Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have with me Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, who is the deputy secretary to the FMB. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I will open the floor to general comments from committee to the capital estimates as a whole. If there are detailed questions, please hold them until we get to the detail contained within the document.

Any general comments from committee on the capital estimates? Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I note that this is the biggest ever, apparently, Infrastructure budget, the bulk of which is going towards roads and the bulk of which is being driven by the federal government's shared-cost projects that are going on at the moment.

I recognize that these projects are an important generator of labour income in communities throughout the NWT, but it is not clear at all how much of that labour is NWT labour, especially given the scope and size of these projects. I wonder, as well, given that, whether it would make more sense to spread the money out. It seems as if this is a similar situation that we got into with the mines, where they were all developed at once, and so the NWT labour pool wasn't large enough to supply labour to all three. I wonder if the same thing will happen with these large infrastructure projects. We do know that there have been considerable carry-overs year-to-year because of the amount of spending to be done and the relative lack of contractors.

What I see, as well, in this budget, is that much-needed investment in new schools is being pushed off into the 19^th Assembly. There are key school projects that need to be completed, where schools are inadequate for the size of the student population, or they are inadequate because they have become in need of a major retrofit. What I see is that that investment has mostly been pushed off to the 19^th Assembly.

I also note that there are no new investments in building new housing, although we know that more housing is needed, especially for seniors. There are huge waiting lists for rent-geared-to-income housing, affordable housing, here in Yellowknife, and we know that Mary Murphy seniors' home is aging and will need to be replaced. We also know that the Rockhill Apartments have burned down, and there is hope for a replacement of that building, and also, of course, a replacement for the Hay River Family Support Centre. It is important to note that that is not the only Family Support Centre that is in dire need of replacement. Of course, that particular building has been torn down, but it is my understanding that the family violence shelter in Tuktoyaktuk is not in very good shape either.

There are, of course, more projects in the queue, and roads seem to be taking a disproportionate amount of space here.

The other thing I wanted to mention of projects in the queue is an investment in tourism is required above and beyond what is mentioned in these capital estimates, specifically in a visitor information centre for Yellowknife, another in Tuktoyaktuk, and for park expansions in both places, where the parks in the Yellowknife area have become very full, and in Tuktoyaktuk, there are very limited tourism facilities, and more are needed now that that road is open.

I realize this is a capital budget, but I really do think that we need more money for the operating budgets, and we don't have to look any further than today's debate about resourcing the Child and Family Services area of Health and Social Services. Clearly, it is under-resourced. It has been under-resourced for many years, and there is more money required in that operating budget.

There are other budgets that we have discussed, operations and maintenance, departmental budgets, where we have identified a need for more spending to keep up with the demand for services, let alone introduce new ones.

With that said, I am looking forward to debating the details of the capital budget when we get into the particular departments. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Next, I have Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to see that we have the capital budget before us. I do appreciate that this is a significant capital investment for us, a little bit more than what we normally see on a year-to-year basis in capital.

I appreciate that the federal government, this year, is aligning themselves to make significant dollar-matching contributions. A good portion of this year's capital budget, we are going to be able to expand on it significantly because a number of our dollars are going to be matched by federal dollars to the tune of 75 cents for every 25 cents of ours. That is a welcomed partnership and relationship with the federal government that is going to lead to critical pieces of infrastructure that will continue to build strong and, of course, sustainable territory and necessary infrastructure that we need in many aspects.

Something I wanted to allude to was that, while investments in highways and roads are significant, and that is just the nature of those types of projects, we are also making significant headway in a number of other areas. I think it is worth noting that $42 million towards energy projects is a very significant investment.

We continue to make very good investments in upgrading and replacement of health facilities. We have been doing that for a number of years, but we are also continuing on our Deferred Maintenance Program, and that also includes a number of energy upgrades to GNWT-owned assets, to the tune of about another $9 million. Given the size of our jurisdiction and our population, I am rather impressed with the investment that we are making in capital dollars towards energy upgrades and energy initiatives for our size of territory.

That said, though, I do have an underlying concern. Capital dollars are dollars that are often spent outside of the city of Yellowknife, and are expended in a number of the remote and smaller communities and allow for significant increase in employment opportunities in those regions. As we have heard before or just heard earlier from my honourable colleague from Yellowknife Centre is that carry-overs remain a concern. I am hoping that the Department of Finance can find some solutions to the challenges of which I know there is no easy solution, and that there are a number of facets involved as to why projects can be difficult to deliver upon, but that there needs to be some considerable effort put towards reducing our annual carry-overs.

In our last couple of capital budgets, we have seen instances where almost 50 percent of that year's budget has been carried forward, and now with the capital budget that is one of the largest that we have seen in a number of years. This remains a concern. I am hoping that we can hear from the department on some of the aspects that they are hoping to undertake in order to overcome that challenge.

That is it for now. I don't really have any specifics until we get into department-by-department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next on my list I have Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to see a large infrastructure investment being brought before the House. I think infrastructure is the easiest way to create growth and jobs in the short term, and, if the projects are targeted in a good way, they can be a strategic investment in the future of all our communities and the future of our economy.

My only real concerns is actually the large size of this budget, and my colleague the honourable Member from Yellowknife North spoke well to this point. If you look at the percentage of infrastructure carry-overs from 2002-2013, the average was 32 percent of all funds carried over into the next year. If we apply that percentage to this proposed budget, that is $103 million. From 2017-2018 to 2018-2019, the carry-over percentage was 46 percent, $130 million of $270 million in the total appropriation. My concerns are primarily around that. I would love to see all this appropriation get spent and directly invested, but it does seem like the government struggles at times to move all of the infrastructure investment out the door. I know the Minister has given this some thought, and has some ideas on how we can improve this. If we are looking at nearly 50 percent of this appropriation not being spent in the year it is supposed to be, I think we have to really ask ourselves: are we doing the best job we can in investing in the economy and investing in critical infrastructure? It is a big territory, and I know many of my colleagues have issues with the large percentage of capital spending on highways, roads, bridges, and culverts, but, given the size and the geographical remoteness, I think those investments are just a necessity of life in the NWT now.

I think we have to do the best job we can in this last term to make the biggest impact on the economy, and I think this budget is headed in the right direction, but I would appreciate if the Minister could alleviate some of my concerns around these large percentages of carry-overs that we see year and year again. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Do you have further comments, Mr. Testart?

No, sorry.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. What we will do is we will do a round of general comments, and I will give the Minister a chance to respond. Next, I have Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do have some general questions for the Minister, so I would like to start with whether there have been any calculations done to ensure that the capital budget fully complies with the fiscal responsibility policy. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Yes, it does. Sorry, I was cut off guard there. You said we were going to do a round and then have the Minister respond to all concerns at once, but yes.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly threw a wrench in our plan here, and he had specific questions. He has nine minutes of specific questions for you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm not sure I have nine minutes of questions, but I like the idea of wrenches. If the Minister has done those calculations, is that something that can be shared with the public? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

I don't see why not, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I look forward to the Minister then finding a way to make that information public, whether he tables it in the House or posts it on the Department of Finance website. Those are my two suggestions.

I've heard some concerns from Regular MLAs, and I too have concerns about the amount of carry-overs. Can the Minister tell us: is there a percentage of the capital budget that really represents carry-overs or a dollar amount that would allow us to understand what the carry-overs are from previous years? Can the Minister provide that information? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in all fairness to some of the previous speakers that had some concerns with carry-overs, I think I may as well address that issue right now. The Members are correct. There is a significant amount of carry-overs. Last year, I believe it was a little over $100 million in carry-overs. It could be for different reasons. Projects could be in the planning stages; the money is appropriated for a particular project. It could be in the planning stages. Contracts could not be let; contracts could just be assigned. That could be some of the reasons for the carry-overs.

I have had discussions with my Cabinet and FMB colleagues, and I have asked them about the amount of carry-overs and that there was a concern with the amount of carry-overs, and, if the projects were sitting in the hopper for too long, then maybe it's time that we reallocated that money if there hasn't been any significant movement on some of the projects. I will be monitoring that quite closely to be sure that we don't have too many projects sitting in the hopper for a couple, two or three years, and if there is an opportunity to use that money elsewhere, to the Member's second point.

I hope that addresses some of the Members' concerns with the amount of carry-overs we have. There are different reasons for carry-overs. Maybe this is an item that I need to sit down with committee and give them a good briefing on it with some of the numbers that are involved. As for the Member's other question, I'm going to ask Mr. Kalgutkar to reply to it, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Kalgutkar.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.