Julian Morse

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't want to dwell too long on the past on this one. I just want to note that I hope we are learning some lessons here. I think that the EA process is a process that proceeds much more efficiently when a developer has the good sense of what their project is and has a solid project description and is ready to proceed to EA. So I would just note maybe we can learn from this lesson that dragging out an EA is an expensive process, and it eats up a lot of resources for everybody involved. And so I hope we're learning from that.

So to that end, I would just ask the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And the third one there -- and I do forgive the Minister because I had listed a lot there -- was the drug treatment option program, if he could just list the success associated with that one.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So that is good news. And I will just make sure -- so, yeah, I probably should have asked specific questions about each line item rather than jumping around. So the victim assistance support projects, that's over $2 million reduction. What are we losing there?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to first speak to the Mackenzie Valley Highway environmental assessment and planning.

I note that in 2025-2026, we spent $11 million. This year, we're spending $3.5 million. Can the department give us an idea of the total amount the department has spent over the term of this environmental assessment that has been spent to date.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask about a few different programs that are run, I believe, out of court services - the wellness court, drug treatment option program, and the intimate partner violence treatment option court. Are those under this page? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's a number of reductions in here in the -- sorry, Mr. Chair, just getting oriented here.

There's a reduction of about $1.7 million to victim services and a significant reduction of over $2 million to victim assistance support projects. So can the Minister help us understand what happened with all those projects, and -- yeah.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And no, I appreciate that. And I am just looking for those details so I can better understand the issue and try and see if there is a trend happening here or if there's something going on that we should take a closer look at at committee and -- because, yeah, if our contracts are going to start doubling year over year -- I am not suggesting that this is going to happen every year, but certainly we've identified a couple cases where it's happened and, yeah, I think that if costs are going to be ballooning that badly -- I was going to say we're going to run out of money. I...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is the Minister saying he won't follow up with us, is that the answer?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to build upon some questions that a few colleagues were asking.

The Minister said in response to questions about the winter roads item increasing by about 40 percent increase year over year that it was just a contract. Can the Minister give us maybe a better understanding of the reasons or the things that changed year over year that caused the contract to go up by 40 percent in one year? It just seems like a large increase well beyond inflation, so I am trying to understand why the increase is so drastic. Thanks.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. No, I am just trying to understand the specifics. And I understand that things increase. I understand that labour costs increase. But if the Minister can give us details, even if it does have to be -- you know, some documents have to be kept confidential, and I understand that. But remember we do have mechanisms to allow for that just so Members can better understand.

I am just noting that, you know, this seems to be a trend which has been occurring. There was a lot of questions asked yesterday about our contract for medical travel where there was a significant...