Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So up to this point, the homelessness and the homelessness strategy that was developed in the last government and moved into this government resided initially in EIA and was a combination of staff, but not necessarily creating staff that was singularly responsible. As it's transitioned and coming to a point where implementation is reaching, you know, further down the process of implementation and moved into housing, the establishment -- excuse me, the establishment of the homelessness division now is getting dedicated staff. So if I recall, there was one staff previously...

Yes, please, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It certainly would not be acceptable that there's running deficits in general. The hope, of course, is that there's not a running deficit and that much as it was initially set up to do, that the report airport revolving fund can ultimately become self-sustaining. The last several years have had a number of different challenges and not the least of which first was although the airport was on a trajectory of receiving a high number -- high volume in terms of passengers and flights, COVID-19 shut everything down there, relatively speaking. And then the 2023 wildfire...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So that work is actively underway right now to make the determination between both ECC, who are responsible for the fire suppression directly, but also MACA who would have a role in terms of emergency systems and emergency planning. It does take a bit of time. The federal system is fairly particular about what they expect and the reporting that they expect. And so I don't have that number right now but certainly would, of course, be reporting it in to the House when it is available, Mr. Chair. And certainly to temper expectations, it is not all of this money that would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that work is very much underway right now, and it's being done in partnership. To date, the partnership formally is an MOU arrangement, working group work arrangement, between the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Tlicho, and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. There was certainly some significant comments and commitments made in our -- on our side as a government knowing that there are other Indigenous governments with interests in this area who will want to ensure they're -- that they are engaged and involved in final routing decisions. And...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is a result of operating cost increases, and that is due to more severe weather events which then results in higher costs associated with providing runway clearing and -- runway clearing in particular and related other cost pressures, Mr. Chair. Costs of utilities, that certainly affects the government as much as it affects everyone else, and that has been an unexpected cost pressure over 2025 beyond what had been in the plan. And I suppose last and not least, Mr. Chair, would simply be that there's the airport improvement fees don't necessarily go directly in as...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is cost-shared. It does have some input from ECE, but that is through their existing work that they do. They're able to provide in kind to offset the funding requirement or funding proportion that is directed to them or expected from them. The program funds are for technical work such as high-resolution enhanced forest inventory, particularly in the area surrounding Fort Providence, as well as improving on modeling in the Taiga Plains ecozone. All of which is meant to help modernize some of our data that is now into the 10 to 30 years old range with respect to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said there was -- there's a very long and detailed business case. It was shared with MLAs earlier this Assembly. And, again, happy to share it confidentially. It was held confidentially in part, Mr. Speaker, because there's other partners involved in the project, and there's considerations that they may have around what -- how they may want to structure their own affairs in this particular instance. As well, Mr. Speaker, the more detailed we get into the costs of something can potentially affect the procurement process that we go out to. If it's well...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is -- I mean, I don't have a breakdown of every individual lease, but I can say that this is part of multiple regions and a portfolio of 109 active leases, and it provides -- these are buildings that provide not only office space but also program and service space for government operations, again across all of the regions.

In terms of what is being done, I mean, there is still outstanding work happening with respect to reducing the overall lease footprint, and that's being done in conjunction with the Department of Finance because it would certainly involve...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't know that I can 100 percent give that analysis here. Happy to take that back to the department. The request really at this point is driven by the demand but then also some changes in benefit levels. It may well be that the need for changes in benefit levels has some connection to higher costs on the -- on the side of the universities and/or other institutions themselves, but at this point I don't have that kind of analysis here. Thank you.