Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 8.2(7) and have Bill 59 be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you.

Thank you. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to move Bill 59 into Committee of the Whole later today. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Hearing none, Bill 59 has been referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration later today.

Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters. Bill 23, Bill 29, Committee Report 34-19(2), Tabled Document 723-19(2), with Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes in the chair.

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, committee wishes to deal with Tabled Document 723-19(2), 2023-2024 Capital Estimates Finance; Committee Report 34-19(2), Report on the Review of the 2020-2021 Annual Report of the Ombud; Bill 58, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act; and Bill 59, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscite Act. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We'll take a short recess and start with the first item.

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Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 723-19(2), Capital Estimates 2023-2024. Committee, we will now consider the Department of Finance. Does the Minister of Finance wish to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

Yes, I do, Madam Chair.

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

Minister, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, with me today are Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of finance, and Rick Wind, chief information officer.

Thank you. Welcome. Committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?

Committee the Department of Finance begins on page 32. We will defer the departmental totals and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning at page 33 with the Office of the Chief Information Officer with information items on page 34.

Finance, Office of the Chief Information Officer, infrastructure investments, $3,380,000. Does committee agree? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'm going to ask one of the questions I always ask about, is I have concerns that we do not publish the cost of any projects. And, you know, I can kind of understand for tendering certain things but here I'm looking at a list of software. I guess, is there any concern that if we went out and tendered this software, and somewhere in the public record of this Assembly we showed the costs that we expected it to be, that that would affect the tender? I'll note that I have never seen a IT project or software licence come in anywhere on time or on budget to date. So I have a hard time believing that if I put the amount that we expect it to cost in here that some company who designs software is going to tweak their bid accordingly. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, I mean, it's the same answer in as much as the Member is saying it's the same question which is that, you know, other than I think the Yukon, other jurisdictions don't publish the costs because of the concern that everyone will just simply bid to the known budget rather than trying to put some effort in to minimize costs. So yes, I mean, and just to distinguish it's, you know, actual costs as they are incurred certainly are made available and those updates are made available. But it's the budget that is the issue because it's the budget that we don't want someone -- there is a risk of someone, you know, bidding up to the maximum of the budget rather than making an effort to find ways to minimize those costs. Now, the specific example given with respect to information projects, perhaps having given those general comments on that specific I'd suggest it go to Mr. Wind, please.

Thank you. Mr. Wind.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yeah, thank you. I guess I'll also reiterate another concern is I really wish that when the capital budgets were estimated or were included that some public information was included about each of these so I did not have to go through each one and ask for a status update. But I'm going to ask for a couple here.

The student records module replacement I see completed for 2025-2026. Can someone just confirm to me, I believe we had previously passed money, and I thought this was for ECE, for a student record system and then I believe at one point the Minister of ECE said we went out to tender it and then it came back and way over budget and then the company didn't want to do it, or is this is a completely different student records system? Can I just have some history of the student records system. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't have that level of detail. But let me start with the deputy minister and someone at this table might.

Thank you. Deputy minister.