This is page numbers 3095 - 3130 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.

Topics

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Deputy minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Gareau

Thank you, Madam Chair. So on the capital budget, the $29 million that you see in the draft capital estimates, that has previously -- that was increased just a couple years ago. Previously, it was $28 million. We do not apply a forced growth factor or any sort of calculations. That's a standard figure that appears in the main estimates every year. And it's on the O and M and the operations and maintenance and the water and sewage side where we recognize the costs to community governments of operating their capital. And that's where we do any forced growth changes, things like, you know, increased cost of fuel or power or, you know, higher costs to hire staff and other operating costs experienced by community governments. That's where those are captured. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, yeah, that makes sense to me. But I guess then my question would be as communities, you know, they're not deciding one year to the next to create infrastructure or build infrastructure, so will there not be an increased infrastructure cost or capital cost due to what's happened with COVID, say, for ongoing projects and how will communities deal with that increased cost if they -- you know, if this budget is stagnant for this year, or these COVID years. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you. First and foremost, you know, we focus on what the government does, but there's also own community- sourced funding that they be able to allocate, or generate. We also have gas tax. We also reach out every time the federal government comes to us with additional programs out there, we try to tap into that. Unfortunately, you don't see it into the capital plan but there's been lots and lots of money from the federal government that's come into the communities, but because it's only a one-time opportunity, it doesn't show up and it doesn't also show up in a deficit. So for further detail -- if I missed anything, I'll actually turn to the -- with your permission, to the deputy minister. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Deputy Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Gareau

Thank you, Madam Chair. MACA staff work with community governments to help them develop five-year capital plans. So annually, we sit down with community governments, help them review their plans, look at their infrastructure needs, look at what the cost impact is going to be.

We try to assist them with doing projections around, you know, supply chain issues, rising costs of materials, and what impact that may have on their ability to fund what capital.

Community governments also -- many of them have really good relationships with each other. You know, they get information from each other. They also frequently will hire technical expertise to help them, you know, develop their capital plan and to better understand what kind of costs they may face in the future so they do that planning ability annually to help recognize that costs may rise, and many community governments also have capital reserves to be able to draw on if they are experiencing cost overruns in their capital projects.

And as Minister Thompson stated, there is federal funding available as well for all community governments to assist with some priority projects. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Great Slave.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate that. I think that the Minister and deputy minister are able to explain it more eloquently than I can ask about it and so I appreciate that they understood what I was trying to get at there. And I'm glad to hear that there are some capital reserves, but I would assume that's very community specific and not necessarily all communities would have that ability.

I guess more of a comment here too is just that this does seem like another area then, if we are -- have communities relying on federal funding, and we've talked about it lots with the housing situation, then we need those grant writers and people within those communities in that capacity there for them to be applying on all this federal funding, and I think again it crosses all the departments in the GNWT, and we've spoke to that. We had hoped there was going to be that position with the housing money. We don't think it was quite what we wanted it to be. So I would also say that MACA could very much be looking to increase grant writing capacity or funding capacity writers within the communities. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister, did you want to respond?

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Yeah, thank you. So the department actually works hand-in-hand with the communities. We have regional staff out there that will work with communities. So when federal funding comes out that fits into -- well, sometimes they may not fit in to what we're looking at, but we try to work with the communities to see how we can make it fit in to what they're trying to achieve. So it might be a different project that they may have to do later on instead of what they're trying do. So we will look at it through that way. So we very much have staff that work together from headquarters in regions to work with them on it. So we agree that we need to be able to do that, but we do tap into it. And soon as the federal government starts providing opportunities for new programs, our headquarter staff is reaching out to them to have those conversations, what's the parameters, what the direction is and what we need to do. So we're very capable of doing that, but, again, it's about working with the communities and meeting their needs as they ask us to help. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Any further questions on this section? Seeing none. Municipal and Community Affairs -- oh, okay. Well, we're going to run out of time so then I'll just -- I'll have to carry it over until Monday, we're going to run out of time. Member for Frame Lake.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I was scrambling looking for the motion about how to finish off the item we are on, but I think I have to move that the chair rise and report progress.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. There's a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour. Opposed. Motion is carried.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Report of Committee of the Whole. May I please have the report, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Report Of Committee Of The Whole
Report Of Committee Of The Whole

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 437-19(2) and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Report Of Committee Of The Whole
Report Of Committee Of The Whole

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Do we have a seconder? Member for Sahtu. All those in favour. All those opposed. Motion is carried.

--Carried

Report Of Committee Of The Whole
Report Of Committee Of The Whole

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Third reading of bills. Third reading of bills. Madam Clerk, orders of the day.

Orders Of The Day
Orders Of The Day

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Deputy Clerk Of The House Ms. Franki-Smith

[Translation]

  1. Prayer
  2. Ministers' statements
  3. Members' statements
  4. Returns to Oral Questions
  5. Recognition of visitors in the gallery
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. Oral questions
  8. Written questions
  9. Return to written questions
  10. Replies to Commissioner's address
  11. Petitions
  12. Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
  13. Reports of Standing and Special Committees
  14. Tabling of Documents
  15. Notices of Motion
  16. Motions
  17. Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
  18. First Reading of Bills
  19. Second Reading of Bills
  20. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
  • Bill 23, an Act to Amend the Public Utilities Act
  • Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act
  • Bill 29, Resource Royalty Information Disclosure Statute Amendment Act
  • Bill 30, An Act to Amend the Aurora College Act
  • Bill 31, An Act to Amend the Pharmacy Act
  • Bill 32, An Act to Amend the Northern Employees Benefits Services Pension Plan Act
  • Bill 33, National Indigenous Peoples Day Act
  • Bill 36, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act
  • Tabled Document 437-19(2), Capital Estimates 2022-2023
  • Tabled Document 438-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2021-2022
  • Tabled Document 439-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2021-2022
  • Tabled Document 466-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization), No. 4, 2020-2021
  1. Report of Committee of the Whole
  2. Third Reading of Bills

23. Orders of the Day

[Translation Ends]

Orders Of The Day
Orders Of The Day

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Monday, November 29th, 2021, at 1:30 p.m.

---ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 2:02 p.m.