Department of Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, environment protection and waste management, not previously authorized, $581,000. Does committee agree?

Department of Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, forest management, not previously authorized, $767,000. Does committee agree?

Department of Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, wildlife and fish, not previously authorized, $1,203,000. Does committee agree?

Department of Environment and Natural Resources, capital expenditure -- Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I guess I still am struggling to read these and understand. Can I get an update?

There's $119,000 for a walk-in freezer in Yellowknife. This was actually -- got a lot more attention than it should have, perhaps. It got a lot of attention, let's just say, when it was passed because it's used to store seized caribou.

Can I just clarify whether this $119,000 that I'm seeing here means it is lapsed and no longer going forward or that there was just a delay in the project? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's just delayed in some fashion and that's why it's being carried over for completion. Thank you.

Thank you. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, wildlife and fish, not previously authorized, $1,203,000. Does committee agree?

Department of Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $3,132,000. Does committee agree?

Please turn now to page 11.

Department of Finance, capital investment expenditures, information system shared services, not previously authorized, $4,389,000. Does committee agree? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't want to get into specifics of each of these carryovers, but I'll notice that these are all software carryovers and I know a lot of them have been carried over for years. I think ECE has been carrying over this educator certification one for a lot of years now. And I know sometimes you get a contractor for IT and then they don't do the work and then you get a new one. Sometimes software expires, and then you have to -- anyways.

My question is, is I struggle to know whether these projects -- well, I know that none of them are really on time and on track, that's why we're carrying it over, but whether this is unique to the GNWT, whether we are improving in this area, or it's getting worse. Can the Minister just speak to what oversight is being done in this area of information system shared services to make sure that IT projects are on budget and on time? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so two parts to that. And with respect, first, to some understanding as to what was happening over the last year or so, a few comments.

Firstly, that the ISSS or Office of the Chief Information Officer were being relied upon to do things like deliver the QR code, the vaccination records, the updates to health and social services systems in response to COVID. So the fact that we're all able to download those vaccine records as quickly as we were is thanks, in part, to the work that went on in that office, which was not a small thing and it was certainly not an expected thing. So that does wind up delaying other work.

Another issue, Madam Chair, and it's one that is affecting, of course, a lot of industries, private sector as well as public sector, is labour shortages. This is an area, as I have been informed, that it is quite difficult to find skilled individuals to work in this area. So that is also presenting a challenge, certainly to us and I can only imagine to some of the private sector contractors that we are looking to work with on some of the projects as well.

So second part of the question as to what's being done or what's being done to try to manage or mitigate these issues, Madam Chair, I know this is one that the department minister and I look at frequently at our regular meetings and our regular touch bases, and we speak with the chief information officer regularly. So certainly keeping an eye on it and doing our best to see what we can do to focus the available resources. And there's work in that regard over the next year to see what, indeed, can be done to focus resources so that we start to see some successes in some of these. They are not always the most exciting sounding but they can be quite fundamental and important to risk management within the government. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I'm glad to hear that and, you know, I think all of us as politicians have a hard time keeping track and holding IT projects accountable because they're not always the most exciting but they are 10s of millions of dollars so it's hard -- it needs some accountability, and I'm glad to hear that it's on the Minister's mind.

I wanted to specifically ask about the MARS system. I see that we're transferring it over to ITI.

My understanding about online map staking is we need the mineral resources regulations to be completed, and I don't want to get too much into that process, but I'm just wondering if we are -- when we actually expect to have the MARS system ready to go, or is this me seeing that it is ready to go and it's been purchased and we just have to complete the regulations? Do we have a date for online map staking? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so this is being -- yes, it is being transferred over to ITI because the complexity of the Mineral Resources Act regulations and what is being entailed there on the electronic side makes most sense to have the two working hand-in-hand. So, you know, looking to have the two come together one in the same time. I'm not sure if we have a date here necessarily. If we do, I'm sure someone's going to give it to me in a moment. But my understanding is that the intention is that the two projects are working in tandem.

It's more than just online map staking, Madam Chair. It's an area where if there's some interest, I'd suggest that we provide the information in a separate forum because the MARS project is quite a bit more than just the online map staking. There's the entire management of the tenure system that right now is done on paper, or has been on paper. So there's transferring all the paper to digital, being able to manage the digital, being able to make it accessible, being able to have the maps available to do the management of the tenure to do the online map staking. So it's now housed within the same group that is actually doing the regulations so that one develops in tandem with the other and that they are ready to go at the same time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Department of Finance, capital investment expenditures, information systems shared services, not previously authorized, $4,389,000. Does committee agree?