Caroline Wawzonek

Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. Madam Chair, I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures) No. 1, 2020-2021. The supplementary estimates document proposes a total increase of $65.1 million, comprised of the following major items:

$36.8 million in support of the GNWT's emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding is offset by revenues from the federal government.

$13.7 million to support advancing the GNWT's mandate priorities.

$7.4 million to continue the First Nations and Inuit Home and Community Care Agreement. These costs are fully offset by funding from the...

Sorry. The $2.616 million. Sorry, Madam Chair. I am trying to read too many notes at the same time. Yes, that is the child and youth care counsellors, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. One of the biggest areas where there is expected to be some changes -- well, I shouldn't say, one of the biggest areas. There are a lot of changes. One area of significant changes in terms of travel funding, obviously, there may well be a lot less travel occurring. That said, these are internal NWT Indigenous governments, so it may or may not affect how much travel is occurring. Short answer is: yes, but it's uncertain. I'm not in a position to say that it won't necessarily require the full $300,000. We can certainly commit to providing updates as the next few...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't know if my pages are the same as yours, but regardless, Madam Chair, I am familiar enough to be able to tell you that -- yes, sorry. Madam Chair, that is funded by the federal funding, and it was just a carry-over that was required because the federal funding simply wasn't spent in the last year, Madam Chair. It's ongoing work that is happening. The money is there from the federal government and needs to be carried over. I am not sure if the Member wants more explanation for that. I can certainly turn it over to Mr. Koe if he does.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to put a number to it, this is funding that will support 20 positions, including significant front-line positions as well as support staff to help ensure that the front-line workers aren't doing their own background administrative supports as well as support to develop cultural safety and curriculum development. As far as the recruitment, Madam Chair, part of the problem was just in the process. The authorities have developed a human resources recruitment and retention plan, and that is expected to make the process of recruiting and retaining staff more streamlined...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I actually asked Mr. Koe. I think it may not be very detailed. Some of it, we do, at least, have a list of the intended or expected activities in 2020-2021. If I could turn it over to him, please?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am not as well-versed to speak to the ins and outs of what went out in the last round of negotiations in a prior Assembly. I can say that this $650,000 is intended to be a temporary offset because of reduced revenues in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 in Western Canadian Lotteries, which are a significant source of revenue for multisport funding within MACA. That reduction in revenue was resultant from lower lottery purchases than usual, which, in turn, was the result, at least in part, of a fairly significant network outage such that there simply was no ability to have sales...

Thank you, Madam Chair. At this time, there are no plans for a new courthouse. The cost of a new courthouse would still far and exceed the ability right now to undertake that kind of a project. I can say I believe the lease is 2026. I will correct myself later if I am wrong about that. At this point, it does have a lot of money invested in it, so hopefully, it is more than up to the task over the next short-term coming future. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As I understand it, this is an opportunity that might well provide the opportunity for there to be development of that industry by developing the regulations themselves. This is the opportunity to, as a starting point, create those regulations, create the policies and the processes associated, and then once those are in place, have available a training program so that there could potentially be, then, an industry that would support more locally produced, harvested foods. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the terms of reference will be shared with committee, and perhaps that will be an opportunity at that time for the Member to address the more detailed questions to the department when they are before committee at that stage. Thank you, Madam Chair.