Thank you, Madam Chair. It is slightly more complicated than that, Madam Chair. If I could direct it over to the deputy minister, please.

Deputy minister.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have some issues with this showing up in the Finance budget. I recognize perhaps there is an argument to be made that we should subsidize power in the smaller communities, the thermal communities, a.k.a. diesel communities. Providing power to those communities is extremely costly, but I just question why this shows up in Finance. The Power Corporation already has a variance of rates used for different regions. There is already a formula set out where, I believe, Fort Smith pays less power than Hay River, and Hay River pays a little more than Yellowknife. There are different rates based on the infrastructure and the costing that the Power Corporation has done. As an arm's-length government corporation, can I just get some reasoning as to why we then go and give them more money for this specific program? It seems out of touch with how they do the rest of their programming. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Not being responsible for the Power Corporation, I am not well-placed to answer this, but let me see if I could direct it to the deputy minister. He may be able to fill in some details.

Deputy minister.

Thank you, deputy minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will leave that one as it is. It's there because it's there. I have asked this previously: the Internal Audit Bureau does a number of functions. I am actually very unclear exactly what they do or what their reports look like, because they are confidential and I've never seen one. One of my concerns is that we are going through a process to renew our financials, and in much of that work, the Comptroller General and the Internal Audit Bureau, I believe, already does; or at least the description of what they are supposed to do includes things such as risk assessment or evaluation of value for money of programming. Is the Minister willing to share the reports of the Internal Audit Bureau with committee? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Internal Audit Bureau doesn't do program evaluation or the value for dollar, necessarily, in the same way as an accredited evaluator would. They are responsible for and certainly they do do evaluations and examinations that look at risk and do risk assessments across different departments, so I need to take away and see what information we can provide. I certainly would like to ensure that the work that they are doing is more accessible. I have had some conversations with the department, but we haven't quite landed on where and how to best make that information available. I will commit to getting something, and I have every confidence that, if the Members of the committee are unsatisfied, then we will discuss that in further detail. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Moving on to the medical travel assistance line, $8,788,000, I believe this is the medical travel that applies to GNWT workers only. My understanding is also that, when you compare this number to the amount of GNWT workers and their dependants that it serves compared to the medical travel larger for the territory, it's clear that we are paying a much higher rate for GNWT workers' medical travel. Can I just have the Minister speak to some of the reasons for that and some of the extras that you get in medical travel when you are a GNWT employee? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the Member is correct. This is a line item that is reflective of basically an employee benefit, not dissimilar to the fact that other workplaces would have medical or dental or other types of benefits. This is a specifically medical benefit that is part of the collective bargaining agreement that is negotiated on behalf of GNWT employees. As to the specifics, it actually may well have been in response to a question from one of the MLAs recently that I have had that outlined, but if I could, perhaps, I will see if the deputy minister has that handy, please.

Thank you. Deputy minister.

Thank you, deputy minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize that this is driven by collective bargaining, and that is what it is. We always try to find some sort of agreement at the bargaining table, but I think there is a bit of an equity here where, if you're a GNWT worker, your medical travel is much better than if you are a general member of the public. I just heard you get your per diems covered based on a GNWT rate. I can see the justification for providing our employees per diems when travelling for work, but I'm not sure that same justification applies for medical travel when they could just as well use the medical travel that is good enough for every other NWT resident at a much lesser cost. I don't have control over collective bargaining, but my question for the Minister is: is this something that she is willing to bring to the collective bargaining table to look at as a potential cost-saving area? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Madam Chair, many members of the general public actually have access to their own medical plans through their own employers and their own employee benefit plans. I just want to caution that it's maybe not quite fair or accurate to compare this to every member of the general public. I also have no doubt that there are many members of the general public who do not have access to any kind of medical plans or certainly not one that is equivalent to this, but they may have other benefits that accrue to them. We certainly have a generous medical benefit for employees, and it is part of collective bargaining.

As to the details and contents of collective bargaining, I am not in a position to sit here right now and make a commitment, because that is something that goes through a deputy minister's committee process, goes through Cabinet, and is one that is taken fairly seriously and considered quite carefully in light of the importance of having our staff and our collective bargaining go in a way that is respectful. I suppose I, frankly, should note that there is an outstanding notice to bargain right now, so I would not be in a position to make any commitments one way or the other. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Comments or questions from Members regarding the Office of the Comptroller? No further questions. Please turn to page 156. Finance, Office of the Comptroller General, operations expenditures summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $76,631,000. Does committee agree?