Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's actually the freezing rain that -- the humidity and freezing rain that we had back in -- I don't remember the month exactly, but it was early this fall where when we have conditions on the runways or conditions at the airport that are -- that result as -- again, particularly with freezing rain or wet snow earlier or heavier snow earlier in the season, that is what changes it. So typically in a year you can have just as -- and I don't have a year-over-year comparison but just by way of some notes, there would be, you know, three or four unusual type events such as this, but I am told that in the last recent time it's hit over 20 in a season and that the budget for this, the maintenance can be actually utilized right -- well, in the fall and before -- yeah, before the fiscal year is out. So could certainly look at getting that breakdown for Members if there's an interest in that. But, again, as I say, it's particularly freezing rain events that are noted to me here as being one that drives these cost pressures. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so moving forward, is the Yellowknife airport expected to prevent such deficits in the future, for example, by increasing fees? Do they have some responsibility to not run a deficit, or is it just sort of acceptable that they might come to us each each year with a deficit? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It certainly would not be acceptable that there's running deficits in general. The hope, of course, is that there's not a running deficit and that much as it was initially set up to do, that the report airport revolving fund can ultimately become self-sustaining. The last several years have had a number of different challenges and not the least of which first was although the airport was on a trajectory of receiving a high number -- high volume in terms of passengers and flights, COVID-19 shut everything down there, relatively speaking. And then the 2023 wildfire evacuation, although numbers were coming back, that evacuation resulted in fairly significant overtime costs which reduced the malleability of that budget so that -- just as we were coming back on. And here we are again, the flight numbers are up. Not quite what they were pre-COVID, but coming back. But then, again, the extreme weather does continue to drive those costs up and now added to that would be increased utilities. So yes, the short answer is it would be nice to remove the deficit and it would be ideal that the revolving fund can be self-sustaining. At this moment in time, we're not there yet. I believe there is a fair bit of work happening with the YZF Airport Authority and with as well the EAC, which I believe is the environment -- Economic Advisory Council working to get a capital project or capital improvement plan put forward which could then create a more sustaining ecosystem. Obviously, on top of all this, we've seen in advance procurement notice from the department of defence. Obviously, that's -- that's not ours to drive and it's only early days on that, but that may well force an acceleration of these plans. Thank you.
Thank you. I am going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to turn next to increased construction and maintenance costs. Well, first for both the Mackenzie Valley winter road and the Tlicho winter road. Mackenzie Valley winter road is facing increased costs of about $2.5 million. The Tlicho winter road of about $4.26 million. Can the Minister explain why these costs were unexpected, why they're coming to us in supplementary appropriations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am mindful of time so I will try and be quick, but there's different -- different cost pressures affecting each of these winter roads. So the Mackenzie Valley winter road right now is over 900 kilometers of road. There's -- there -- notwithstanding the fact that barges went through -- more so in the last year, there's still obviously some communities that were experiencing reductions in the barging services. And so there's been a much greater uptake this winter on fuel -- on demand on the winter road, as well a shipment of -- up to Colville Lake with long overdue, if I may say, school portables meant that there had to be an expansion of that winter road. That is something that -- there is a base budget that is in the annual budgets that doesn't necessarily accommodate these kinds of increases year over year.
With respect to the Tlicho winter road, that is some 300, 400 kilometers up to Gameti and Wekweeti. And in this case, it was negotiations that were taking place under the Tlicho Infrastructure Cooperation Agreement, and those did not conclude in time to be reflected other than through a supplementary appropriation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us, then -- so if the Tlicho winter road increases are a result of a sort of negotiated increase in the cost, can the Minister tell us sort of what was the base amount or the amount that was assumed in this budget and then what will be the new amount when you add this $4.264 million, just to give us a sense of scale of how much the contract is increasing by. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Mr. Chair, there was challenges on this contract, if I recall, last year as well, and so the negotiations that went on over a fairly extended period of time last year -- sorry, well, I guess a year more than last year ago, there was effort undertaken to actually see what the actuals were in the course of a year because it was, you know, brought to our attention that the contract authority was not able to perform the services required at the cost that they had. So the -- yeah, and so with that, we entered into the negotiations together with in hand what the 2024-2025 costs were, and then we're able to conclude the negotiations to provide an amount that better reflected what the actuals were. And I think there's a question on -- a second question that I missed in all that, Mr. Chair. I am sorry.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North to repeat the last part of your question.
I don't think I heard the actual numbers of the previous contract -- the amount of the contract that was assumed when we went into this 2025-2026 Budget and then what it's now increased to. That was the main question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So in 2025-2026, there was a shortfall of $4.2 million. 2026-2027, a shortfall of 4.7. And then going forward, the shortfall would have been just over 5. So what we are looking to do now is adjust the budget to reflect the fact that we now have a contract to -- that makes up that total, that total amount. The total contract costs expected for the coming year -- or sorry, for the -- that is in front of the committee right now is just over $6.9 million for 2025-2026. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any further questions from Members? Yeah, I am going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not a lot of questions left after that strong round from my colleague, but just the -- to build on some of the questions that she asked.
The line item for $9.1 million funding for -- to address high -- higher highway operations costs due to inflation, materials, and emergency response activities. Can the Minister help us understand the emergency response activities; what does that entail? Why -- like, how is that an unexpected and how does it relate to highway maintenance.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Sorry, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if I can get the Member to repeat the question, please.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, of course. What I was asking is how do emergency response activities relate to highway maintenance? It's in the -- in the substantiation for the increase, it says to provide funding to address higher highway operations costs due to inflation, materials, and emergency response activities. So I am just curious what those activities are and how they relate to maintenance. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Sorry, Mr. Chair. So not specific to any of the one items but just in general? (audio) or the ADM, please.
Thank you. I will go to the ADM.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the emergency response requirements generally are related to community evacuations and highway closures and resulting needs for staff over time, those types of things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, sorry if it was unclear. I thought I was referring to a specific line item. But yeah, that makes sense to me, like if there had to be highway closures, the various guide vehicles and all that that happens along with that. So that makes sense to me.
Can they help -- can the Minister help us understand how much of an increase this is over our regular highway operations costs. I mean, $9.1 million seems like a lot for the end of a year for inflation. I mean, how is that something that we weren't able to budget for knowing that inflation has been sitting around 2 percent this year? Thanks.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And sorry, the Member was clear. I just didn't have it large enough on my screen to see it. So it's not only inflation necessarily. There is rising material cost and contract -- there's also rising contract cost, increased number of response events, so that's not only necessarily related to inflation. And then too, Mr. Chair, would be if there's, you know, climate change events that result in an increase in the number of emergencies. All of those things can contribute to this. So, Mr. Chair, there's a base budget -- the other thing, Mr. Chair, is that we are dealing with Beaufort Delta region, Deh Cho region, North Slave region, and South Slave region, so it's not a shortfall in only one; there's shortfalls in all.
In the Beaufort Delta region, the shortfall was $4.4 million. Deh Cho was just over a million. North Slave, 650,000, and -- or sorry, North Slave. And then South Slave, just shy of $3 million, Mr. Chair, and all that together adds up to the $9.1. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My next question is just about the additions to energy and strategic initiatives. I am pretty sure I know the answer to this one. But it looks like we got funding for the four different funds that are listed there. I won't list them for sake of time. But I know during the last -- the last review of the mains there was some concern about that funding lapsing. It looks like the feds did step up and fund those programs. Can the Minister just confirm that that's the case and that's why (audio).
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, this is the low carbon economy leadership fund, and there has been a renewal of that agreement now. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think that's it for me on this item. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. Was there any further questions from Members? Seeing no further questions.
The Department of Infrastructure, regional operations, not previously authorized, $23,289,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you.
Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, total department not previously authorized, $37,846,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Please turn to page 11 for the Department of Justice.
Department of Justice, operations expenditures, services to government, not previously authorized, $625,000. Are there any questions?
Department of Justice, operations expenditures, services to government, not previously authorized, $625,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. The Department of Justice, operations expenditures, total department not previously authorized, $625,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you.
Please turn to page 12 for Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, operations expenditures, community governance, not previously authorized, $270,000. Are there any questions? I am going to go to Member from the Deh Cho.
Provide the detail for this community level emergency services, firefighting, education, and development, some information on it. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is funding that is meant to support and enhance emergency services and firefighter education across all communities. So there's two different things happening here, Mr. Chair. Regional centres will see the training done brought to the national fire protection association standard. That's for regional fire departments. As well, Mr. Chair, then there will be, for smaller communities, the assistant fire marshals and contract trainers will be providing first aid and emergency response training to those small communities so that they can support their own initiatives. And last but not least, Mr. Chair, the annual fire chiefs conference has a slice of funding here as well to ensure that all fire chiefs across the Northwest Territories are able to connect and -- in the course of a year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Deh Cho.
