Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 32, An Act to Amend the Public Service Act, No. 2, be read for the second time. The bill includes comprehensive amendments to update the legislative framework for the operation of the public service of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The proposed amendments clarify roles and responsibilities under the act, reflect modern public sector practices and aim to improve the act's clarity and readability. The bill also includes provisions to formalize in legislation the process for safe disclosure of wrongdoing...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't know if there's any constraints on putting it out publicly, although that certainly would be my inclination subject to something in there that I'm not aware of and at the very least could certainly share it with MLAs under confidentiality and at least could get it moving there initially.

Madam Chair, I am conscious of time, but I have a couple minutes left. I will just note that there's also work happening in terms of NTPC's longer term capital plan for Jackfish and Snare which not dissimilar to the Taltson system, which was built in the '60s and '70s, these two...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So right now, Mr. Speaker, if there are more placements or a need for greater salary dollars beyond the capacity of the funding, those funds do come from internal resources to individual departments so sometimes that can be if there's an unfunded position that they can use that money towards, or if there's some other program where funding hasn't fully been utilized they can use that towards this program. Obviously, we had a finite amount of resources in the GNWT and at this time this is not one where I am anticipating anything further going into the budget for this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I do see the hydrology reports that come through as well to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. And, you know, whether or not I can say at this point in the year whether or not next year would be similar or better or otherwise, it is too early for me to say, and I certainly wouldn't want to be the person that comes to that conclusion, Madam Chair. I can say that we do have a resiliency study that is expected later this fall. It's a resiliency study on the Snare system because it is the Snare and the Bluefish system that experience low water levels...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the subscriptions to this program has grown over the years. In 2023-2024, we had six secondments. In 2024-2025, we had eight. In 2025-2026, we had seven. And again, it's well received. This program has actually been through a review, positive feedback all around from the participants. And as such, the program will be continuing with some adjustments to make it even more accessible for Indigenous governments across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

No, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are different things planned for different communities and different regions, as I said. And as we all know, we have a number of isolated grids across the system. So I can say one of the things that they've been working on in the Taltson zone, for example, is to make sure following -- and actually this is true, really, across the territories right now is that following a lot of the wildfires, just by way of one example, it creates a situation where there's a lot more risk to the power lines, to the different power systems, where there is a lot more...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, just to reassure the Members, so the two items here related to the barren-ground caribou and the Peary caribou are -- the supplementary appropriations are only for additional money that is coming from ECCC, which is Environment and Climate Change Canada. There are some new funding opportunities or renewed funding opportunities with the federal government in that these supplementary appropriations bring that money in and make it available to ECC here, but it is not the sum total of all the work that ECC does in the space of wildlife management. Thank you...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is the entity in the Northwest Territories that can apply to the disaster financial assistance through the federal government, and there are expenses that are covered. Roughly, we find, it comes in at around 90 percent of eligible expenses, which is what is being accounted for here, but it is a fairly rigorous audit process in order to be compliant with the policy, and that comes with a fair bit of paperwork on the particular claims that MACA is putting forward. They would put those claims forward on...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, I would just say, again, I appreciate the comments and the discussion and the opportunity to kind of explain these different processes. I would make, I guess, one last remark which is the other -- another solution is to look at the amount we have in the supplementary reserve. So that is sort of the amount that's set aside to draw from supps. And I guess still the same tension of not wanting to have too much built in there but at least that gives us some planning if you will, the planning runway of how much we expect that we may need for any one of a number of...