This is page numbers 1843 - 1902 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 going.

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, and welcome. We will continue on where we left off: management board secretariat, beginning on page 150, with information items on page 154. We will go to the 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

Thanks, Madam Chair. I wanted to ask a question about the aviation sector support. I do believe that we need to be providing support for the aviation sector to continue to provide services, particularly to smaller communities. I know this was federal funding, and I think I heard the Minister say at some point that none of this was going to go into bonuses for directors and things like that. What does this money actually cover, and are there restrictions on what it can be used for? Thanks, 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, Member. 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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Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Chair. There were, so far, two rounds of funding, both of which were predominantly supported by the federal government but also topped up by the GNWT. With respect to what it entailed, the first round was, I believe, in the form of a grant. However, the second didn't come with a contribution agreement, and the second round of funding did have some stipulations as part of that agreement. I do not have that agreement with me, Madam Chair, but I believe either Mr. Kalgutkar or Mr. Koe may have that information, if I might direct it to them.

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. Deputy Minister Kalgutkar.

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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Kalgutkar

Thank you, Madam Chair. The second round was, in fact, a contribution agreement, like the Minister had indicated. There were conditions that went with that funding. Number one was, as the MLA had indicated, that they could not use it to pre-pay for bonuses or any other large capital investments; it was essentially to keep minimum essential flight scheduled services going into communities. 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. 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

Okay. Thanks, Madam Chair. I just want to move down the page to the NWT Heritage Fund. I know that my colleague from Thebacha was asking some questions yesterday about this. This just appears as a straight $7,600,000 contribution into the heritage fund each year, but I know this gets reconciled somehow. However, when I turn over to page (xii) of the main estimates, it shows that the non-renewable resource revenues figures are shown there. There is also the net fiscal benefit to Aboriginal peoples on that page. Those figures just do not match up, and there is a contribution to the NWT Heritage Fund on page (xii). Why is it reported differently on that page than on this one? Thanks, 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, Member. 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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Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Chair. What the page, I believe, here is looking at what would be the projections or estimates of where this is going to end up year over year, and it is based on numbers that were established at the time of devolution, whereas the summary of resource revenue sharing, I believe, is a more accurate estimate. However, again for perhaps a more technical response, if I could turn it over to the deputy minister, please.

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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Kalgutkar

Thank you, Madam Chair. The amount that is in the management board secretariat is the base budget that we have established for that. That was, as the Minister said, established when we signed the devolution agreement. The page called "Summary of Resource Revenue Sharing," page (xii), the summary pages of the main estimates is an illustration of how that calculation is made based on the estimated resource revenues that were anticipated to be collected those fiscal years. The page probably can benefit from a note of explanation at the bottom, of what the purpose of that page is, and we could certainly do that going forward. 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. Member 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

Yes. Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes. Then if you scroll down further into the main estimates, page 321, there is a single page that deals with the NWT Heritage Fund. I know we have not gotten to that yet, Madam Chair, but it shows different numbers for the Heritage Fund. I have got three different sets of numbers for the Heritage Fund in here. How would a member of the public know what is actually the real figure without some notes? It just does not make any sense whatsoever. I do not know why we are using devolution estimates. It has never come true. Quite frankly, I think it's just kind of misleading for anybody picking this up. They would not know exactly what is going into the heritage fund. I guess (xii) is our best guesstimate at this point. Is that the case? Thanks, 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, Member. 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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Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, there certainly are different numbers, each one serving a different purpose or having a different function, and I was not able to get to page 321. Certainly, with respect to the page that we are on right now, it is the base-budget approach to budgeting, where this is the base budget that has been allotted and that remains here. Again, the "Summary of Resource Revenue Sharing" is actually a summary based on actual estimates or at least the estimate of the actuals. However, again, and I think this was suggested yesterday, that we can take some efforts to shift the direction and the way in which these are reported, of course, keeping in line with necessary accounting standards. I do not disagree, as much as possible, again, as long as we are continuing to align with accounting standards. 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. 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

Thanks, Madam Chair. Okay. Just a little heads-up that I am going to be asking the Minister's sister Minister, Minister of ITI, about the catastrophic decline in resource revenues when we get to the ITI budget because that is really what feeds the net fiscal benefit transfer to the Aboriginal parties, which others have said is similarly going to decline from a predicted $10 million here to as little as $572,000. That is a 90 percent or more decline. However, I will leave that to when we get to ITI.

The Mackenzie Valley fibre link number that's shown in here, what does that really represent? Is that the annual payments that we are now giving to Northwestel as the P3 operator of the Mackenzie Valley fibre link? Thanks, 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, Member. 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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Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to direct that, if you don't mind, to the deputy minister, please.

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

Deputy Minister Kalgutkar.

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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Kalgutkar

Thank you, Madam Chair. A big chunk of it is for the service payment that we make to Northwestel on an annual basis. Another portion of it, I believe about $2 million of it, is for the remediation costs that we have in our budget, to make sure that the fibre line is still working in accordance with the permits that were assigned to the Department of Finance, and we do have annual remediation obligations to make sure that that line is up to those standards. 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. 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

Thanks, Madam Chair. Thanks for the information. The revenues from this, I don't know where I got this around $1.2 million. We are obviously paying a lot more than what we are getting back out of this. I was in the last Assembly. My impression was that this was going to sort of at some point transition into maybe closer to a break-even kind of situation. We are certainly nowhere near that now. Are we getting the kind of revenues that we expected or that were predicted out of the Mackenzie Valley fibre link? Thanks, Madam Chair.

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

Page 1856

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.