Madam Chair, let's send that one over to the deputy minister, please.

Deputy minister Mackay.

Thank you. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So our November 12th briefing, I was the one who asked the question and we got an answer on November the 22nd that was addressed to my colleague here, the chair of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. And I had asked the question to do it by community, and you've done that on attachment 3.

And it shows the number of assets and the amounts by community. And usually what happens in the public accounts is that a standard formula is usually used by an accountant to -- overall, and in order to balance the public accounts for -- to meet these public account standards.

I mean it's -- it's a very simple -- we're going to so much here comparing apples to oranges when you're going into environmental sites and stuff like that when it's -- this is not -- has nothing to do with it.

I don't know why -- if you just read this document, it's very clear to me exactly what it is. And making sure that we don't account to the public that we're doing -- this is the way it has to be done, legally. And we're not talking about environmental sites and we're not talking about all these other things that are under federal jurisdiction. And in order to balance the public accounts, this is one of the standards they're asking for now and that's what we're doing. And it's very clear to me now, because I was the one who asked that question on November the 12th, and I was satisfied with the answer. That's why I wasn't going to ask -- I'm not asking any questions on it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. There are no questions in there. So we'll move on.

Any other further comments/questions under this section? Seeing none, we're going to call page.

Finance, office of the Comptroller General, $71,650,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Please turn now to the departmental summary found on page 26.

Finance, 2022-2023 Capital Estimates, $79,849,000. Does committee agree? Does committee agree that consideration of Department of Finance is now complete?

Thank you, Ministers. Sergeant-at-arms, you may escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.

Committee, we'll take a five minute break so that the Minister of ITI can get her witnesses.

I will now call Committee of Whole back to order.

Committee have agreed to review the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment next. Does the Minister wish to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

[Audio] Madam Chair.

Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Will the Minister please introduce her witnesses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, on your right is Pamela Strand, deputy minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment. And on your left is Nina Salvador who is the director of finance and administration.

The committee has agreed to forego general comments. Is committee agreed to the proceed to the detailed contained in the tabled document?

Committee, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment begins on page 40. We will defer the departmental totals and review the estimates by activity summary beginning on page 41 with economic diversification and business support with information on page 42. Questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I'm pleased to see that the construction for the fish plant has started, and I expect, I guess, it will be done next year. I guess what I would like to know is the initial cost of the plant -- I can't remember exactly what it was. But will there be any overruns in that? Are we looking at additional costs above what the contractor initially provided? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm not aware that there's been any additional costs at this point. Let me just turn quickly to Ms. Salvador and see if there's anything that's late breaking that I'm not aware of, please.

Thank you. Ms. Salvador.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess it's surprising that we have an additional cost of that amount. You know, considering that my understanding was the contract was let and agreed to based on the fact that it would probably go during the winter, and I think we had COVID already in place.

So I'm not sure what was missed there. And I would, I guess, ask where that extra money will come from to cover those additional costs. Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, I did forget that there were cost changes as a result of partly COVID-19, partly supply chain, one impacting the other. And of course those are estimates. They may well turn out not to be as high as anticipated.

I know that there has been funding identified thus far from projects that aren't advancing -- are not advancing as quickly as anticipated. I don't have the specifics on that at -- handy, but on those specific projects, I think, again, Ms. Salvador, I suspect will know exactly which projects that are seeing the transfer of funds to meet that additional cost.