Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have these projects right now broken down one by one, so, for instance, by Inuvik, by Hay River, etcetera, so I can't give a simple number. I can say these projects have -- if I'm not mistaken, all four of them been subject to delay over more than just the one fiscal year. I can recall back in just around the times of COVID, there was a change because the estimates that were done pre-COVID in terms of bed requirements were updated through and then immediately towards the end of when the COVID-19 pandemic was subsiding. That led to some changes in planning...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it was my pleasure to be the seconder on this motion. I'm going to try to be relatively brief, but I do think it's important, Mr. Speaker, that the public hears some of the perspectives on this, including around the idea of freedom of expression/freedom of speech, in this context.

Mr. Speaker, freedom of expression obviously is extremely important, particularly political expression. This is an essential feature of democracy in my view and it's enshrined in the Charter of Rights, which is something that inspires much of my professional life. Being a part of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can, at least, share what the revised timelines are anticipated to be at this time. So right now, there's -- the charting tool is expected to be underway for procurement in this current fiscal year with implementation expected then the year after. As we've said, there are a number of components here that are making it a bit difficult to say exactly the specific dates of one or the other, as they are interrelated. But laboratory information system upgrade, that work is underway. It was begun, and it is proceeding we're expecting this fiscal year, 2025-2026...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as part of the contract, it is the company's responsibility to ship the units to Colville Lake. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it is formally in -- we are currently in year 3 of 4. There are some stages that certainly will continue on. So where we are expecting this year is to be in a -- to have the formal contract to a contractor completed and a solution in full design over the coming year. That will be implemented in the -- in sort of late or mid-2026, and then there's -- thereafter in the project, there's training of our own staff to ensure that they can utilize this new system but that is different from the construction, if you will, of the IT system. So for the construction of the IT...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on this one, we -- the project timeline certainly has changed over a bit of time. So previously, when this was approved for a three-year project starting in 2023-2024, it was approved as $1.715 million, and that has become clear, as the project's got underway working with the chief information officer, that this would be insufficient so there's been now an additional amount added to the budget, and it's been approved over four years which has extended the project further, and that is leading to some of the funding that was previously allocated to 2024-2025...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This certainly is an unfortunate situation of having a further significant overage but on an asset that is of crucial importance to the community and to young people in the region who attend this school obviously, so it is a project that's several years old now and it was, unfortunately, one that was subject to some delays starting, if I'm not mistaken, prior to COVID and that immediately starts to lead us into a situation where project budgets did face some significant challenges, that things changed quite a bit quite substantially in terms of supplies, supply chains...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I would be very happy to appear in front of committee. In fact, perhaps a public briefing would be most appropriate to be able to give much more lengthy answers to all of these questions. This is an opportunity with this project to connect 70 percent of the population of the Northwest Territories to hydro. It's an opportunity to take advantage of energy that is spilling over at the current facility in Taltson Dam. It's an opportunity to link our grids, which are currently disconnected grids which is a huge problem for our energy costs and for...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't know that I have a bed count necessarily here. I can say that initially the project that this was funding was on an estimate that there might be a 50 bed needed; however, it was determined that 25 to 30 person modular would be reasonable and so the numbers came down and the project was being asked to changed. There are 45 beds currently at Spruce Bough; 25 in it transitional housing. And so this does continue to support those efforts in that regard. With respect to the Salvation Army, again, I don't have the numbers in front of me, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm always very happy to talk about the Taltson project that we have underway right now. This is a project that is a partnership amongst the GNWT as one member of the MOU, but our other members are the communities and nations that are around the watershed region, so Akaitcho First Nation, Salt River First Nation, and Northwest Territories Metis Nation. We sit regularly. We had a steering committee meeting just before session commenced, and it was an opportunity for us to reaffirm commitment to the project, met with the Canada Infrastructure Bank, in fact, at that time...