Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Supplementary Appropriation No. 2 requests authority for additional appropriations of $22,726,040 made up of $14,943,410 for operations and maintenance expenditures and $7,783,050 for capital expenditures. These supplementary funding requirements include approximately $4.4 million that will be offset by new revenues or other means. As a result, the net funding requirement is $18.3 million. A number of inter-department transfers and transfers between operations and maintenance, and capital appropriations are also included in the supplementary appropriations which do not require additional funding.
The additional appropriations have been partially provided for in the estimated supplementary appropriation requirements included in the 1998-99 main estimates. The total supplementary appropriations, year to date, to exceed the original reserve; however, as a result of the revised revenue forecast and revenue offsets included in the supplementary appropriations, we do forecast yes, a balanced budget for 1998-99. The operations and maintenance appropriation requirements include: $9 million to address the shortfall in the fire suppression budget. This is the result of the extreme forest fire season with significantly more fires than in the previous three years. The capital appropriation requirements include $2.9 million to lease and renovate temporary facilities and establish a new capital project to replace the Cambridge Bay high school recently destroyed by fire. This funding will be offset by a recovery from the government's insurer that requires $2.1 million to address a shortfall in capital projects undertaken by Education, Culture and Employment. The department has been directed to negotiate with the Government of Canada for the recovery of $900,000 in additional costs associated with the construction of a French school in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.