Caroline Wawzonek

No, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, 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 second time.

This bill makes supplementary appropriations for infrastructure expenditures at the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If that is the interest received, Mr. Chair, we had in 2023 -- I don't know that I have the -- well, I don't have the 2024-2025 actuals yet, Mr. Chair, but I can say we have revised upwards on interest. Obviously interest rates were pretty high last year, so -- and we do have -- so we have -- yes, we've revised it as of this time as being $4.454 million. In 2023-2024, it was a lot lower but, again, interest rates were pretty high. So we do maintain right now a 75 percent bond amount and that -- so, I mean, again, depending on where those bonds are but when interest rates...

Mr. Chair, if I could start with the director -- the deputy, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the budgeted line item of $6.1 million there has been that same value for -- well, some time anyways, but it is an estimate, and it is ultimately a projection, and it does depend a fair bit on what the state of the resource sector is doing and how healthy it is, and there can be quite a bit of fluctuation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Actually, Mr. Chair, if I might send that one over to our director, please.

Mr. Chair, I don't have that. I have only the information with respect to the supplementary estimates here in front of me. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I'm able to say that I don't think we track that, the reason being that we don't currently have an operating definition for an Indigenous business per se and as a result of that, it's not easy to say the individual landlord is, in fact, is Indigenous. There's times where, for a development corporation for example, is an easier answer, but there are other businesses that may well be owned, operated, or partially owned or partially operated, and we don't right now have that definition so I'm not able to track that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, this is certainly far from being the only program or fund directed to support addictions use so happy that the Member is pointing that out.

This is one of the examples of where Health Canada came out with some additional funding and provided that funding under what is called the substance use and addictions program contribution agreement, and this one is quite specifically with respect to smoking cessation, so trying to reduce the number of individuals who are cutting back or reducing or ultimately ceasing smoking. And so it's money that's coming over the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, and it's not. I think that that's actually -- it's a good question, and it's one that -- it's important, actually, that they not be conflated, I'd suggest, in that we still want to be able to go to the federal government, particularly with the nation building scale work, the kind of infrastructure that provinces, you know, arguably not taken for granted in an expressed way but have and have at their avail that were built, whether it's a national railway, whether it's a national highway, whether it's capital level airports, ports, you know, pipelines, whatever it might...