Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess and resume with the tabled document.

---SHORT RECESS

I will now call committee back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 16-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2019-2020. Does the Minister of Finance have any opening remarks?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present the Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2019-2020.

The Supplementary Estimates document proposes an increase of $1.3 million comprised of the following items:

• $418,000 for an enclosed cab snow blower for the Fort Smith airport that is fully funded by the Government of Canada's Airports Capital Assistance Program;
• $400,000 to initiate work under the Surface Structures Adaptation for Climate Resilience project agreement at the Mike Zubko airport in Inuvik. This project is 75 percent funded by the Government of Canada's Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund;
• $280,000 for one vehicle and three patrol boats for the establishment of three protected areas under the Nature Fund agreement, the costs of which are offset by Environment and Climate Change Canada; and
• $200,000 to commence initial environmental assessment and planning work to inform the construction of an all-weather road from Highway No. 4 to Lockhart Lake within the Slave Geological Province Corridor under the National Trade Corridors Fund.

Those are my opening remarks, Madam Chair. I would be happy to answer any questions that the committee might have.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With me this afternoon, I have Jamie Koe, deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board, and Terence Courtoreille, the director of the Management Board Secretariat.

Thank you. I will now open the floor for general comments, and the Members have ten minutes each. Seeing no general comments, we will proceed to a review of the supplementary estimates by department. We will begin with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. I will now open the floor to general comments on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Can the Minister tell us what these three patrol boats are for?

Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are three jet boats and one truck that are being purchased for the operations and management of three Indigenous and territorial protected areas, the Thaidene Nene, the Ts'ude niline Tu'eyeta -- I am looking over this way for some help -- and Dinaga Wek'ehodi. I will practice over the course of Indigenous Languages Month, Madam Chair.

Member O'Reilly.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that information from the Minister. I understand that this is federal money. What's the term of the agreement, and when is it going to end? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a four-year, four-fiscal-term agreement, so it will be running until 2023. I'm sorry; I'm having trouble hearing the Member, so I think I may have missed some of his question. I will put my earpiece on. I apologize if I didn't hear all of it.

Member O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister. What happens after 2023, if there are capital needs for these three protected areas? As I understand it, there is going to be a master plan or a plan developed for each of these; presumably, there are going to be some efforts to encourage local business development and tourism with these new protected areas. What happens after four years, if there are capital needs for these areas? Are we going to have to go to the federal government cap in hand, or is this something that we would start to fund ourselves? Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a little more faith in the system, perhaps, insofar as the nature of the three protected areas is such that they are investments by the Government of the Northwest Territories as well as the federal government, and in partnership with the Indigenous communities and Indigenous governments of those areas; so I am perhaps a little bit more optimistic as to their future and the future partnerships between the governments.

I can note for the Member that Environment and Natural Resources is continuing ongoing research into the long-term planning in order to make sure that there is a bridge over any funding gaps that might arise after the 2023 point in time, so, while that's not a complete answer, I can assure the Member that the department is alive to his concerns.

Member O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Thanks to the Minister for those. I have lots of confidence in our Indigenous governments and their ability to protect these areas, plan for them, and so on. I am not as confident, though, when it comes to our government. When I continued to ask questions in the last Assembly about where the money was going to come from and how much our government was prepared to dedicate to Thaidene Nene, for example, I was told that our total commitment was $190,000 a year. That's what I'm concerned about, is our commitment as a government to these areas, not everybody else's. Just to clarify that for the Minister, and I don't expect a response, but I will certainly be watching this very carefully moving forward to make sure that our government continues to invest in these areas as part of our economic diversification. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Madam Chair, I don't have any particular specific reply, other than to reassure that, certainly over the next four years, this is a joint contribution and that the Government of the Northwest Territories continues to contribute and support these protected areas.

Thank you, Minister. Are there any more questions? Mr. Bonnetrouge.

Thank you. Yes, I note in here that Fort Smith airport is getting an enclosed-cab snow blower, and it's listed at $418,000. In the other, climate change ones, you've got three patrol boats and a vehicle for $280,000. I'm not sure what kind of a snow blower this is. Can you provide some details as to why this is $418,000? Mahsi.