Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, the NWT has been sustained since time immemorial on the traditional economies of First Peoples who harvested the fur, fish, timber, and other natural resources that our land is rich in. But as our economy has grown, so has the needs of our labour market, and immigration has become an important part of our story. This is how the Northwest Territories has built a diverse community that it boasts today, because of this welcoming nature of our people that has encouraged migration from every corner of the world. From France to the Philippines, Lebanon to India, these people come to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so I'm not going to say we shouldn't be spending money to lower the cost of living for Northerners, but it seems like this is kind of an endless cycle we're trapped in with the rate of -- the high cost of power in the Northwest Territories. So my first question is how much -- what's the total amount of money we provide for subsidies to consumers for their utility costs? Thank you.

Thank you. No, I appreciate the offer from the Minister but I don't -- I think the point is made. This is -- and it's not like -- I get it if it was like, well, we went to $40 million and we budgeted for $35 million, or $38 million or $50 million or even $60 million, but it's $188 million, and we're suppose -- we budgeted $35, right, so like this is -- I think -- you got to think of what the average reader who is looking at these documents sees and thinks about our financial process. And, again, when they hear we've got to belt tighten because we can't -- our expenditures are exceeding our...

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...