Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. It's actually not new to me; it certainly has come up over the course of some years that I've been doing the budget dialogues. And I'd like to take it away, see if we can continue to work on this a bit. Some of the challenges that the programming that we have does come with costs, and it comes with costs that we pay for our employees. There's also some concerns I've run into around at what point would you be turning someone who's not an employee to be starting to look like an employee, particularly in the case of workers who are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, any employee who is facing being affected by in sort of form of reduction anywhere in the GNWT, anywhere in the Northwest Territories is subject to a process. It is one where there is a notification process and there is, indeed, a staff retention policy and staff retention guidelines. Every effort is made to ensure that anyone in an affected position is not lost as a public servant and so, indeed, that process can take several months, if not quite some time, to ensure that they can best find themselves back in a new position within the public service...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Fort Smith correctional facility has 32 employees which would mean that there would be 32 employees who would be affected if the facility were closed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Consensus government is fundamentally different than a partisan system where political parties develop party platforms to deliver after an election. Having fewer Cabinet Ministers than Regular Members, who form standing committees, may be similar to a minority government situation when it comes time to determine whether or how Cabinet can seek to pass a budget or a law because there must be discussions to ensure a necessary number of votes. However, the nature and content of our discussions within a consensus system is different. The work we do in a consensus...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we're starting to cross paths between different departments, whether it's EIA in the Premier's shop where I know they are doing a significant amount of work in terms of supporting our NGO sector in the Northwest Territories. Obviously ECE and the Department of Finance from the human resources perspective. Let me answer briefly and say anything's possible. Whether I'm going to be able to commit on the floor to a program that's rolled out in Saskatchewan, probably not, but certainly can commit to looking at that program and seeing whether there...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm happy to present Tabled Document 111-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2024-2025. This document proposes a total increase of $142.1 million, comprised of the following items:

$146.9 million for infrastructure expenditures funding for projects that were not completed in 2023-2024. This amount is fully offset by unspent appropriations in 2023-2024;

$2.3 million for the relocation of modular classrooms from Yellowknife to Tuktoyaktuk;

$2.8 million for increased costs associated with the acquisition of portables for Colville Lake...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, these documents are largely approaches and visions, and I am apprehensive to put timelines around them because they are not going to be solely GNWT-driven documents. They're going to be documents that really bring together the voices of Northerners right across our territory. We have heard a lot of really good things across the territory, a lot of momentum in this field lately, especially in regards to Indigenomics and so this is a space for us to come together through Council of Leaders. This is a space for us to come together with voices, for...

Mr. Chair, sadly, the answer to that is no. This is one particular item that was fairly near and dear to my heart and that I was watching very closely so that these portables would be the first ones on the barge that was due to head north. Obviously with no barges heading north, there are no portables heading north. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I happen to know the answer to this because when the Minister beside me agreed to go on the tour, she handed off an obligation to me on that particular week. So for her to go there, I'm going somewhere else. But let's -- I commit to finding a date as soon as possible hopefully in the next six weeks or eight weeks where I can also head on my own up to the region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is the witness table currently speculating on the ceiling for a project of that size. Thank you.