Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my right I have deputy minister of finance Bill MacKay, and on my left the assistant deputy minister Terence Courtoreille.

All right. I've been asked to take a brief recess for a moment.

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I will now open the floor for general comments from the Members. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So I think the Minister mentioned in her opening remarks that there's a cash flowing forward of a number of infrastructure projects, and I'm furiously trying to get the actual document in front of me, but can the Minister explain why it was necessary to cash flow this money forward? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there's -- I mean, there's different reasons that would attach to different individual projects, but fundamentally what we've asked departments to do was to look at the state or the progress of an individual project and determine whether or not the project would being proceeding in this specific fiscal year, and if not, that's when you would make an adjustment. And rather than waiting until the end of the fiscal year and having it all come forward next spring, this -- by doing it now just, you know, again allows better reporting back to the House and a better plan hopefully for the next -- for the coming spring year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Okay, thanks, Mr. Chair. So does this have anything, then, to do with our overbudgeting for capital that's happened over a number of years where, you know, we've been carrying forward 50 percent of the capital funds from year to year because with we just can't get the money out the door; there's not enough people to do the work, whatever? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I wouldn't necessarily characterize it entirely as that. Again, there's -- there is a new approach that we are using for the coming fiscal year, and that approach is meant to look -- you know, to bring a bit of that planning more strictly in at the front end. But there's going to still be occasions where projects don't advance for a variety of valid and reasonable reasons. But, you know -- so, again, I wouldn't necessarily characterize it all as that. But this review does give an opportunity to, at this point, again, bring it forward now rather than waiting until the spring. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.

Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. So I think now that I've got this up in front of me, I can see where some of these money -- so there's a lot of money being carried forward for some rather large mega-projects, things like the Fort Providence transmission line, the Whati transmission line. What does this do to the scheduling of these projects? And, you know, say the -- maybe the greenhouse gas reductions that these projects were supposed to deliver as part of the energy strategy, how does this affect the scheduling of all of this stuff? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I'm going to start -- I want to say I'll start at the back end of the questions first. With respect to any greenhouse gas reductions that are perhaps, you know, our hope to flow from projects, obviously it is, you know, an unknown at this point what would necessarily be the actual final changes to greenhouse gas emissions and there could be other factors at play in that regard such as, you know, weather or other reductions that might be taking place for other reasons associated. Now that said, as to the timing, it's just to be -- to be certain, these projects where there's money moving into the next fiscal it's because they did not advance in 2022-2023 and the money is moving -- generally moving forward into 2023-2024 so that the project is reflective of when it is likely to advance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. So is it the federal government's fine with us just pushing forward all of this money into future years and not delivering them by the dates that were promised? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Mr. Chair, there -- I mean, the short answer is yes. But I'd like to just turn it over to deputy minister on that front. There were conversations had not only with Department of Finance but the Department of Infrastructure as well, and the deputy minister might be better placed to just give a bit of assurance in that regard. Thank you.

Deputy minister.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So is all of this stuff in compliance with the fiscal responsibility policy? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, at this point it's still in compliance, Mr. Chair. I mean, again, it's the actuals that we see -- the actuals that we'd be getting numbers on in the fall is by the way in which you would measure whether or not you're in compliance with fiscal responsibility policy. But at this point, Mr. Chair, these changes are. Thank you.