Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 19, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2024-2025, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we certainly have achieved some important markers. We are around $106 million ahead of where we were at the start of this Assembly in terms of the revenues that we have either increased or expenditures that we've been able to find and reduce, and that is all the while, Mr. Speaker, remaining alive to the fact that this continues to be a challenging time for residents, that there have been a number of unexpected needs. Again, low water is one that's well known, but also a wildfire season that still had a pretty significant cost associated to this last year, with one...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the vendor performance management process is one whereby we do now, thankfully, monitor when there is commitments being made by a proponent to comply with BIP provisions so they get a bid adjustment and we, previous to this policy, had no actual mechanism of verifying whether they were performing as they said they were going to be performing. So that's that portion of it. And the element that was being reviewed is then if there's a complaints mechanism, so if a proponent says, you know, look, they're -- what you're saying I haven't done I've done, and having a...

Mr. Chair, I mean, I guess I'd have to start with the first question which was around getting the data of how far we are behind, if when we're behind, and what that sort of level of being behind is. I will put a plug in, Mr. Chair, that -- because, again, we want to make sure we're meeting our 30 days before we start to look at 14 days. If individuals, if staff know that they've gone for medical that they're going to have a particularly large incurrence, a particularly large impact from whether it's the nature -- length of travel, nature of treatment, whatever it might be, it is possible to do...

Yes, that's correct, Mr. Chair. We're providing the cost of living offsets to offset the impacts of the tax. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, first time I'm giving -- having received that question and certainly happy to see if there is an opportunity here to go back and look at how it is administered, what cutoffs there might be. You know, again, Mr. Chair, I don't have that level of detail here as being -- as it's under the grants and contributions detail. So, again, can't say a lot to it now. I didn't anticipate that this would be a subject of questions. So, again, happy to look at it if this is an opportunity. Again, certainly can take that away and give it a bit more work. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is an area that may well see a need to have a budget increase between now and 2025-2026, although that said, the last couple of years have had particularly high interest rates, and they only just came down not in time. If I recall correctly, we came down to our low -- it was only over the summer -- so if rates remain -- if interest rates remain low, we may well find that we can return back to a lower number, although we do now have an increased in short-term debt so there's a couple of things to be balancing in there. And if we can move -- you know, again...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand the Premier has, in fact, offered to meet with committee to discuss in more depth the current -- I mean, obviously, currently in Washington, much is happening in the space related to sovereignty, and it would probably be a good place at that opportunity to discuss what a future opportunity might look like, and I will leave that to the other parties and to the Premier to complete that discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, no, just to be clear, it is tabled as part of when the public accounts are being tabled. I don't know that it is being tabled separately. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I -- it sounds like we can put something together without too much difficulty, so happy to make the commitment. And, really, go from what we were providing, you know, again, we want it to be useful. There's a large number of -- large volume of these requests, and they've gone up over the last few years so they are adding some new officers. I do want folks to hear us saying that. It is a medical -- or it is a benefit for the public service and I know it's -- is one that's relied upon so want that message to be clear, but also there continues to be a lot of work in...