Thank you, Minister. Member for FrameLake

No, thanks, Madam Chair. That's good to hear, and I think important for the public to understand that. And it's one of the reasons why we couldn't make the reductions in the main estimates themselves, because we wanted to make sure that this was done carefully and thoughtfully. So I think it's fair to say that there's going to be a some concerns or questions around some of the other items in the supplementary appropriation and we'll get to those items a little later this afternoon. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Are there any further general comments? Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think once we start opening up and going back to somewhat normal, you know, I do not want to discourage travel. I think that face to face and some of these contacts that could have been made during these past two years with our new Cabinet and Premier must take place, and along with the MLAs on this side. It's extremely important that contact is of great value to any government, and I don't want to lose sight of that when you start deducting all travel, okay. Because, I mean, there has to be some travel. You know, there's things that we expect the ITI Minister to go to. We expect the Education Minister to expand his horizons. If we're going to be doing these kind of things, we can't limit everything, okay. It's at the discretion of how the travel is going to be done. And I just want to make that comment because I'm not one to tie hands and do all these things because I'm one about vision, improving government face to face. You don't get the same thing on Zoom. I don't care how many times you go on Zoom, you don't get it. Just a comment. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Finance.

Yes, Madam Chair. I'm certainly somewhat Zoomed out myself. And I can say, you know, I do think, Madam Chair, that every department does still have a travel budget, and I appreciate the comments. There will be some business, I suspect FPTs, for example, the federal-provincial-territorial meetings that we often attend, where those may be slower to open up because there are so many different travel restrictions across Canada, whereas perhaps other areas of travel will be soon-- faster to open up. And I-- I can certainly say that I think every-- I think can probably safely speak for every colleague here that there's no replacing of face to face and if we need a reminder, the Zoom experience has probably taught us all that. But at the same time, there's more that can happen online as well. So we're going to be spending the next year, no doubt, seeing how that balance unfolds and then probably over the coming years as well. So there's still travel money in every department; it's just that it wasn't all-- it wasn't necessarily a blanket 20 percent. There really was effort to look at what is spent where and by -- and for what purpose. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Thebacha.

MS. MARTSELOS; Well, Madam Chair, I just want to make sure that no hands are tied. You know, once we get to a new normal, it won't be the same as before, nothing's going to be the same, but I want to make sure that this government is able to operate in a very-- with a new vision of reaching out and making sure that they have the opportunity to learn and to see different things and do-- have that face to face contact, including not -- all Members in this Assembly. Restricting travel and think you're going to save a dime and in the end you end up spending more on something else is not okay. If you're going to move ahead in the economy and in business and in anything else, you have to be able to have that contact, you know. You should be able to just click of a -- and you know who to phone. I mean, some of them have it already, but that face to face is missing here. Some of my colleagues always talk about Zoom and all this other thing about online and stuff. I'm not with that. I get my job done by being face to face. I like to know the reactions. I like to know all those things. And it's very important in leadership. Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have any other comments.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Finance.

Madam Chair, there are department staff watching these proceedings, and I think the comments will be well taken. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it's always, like, interesting to be on this side and see how things function and one of the new things to me was, I think I mentioned last time, the negotiation that happens between Cabinet and the Regular Members. So I, too, want to thank the Minister for participating in that and actually I believe it went fairly smoothly from what I heard feedback on. And also just in that, I want to say 'thank you' to her specifically for the antipoverty funding money. Instead of bringing it up when we get to that section, I'll just speak to her right now.

It's really important to me that we see more money going into the hands of our NGOs. They are filling the gaps and services that we aren't able to provide as COVID changes our landscape. So for me, I think that it's always important because NGOs will always stretch their money more. And I know I'm saying things that, I see the Premier nodding and such, because this is their area, but, yeah, they'll always do more with their money than, I believe, the government will. So for me, I just really wanted to specifically speak and say thank you for the money for the antipoverty fund and so now we just have to work on the making sure that money gets out the door easily with as little red tape as possible. So, thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister, did you have any comments?

For sure. That it is actually a good example of where I think numbers identify an area of issue and an area of concern. We're able to come up with some faith and trust in the department to look at and say what can we do to address your concern, and then there was this discussion. So these are all good examples of how that process can and should work. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Any further questions, comments? I see no further general comments. Seeing no further general comments, we will review the supplementary estimates by department. The committee has agreed to forego general comments on each department. Does the committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document? Committee has agreed to begin the review with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Does committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?

Okay, we will begin with Department of Education, Culture and Employment on page 4.

Supplementary Estimates (Operating Expenditures), No. 1, 2021-2022, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Culture Heritage and Language, not previously authorized, $27,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Supplementary Estimates (Operation Expenditures), No. 1, 2021-2022, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, early learning and childcare, not previously authorized, $451,000. Does committee agree?

Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll try and keep my comments brief considering we already agreed to this. I'm very happy to see the child care infrastructure fund. This is much needed money. I believe, though, we need something like $20 million to make up our infrastructure deficit to get to the required-to place where all our communities have child care. And I know the previous fund was oversubscribed. And I'm hoping we can get this money out the door very quickly, and I know the department will do that. I guess I'm just looking for-- I know some of the previous applications didn't quite meet the criteria or didn't necessarily get funding, and there's a very large demand in this area. I'm just looking for a commitment that we will reach out to those people who had previously applied for this fund and, you know, work with them to continue applications for the top-up here. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Finance.

Madam Chair, I think that's a question for the Minister of Education.

Minister of EC and E.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This money is long gone; it's out the door.

---Laughter

And there are discussions between, you know, our-- between ECE, people in the regions, people at headquarters and communities who are require infrastructure and so, you know, if a project wasn't successful for whatever reason, there are those conversations that have happened. So that work is definitely being done. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.