Thank you, Mr. Chair. From my understanding, in terms of the staff positions, it is less than one position, so it is something that we do need to look at and address. As I have said, moving forward, we do have a lot of responsibilities. We have taken a lot of work on. This is the most legislation we have done, so, you know, our resources are stretched, I would say, pretty thin, but we are doing the best with the resources that we do have within this department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

A dead horse has taken a beating tonight. Mr. Testart.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair, and I think the Minister's response indicates, you know, a sheepishness around this activity. The actuals, if you look at the budget document, you know, the actual from 2017-2018 was $233,000, and it is down to $150,000. Clearly, the department took a look at this function and cut the available resources, and that might have been because of a fiscal discipline activity or an austerity measure. I am not questioning that. What I am questioning is our government's commitment to the Consumer Protection Act when we have less than a person working on this advocacy. We just heard one of our witnesses give a very good reason why this is an important function and the department's past success in this. Why aren't we seeing more resources being put in this for a government that has a stated mandate of controlling the cost of living, which is correlated with competition rates in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will continue to keep this as a priority and a focus within the department. As I had mentioned, this is something that we will continue to work with and get that information out of how many concerns that have we have had. I did tell the Member that we will get that information to all Members and see how many complaints that we get every year. We will also work with our regional offices to get this information out on consumer protection for our consumers, to let them know what they are entitled to. Like any other program, I think this is one that needs to be looked at and evaluated and monitored, and we will commit to, I will commit to, doing that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Testart.

First, I thank the Minister for looking into it. I think the point here is that, if we have legislation that protects consumers and has had proven success in the past in doing that, then we should be looking at how we can advance that. I don't think a lot of people know about their rights under that act or what the department does in this regard. I would like to know why the appropriation has been reduced this year or why the budget has been reduced for this function this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Schauerte.

Thank you. Mr. Testart.

Thank you for that clarification. Okay, yes, I see that now. All right. What explains the increase? What was the additional spending? Thank you.

Thank you. Does the department have that information, Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Currently, we don't have that detail. I will make sure that staff get that information for the Member, and we'll share it with the Member. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Testart.

Nothing further, noting the clock. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The main estimates include a budget of $1.417 million for the first year of operations of 911 emergency services. Can you please give the Members a breakdown of this figure? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned when we went before standing committee, there are going to be some positions that need to be put in place, so we're going to be looking at emergency medical dispatchers, an emergency system officer, a manager, as well as premiums for shift work that people will have to do. There are also ongoing operation costs, such as program requirements of, for example, leasing spaces, communication, and obviously our information technology systems. Then obviously there are going to be one-time start-up costs that are initial training, as well as signage. I could give this document with the specific breakdown to Members, of what this is going to entail. As all Members know, this is before the House, and I know we will hopefully pass the reading in the clause-by-clause in the next little while, but we will share that detailed information with Members. Thank you.

Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, and I greatly appreciate the Minister's willingness to share that information with us. What does the department estimate the ongoing annual costs of this service to be, moving forward? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I had mentioned in standing committee when we did do the presentation, we are going to be doing a reporting system as well as evaluating the program itself. As it is going to be the first year of operations, we really don't know. As we evaluate the program, we'll have a better understanding of what those costs are going to be, and definitely going through the process what we're doing right now, of putting it through the budgetary system. Right now, we're really not sure what we're going to be looking at, but if we were going to put it on average, it would be about $1.2 million a year. Like I said, we'll be evaluating this program. Who knows how many calls we'll get, but that's a commitment we've made. We will do the evaluation.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.