Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Consideration of Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, 2022-2023 Main Estimates, operations expenditures, total department, is deferred.

---Carried.

Thank you, Minister. Thank you to the witness for appearing before us. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.

Committee, we've agreed to consider tabled -- order.

We've agreed to consider Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023. Does the Minister of Finance have any opening remarks?

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, I am pleased to present the 2022-2023 Main Estimates for the Department of Finance. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $33 million, or 10.9 percent, over the 2021-2022 Main Estimates. These estimates support the mandate objectives for the Department of Finance while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of these proposed estimates include:

• The sunset of $1.1 million in contributions to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation associated with the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund Agreement;
• $3.3 million in forced growth which includes $1.9 million in additional funding for insurance premiums for coverage of GNWT wide assets, $262,000 to increase the capacity of Finance to provide benefits services to GNWT employees and $1.1 million increase to the contribution to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation for public housing expansion and additional property tax costs;
• An incremental increase to the Carbon Tax Offset rebates of $8.2 million and an incremental increase of $12.2 million for annual service payments for the Tlicho All-Season Road;
• An increase of $2.94 million to accompany salary increases resulting from the new collective agreement with the Union of Northern Workers which includes $2.06 million directly related to Finance and $882,000 to be provided to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation;
• $8.5 million to account for the increased accretion and amortization costs in compliance with the new accounting standards for asset retirement obligations; and,
• A reduction to travel budgets of $602,000 to align expenditure appropriations with duty travel requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic of which $68,000 applies to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

These estimates continue to support the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly and supports the vision of Budget 2022, by:

• Supporting strategic investments to expand the economy and reduce the cost of living in communities across the Northwest Territories;
• Continue to deliver and improve procurement services and contracting opportunities; and,
• Ensuring that GNWT departments have the support they require to manage both human and financial resources appropriately.

That concludes my opening remarks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Do you wish to bring witnesses into the House?

Yes, please, Madam Chair.

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

Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses.

Madam Chair. Madam Chair, on your right, Bill MacKay is the deputy minister of Finance. And on the left, Terence Courtoreille is the deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board.

Thank you, and welcome. The committee has agreed to forego general comment. Does the committee agree to proceed to the detail tabled in the document?

Thank you. Committee, we will defer the departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary beginning with the directorate starting on page 140 with information items on page 143. Questions? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I actually have a few questions about the departmental summary that are just unique to Finance. I'm wondering if you would prefer I ask them at the end or ask them now.

I would -- when we go back and we call the departmental summary, then you can ask in regards to the departmental summary. So do you have questions on the directorate? Anybody has questions on the directorate? Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So yeah, there's I think a new item on pages 141 and 142, something called social justice fund. I just love the name of that.

Can someone explain to me what that's all about? It looks like it's something that might have been negotiated as part of a progressive collective agreement. I'd love to hear from the Minister about that. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, that's great. It shows what organized labour can do. And the other 50 percent, then, that doesn't go to the United Way, does that stay within the PSAC social justice fund for them to disburse? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I believe that is correct. Madam Chair, if I may also I just wanted to note that there can be deductions of up to $0.02 an hour from bargaining Members units -- from a bargaining Member. So a bit of a plug for this social justice fund, it's something I'm also fond of. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister -- I'm sorry, Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, no, thanks. I think this is really good. You know, it's helpful that -- I know I think in the past, I think you can see there's a line item for contribution to United Way NWT. I think that was kind of how this got started a few years back where UNW and GNWT both were involved with the United Way, which does great work, and they basically serve as a clearing house for a number of other NGOs and, you know, valuable work by NGOs that's conducted across the NWT. So very happy to see this and glad that our government agreed to these negotiations. I don't have anything further. Thanks.

Oh. The contribution to the Housing Corporation, it's what you see on page 142, and of course this is the main avenue for GNWT to provide funding to the Housing Corporation. So I was glad to see that it's actually going up a bit, maybe a couple -- not quite $2 million in 2022-2023. Does this include the extra $5 million that the Regular MLAs pushed for in the last budget, or where would that be found? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm going to direct this over to the deputy minister, please, or to Mr. Courtoreille. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Courtoreille.