This is page numbers 3755 - 3792 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, this is an issue or topic that has come up before. Thank you, and I -- to the Members, and I am happy to say that I'd be -- that I do intend to do a review of the fiscal responsibility policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, I prefer a three-letter word known as "yes". But thank you, I'll take it.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain the plan to increase the cushion in our finances between total borrowing and our total borrowing debt limit? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So can I explain the plan to increase the cushion? So Mr. Speaker, let me just take a step back if I might perhaps and I am mindful of time, mindful of your admonition around the length of answers, but this is really something that's going to -- you know, the big part of what the Department of Finance does, the borrowing plan that we have, and the main estimates that are before you. So I look forward to continuing the conversation in the Committee of the Whole with Finance next week.

Mr. Speaker, right now when we have -- we do have borrowing room still for this year and next year and even going into the future. Obviously as our surpluses go down and the needs for cash increase, the room will continue to get smaller and narrower. But a lot -- there's a lot of things that are underway, particularly on the front of MTS, Health and Social Services, and those are two areas where we've identified the risk. So there's the health sustainability work that's happening to help and try alleviate those pressures which are increasing our short-term debt, and I know that there's work happening over at MTS to look at their operating model which is also an area where we see some risk which is increasing our long-term debt.

So again, Mr. Speaker, I'm being mindful of time but there's -- those are just two of the things that are happening. There are also things happening within the structure of budget to make sure that we've provided ourselves some conservative places where we have cushion so that we aren't increasing short-term debt unnecessarily. And I think, Mr. Speaker, I might stop at that and see what else I have to answer in a few moments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I alluded to the GNWT cannot be the economy of the NWT, and our infrastructure and investments really drive the NWT economy. And so can the Minister explain how the GNWT will afford its major infrastructure projects without increasing our debt limit? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is another fun one, Mr. Speaker, that I'd like to spend a lot more time on but let me just be very brief about it for now.

Mr. Speaker, the three -- there's sort of three major projects that of course were all agreed to as being priorities for this Assembly. There's certainly a lot of other capital projects, and we've had two very large capital budgets in the last couple of cycles. So what I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, is at this point in time we do have sufficient financial capacity, planned capacity in our budgets to achieve the mandate priority of advancing those projects.

In terms of where they're going to go into the future, a lot there depends on who our partners are, the financial structure of those projects, and the timing of each. So that is exactly the work we're doing right now, Mr. Speaker, is to determine who the partners might be, who equity partners might be, what the state of the federal government's involvement might be, the Canada Infrastructure Investment Bank. There's a number of ways in which we can structure these projects and structure the investments in them that would not necessarily require 100 percent dollars from the GNWT, indeed almost certainly would not, and would not necessarily need to draw from the budget, from the borrowing limit, or have a negative impact on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister answering these questions. And I know that they're not all easy questions to answer in a very narrow window of time. And this next one is not going to be any easier, but I think they're important conversations to have.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain how the operating surplus is projected to change over the next five years here in the NWT? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I promise not to speak for four minutes and 47 seconds.

The changes in operating surpluses, so, Mr. Speaker, the current projections, and of course projections are just that, even over the course of one year, and as we've seen in the last two years, projections can be impacted quite significantly.

But for this coming year, our operating surplus is projected to be at around $113 million. Next year, it goes up 166, and then down again to 132, and over time it is expected that those surpluses will get smaller and smaller. But, Mr. Speaker, that also, as I've said, does depend on what's happening with our expenses and what might happen with revenues. So those things can change quite a bit. That said, it's obviously a number that we monitor fairly closely and that we do provide updates through the year and at various sittings of this House so that we can continue to update what our forecasts might be.

Operating surplus, of course is important because that helps determine the amount that we have available under the fiscal responsibility policy to meet that policy to invest in our capital projects and anything that we have extra on top of the 50 percent we actually then are investing in the infrastructure so that we aren't adding to our debt load. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Question 990-19(2): Student Financial Assistance
Oral Questions

March 4th, 2022

Page 3763

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday when we were in Committee of the Whole, my colleague from Frame Lake was questioning the Minister of Education in regards to SFA. So I just want to add on to some of those questions that I have for the Minister.

You know, with the pandemic we made exceptions for students and their SFA. I know I haven't been in school for a long, long, long time and required SFA. But one of the things that I do wish that the Minister will go back and reconsider is during the COVID pandemic, whether or not there has been mental health or medical issues or whatever issues that caused the student to lose their semester or drop out for whatever reason, that they do not lose their years that they would normally get. I know, like, for SFA, you know, for basic rent, supplementary grant, you get so much funded for school so you could at least complete a diploma -- a degree. And I just want to make sure that the students that have been affected by this last two years with college and, you know, university, that they do not lose those years so they continue to can get that, whether or not -- and I'll ask in the next question about the money. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So yesterday I believe we were asked to look into how many requests that we received to address issues like the Member is talking about. So we're working on that and in terms of ensuring that people have their full number of semesters and they're not negatively affected by anything that happened during COVID.

I can say that I want -- it didn't -- I didn't finish school in the number of SFA-funded semesters. So I know that there are many factors that can cause someone to go beyond those funded semesters, and I think there are ways that we can adjust our program so that we can account for that. So we are making some changes during this term, and I think that students who perhaps were affected by COVID might benefit from those changes in the years to come and they might be able to reclaim those semesters. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know if that was a yes, maybe, or we'll see. But I'm just hoping that -- because a number of our basic rent supplementary, you know, I commend the Minister that, you know, the years of -- the years of time in school, I'm not a lawyer and I know it'll probably take a lot long if I was to go back to school and be a lawyer, so I'm sure it goes beyond. But, you know, a lot of our students -- a lot of the Aurora College students, a lot of our students are just, you know -- especially with getting the basic and supplementary grants and the years that they can qualify for those are Indigenous, and we really want to pursue making sure that our Indigenous are not having any barriers. So if we run out of SFA, that might be a barrier that they don't finish school and then they don't get into the workforce. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm really hoping that he'll look at if not the whole, at least some of our Indigenous applicants that they don't lose any funding due to the last two years. Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I can't say any more than I said in my last answer so I will leave it at that. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I look forward to whatever changes are coming and I hope that our students will be happy with those changes.

I also -- you know, I know that a couple of students in the past year have told me that they've gotten letters from credit that they owed money because they didn't pay back SFA when they -- so I'm just wondering if that's something that the Minister can look into, that our students that are struggling to find jobs, that have dropped out, now owe back SFA for not completing, if they could make sure that they give them some leniency or to reach out to these students to make sure that they're not sent -- let's not get them bad credit before they even get into the workforce. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. So I answered this one yesterday as well, and this is beyond the scope of my department. So I can talk to the Minister of Finance and we could have a discussion about this one. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member -- colleagues, our time for oral questions has expired. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to the Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: Workers' Advisor Office Northwest Territories and Nunavut 2021 Annual Report; Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission Northwest Territories and Nunavut 2022 Corporate Plan; and a Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 910-19(2): Fort Good Hope Seniors Home. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table a letter dated January 21st, 2022, from Salt River First Nation to the Minister responsible for Homelessness regarding Money for Homelessness Pilot Project. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. Motions. Notices of motion for the first reading of bills. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Bill 46: An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act
Notices Of Motion For First Reading Of Bills

Page 3764

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Quyananni. I give notice that on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, I will move that Bill 46: An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act be read for the first time. Quyananni.

Bill 46: An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act
Notices Of Motion For First Reading Of Bills

Page 3764

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Notices of motion for the first reading of bills. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills. Consideration of Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 23, 29, and 38; Minister's Statement 202-19(2); Tabled Document 561, 567, 578, 579-19(2), with Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes in the chair.

---SHORT RECESS