there any further questions? Seeing no further questions.
Department of Infrastructure, asset management, not previously authorized, $1,095,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, corporate management, not previously authorized, $537,000. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions.
Department of Infrastructure, corporate management, not previously authorized, $537,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, energy and strategic initiatives, not previously authorized, $2,610,000. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions.
Department of Infrastructure, energy and strategic initiatives, not previously authorized, $2,610,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, programs and services, not previously authorized, $10,315,000. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this year, once again, we're seeing a major deficit projected for marine transportation services. But in 2025, my understanding was that there were no cancellations on -- in terms of the barge season and that they were able to run a full season. So can the Minister explain why for 2025, in particular, they're still running a $10.3 million deficit. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in some ways, although it's a bit cold comfort at this point, the deficit was actually predicted to be much higher but it was because of the fact that they were able to recoup some costs by way of increasing the revenues that it was not as bad as it might otherwise have been. Nevertheless, there's still some fairly significant costs associated. So for instance in terms of the fuel costs that continue to be high as well as an almost $2 million grants in lieu, property tax charge that was owing and that needed to be dealt with, and the fact that the fleet remains a fairly aged one does mean that the maintenance costs continue to be often high and, indeed, often higher than anticipated subject to supply chain availability which has not improved historically much over the last several years. So, again, the sales and revenues are, I would suggest, stabilizing, but that hasn't fully caught up on some of the costs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Can the Minister explain what the plan is, then, for marine transportation services or what at least the options are for moving forward and leaving these deficits behind? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, there is right now, in progress, work to convert MTS to a Crown corporation and it -- otherwise -- I mean, I do want to emphasize for folks in smaller communities and, you know, up the Mackenzie Valley up into the High Arctic that it is recognized that the barge resupply is an essential service which makes it difficult to simply run it as one might a private company, and that's where the decision was ultimately made to try to convert it to a Crown corporation, the hope being, Mr. Chair, that we can make -- take advantage of some of what are efficiencies in a system that isn't within the public service system however, but without that -- so it may -- it may see that there's some improvement as it would be run more from a corporate environment. That said, you know, I can't say for certain, Mr. Chair, that this is likely to become a profit-generating entity but the hope, of course, is that we can get to a place that it's not requiring as much to make up losses in the revolving fund. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am sure this will be the subject of some in-depth conversations to come, but I will leave it there for now. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Are there any further questions from Members? Okay, seeing no further questions.
Department of Infrastructure, programs and services, not previously authorized, $10,315,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, regional operations, not previously authorized, $23,289,000. Are there any questions?
I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So in the supplementary, in regional operations, there is $1.893 million to provide funding for contractual obligations associated with the base rent and operations and maintenance for GNWT-leased facilities. I assume that just means office space on the whole. But maybe the Minister can speak to how they are addressing this ongoing cost pressure challenge. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is -- I mean, I don't have a breakdown of every individual lease, but I can say that this is part of multiple regions and a portfolio of 109 active leases, and it provides -- these are buildings that provide not only office space but also program and service space for government operations, again across all of the regions.
In terms of what is being done, I mean, there is still outstanding work happening with respect to reducing the overall lease footprint, and that's being done in conjunction with the Department of Finance because it would certainly involve ensuring that we are supporting the public service if we are reducing office -- their office space through whether it's remote work arrangements more formally or other work-from-home arrangements that may be -- that can be formalized. So that work is still happening, and efforts are still being made in that regard.
Mr. Chair, I don't have it in front of me, but I know that it has been examined in the past, ensuring that there's a mix, and looking at what an appropriate standard mix is between how much a government owns of its office footprint or its footprint in general for usage versus leases. That is an easier thing to manage within Yellowknife where there's a wider real estate availability and wider range of real estate availability a little more difficult outside.
Last note, Mr. Chair, is that, at least a bit of silver lining in -- particularly in communities around the smaller communities and regional centres, the facilities that are being leased often are from Indigenous corporations or community governments so some of this funds -- some of these funds do actually end up indirectly supporting those communities as well. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am going to push back gently on the work-from-home piece impacting this in any really great meaningful sense. I don't think the GNWT has scads of people working from home currently; I could be wrong. But I would also be very much interested in whatever documentation that the Minister is comfortable sharing with the Department of Finance's work on that own versus lease mix, and perhaps she could commit to sharing that with committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay. Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I won't speak to whether it's scads or not. There's -- I mean, we have the remote work policy but there's also a lot of folks who do work from home in not necessarily formalized arrangements or agreements, and the challenge -- and it has slowed the work in terms of trying to realign lease footprints because that would then -- if we really realign what the lease footprint is for departments, that reduces the amount of workspace available. But if people are working from home in an -- sort of in an unofficial or un-organized sense, for lack of a better description, then they they're not reducing the footprint of the lease because they're keeping the office space even when they may be working from home. So the intention is to be able to be -- you know, notwithstanding what might be in the headlines for other governments, the intention for us is to remain a workplace that is flexible and adaptable. But whether we can then take advantage of that to change the lease footprint, as I say, to this point unless there's a more standardized approach to folks working from home or working remotely, makes difficult to translate into a reduction of the lease footprint. So that effort has not gone away; it's just trying to figure out how best to align those two -- those two goals in a way that makes sense and doesn't actually undermine them by then forcing people to do things or to not have workspaces that actually undermines the very same morale issues that we're trying to address.
As for that mix, Mr. Chair, I believe the Department of Infrastructure does maintain an eye on having a good mix. And I don't want to commit them without going back to the Minister, but I expect it would be able -- we can probably share that. So, again, just subject to making sure I am not making a promise that I can't keep, I think we can share that. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further from me on this one.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to start by asking why there's a projected deficit for the Yellowknife airport revolving fund for this 2025-2026 fiscal year of almost $1.8 million. What has happened to lead to that deficit? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is a result of operating cost increases, and that is due to more severe weather events which then results in higher costs associated with providing runway clearing and -- runway clearing in particular and related other cost pressures, Mr. Chair. Costs of utilities, that certainly affects the government as much as it affects everyone else, and that has been an unexpected cost pressure over 2025 beyond what had been in the plan. And I suppose last and not least, Mr. Chair, would simply be that there's the airport improvement fees don't necessarily go directly in as an offset. There is an amount where if the airport improvement fee amount is not being used in a given year for a capital expense that it doesn't get accounted for quite -- under an accounting standard, doesn't get it offset the same way as it might. So increased costs with severe weather, increased costs for utilities, and not being offset. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I don't recall, but maybe the Minister can remind us, in this past year what extreme weather events or unusual weather events the Yellowknife airport has experienced versus other years. I know every year there's various kinds of challenging weather but is there something different that happened this past year, or what do we -- do we expect the cost of dealing with weather to just continue for every year hereafter? Like, what different happened in terms of weather in this past year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
