Kieron Testart

Thank you. And this is the Supplementary Appropriation No. 2, the impact -- I mean, I have the numbers here. But the impact of Supplementary Appropriation No. 1 which we already proved was 160 -- a little over $160 million. So the net impact of all this -- and members of the public can find this on the back of the document but it's $188 million -- just over $188 million in the red. So is this -- why -- I mean, and these costs, some of them are certainly things you can't control due to fire and things like that but some -- again, some of these costs I think reflect -- could reflect something...

Thank you. I'm sorry, amused at the process but I'm happy to continue to answer Members' questions. Thank you for the question.

So I think that the intent here is if there's outstanding questions that Members want answered, that we should, again, put a pause on it. We are spending 12 million -- like, the proposal here is to spend $12 million of taxpayer money and if we're not completely satisfied that that's a prudent expenditure, we shouldn't approve it. So the idea here is to pause until we can gather all the information. And if even one Member has concerns, I think we ought to give that...

Thank you. Thank you -- oh, Mr. Speaker, thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when can this House expect to see the cuts that are promised that will get us to $150 million in additional surplus that the policy puts up because we aren't seeing it with the estimates that have been coming out to date. I'm not talking specifically about what's in those estimates, but we have not seen those -- the range of cuts that have been promised, that people are concerned about, people want to know what's going on. So if we're still doing the strategy, when are we actually going to see these reductions? Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I move that this committee defer further consideration of the directorate activity in the Department of Finance on the Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2024-2025, at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker -- and thank you to my colleague. Mr. Speaker, I just want to ask the Minister of Finance, have we given up on Restoring Balance, the fiscal sustainability strategy of this government? Thank you.

Thank you. Well, very quickly, this is not -- this is -- we're constantly chasing ourselves here, Mr. Chair, and I think this problem's not going to go away unless we make some real structural changes to our energy grid. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last time the NWT designed this program, did the federal government not accept what we brought forward? Because, Mr. Speaker, it sounds like there's a chance that we'll design something, we'll send it, and Mark Miller will say no and send it back to the Minister for improvement. Like, I just want to understand the process because we're not getting straight answers today and, again, people are worried. People are worried they're going to be deported from the Northwest Territories. And we can't let them -- have them living in that kind of fear. So can the...

Thank you. I appreciate this is complicated because there's, like, the 7 percent increase that happened has already happened and then that's being compounded into the GRA. But I guess my concern is if it's not -- if it's still like the same, you know, 25 increase but we're doing all these things to lower it but the increase in front of the PUB is still there, that doesn't -- and it doesn't reflect a subsidy, then NTPC is asking for more than it needs, and I would like that not to be the case. So can -- does the Minister confirm that, like what the PUB will be considering is the -- or the rate...

Mr. Speaker, I think -- I mean, I think that's a reasonable think people are looking for. If they're looking for clarity, they don't have it, they're going to be experiencing anxiety until they do. These are people who are worried about their future. We can kind of give them something. So can the Minister at least give me a very clear date when the full program will be available for the public to see so we can start easing those fears? Thank you.

Thank you. So has the rate application been modified with the advent of this $12 million? Thank you.