Minister Thompson. No, we can't hear you.

Can you hear me now?

Oh yes, we can hear you now.

Sorry, I feel like that commercial here. So in regards to the question, we know that some of the costs of the communities will be covered but some of the costs that -- if we actually take them, we wouldn't get a hundred percent reimbursement from the federal government. So we will be working with municipalities on certain costs and making sure that we submit that as part of our reimbursement -- submit that as part of our EFA aid application. Hopefully that answers some of the question. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister Thompson. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I appreciate that. And can the Minister then confirm that municipalities will not be on the hook for expenses related to this forest firefighting effort -- or this wildfire fighting effort. My concern is that the cost of living in the territory is already incredibly high and that municipalities bearing the brunt of these costs will, in turn, actually just be passed on to residents through the form of taxes. And so I just want to make sure that we have a common understanding that these are not expenses that will be incurred and expected to be paid for by municipalities. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, I don't think we're going to be in a position to confirm that every last penny is going to be paid by the GNWT. The idea -- and I mean, the cost of living is very high, and the GNWT is the government that provides a lot of the public provisions of services across the Northwest Territories and in all communities and provides funding to all communities. And I know there's a constant tension and a desire to see that funding formula perhaps changed or increased but, fundamentally, I mean, there was a question earlier as to what the GNWT's going to be doing to pay for this in the face of a, you know, $75 million budget now for fire suppression and calls for increases to the amounts we're spending in the evacuation response, which is going to be in the 10s of millions of dollars already. We also don't have that money necessarily sitting anywhere. We are trying very hard to make our evacuation emergency response one that we can see some reimbursement from the federal government. We have no guarantees that we'll get any of it back. I suspect that we'll get some of it back. I don't know how much. And until we get it from the federal government, we cash flow it. And if we don't have it, it means we take on debt to pay for it. So everything impacts residents in the Northwest Territories. That is constantly the balance of trying to ensure that we are doing our best to provide essential services to everybody without seeing any increases of taxes and without seeing any reductions of services. It is a fine balance. I've realized the community governments can't take on debt. That makes it even harder for them. I'm aware of that. But, you know, again, as to how much, if any, they will need to bear in terms of those costs, it is probably too early to say. I don't know that the city necessarily has -- and I'm speaking particularly about Yellowknife where I know there's been a significant undertaking, but other communities too have had some significant undertakings this fire season. So until we get a full accounting of what each community has spent, looking at what we are now then maybe more likely to see come in from the federal government -- and, again, I want to believe, given the conversations that have been had, something will come. It is not -- it's just too difficult for me to say what we might get from the feds, what individual communities have spent, and what the GNWT's then able to necessarily bear. I do want to -- I gave the long answer because I want to assure the Member that all of those things are under consideration. We're aware of them and, again, I know that the communities -- it's been a topic, it has been a priority of this Assembly for four years to ensure that communities are supported. So that priority hasn't gone anywhere. I just don't quite know how it will turn out at the end of this fire season. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Does the Member for Kam Lake have a short last question and a short last answer?

Yes, I'm wondering if the Minister can make a commitment, then, to keep Members on this side aware of what the GNWT will be requesting for reimbursement on when it comes to municipalities and what they're expecting municipalities to bear on their own when it comes to that cost breakdown just so that we have all the information and we're not finding out down the road that there was an expectation that a municipality take on a large chunk of this, so. But that's my last question. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, certainly, I mean, all financial pieces do ultimately go through the Legislative Assembly, whether it's through the supplementary appropriation process, whether it's through the actual budgeting process that does take place annually in terms of understanding where our contribution dollars are going. So certainly those two processes alone, of course, will continue to take place and, you know, beyond that, again, this is where we get into some challenge of the timing where I presume that we'll be getting some of this information perhaps even when this particular Assembly is no longer together. So, you know, look, I've heard the request to get that accounting between what a community's spent, what is the GNWT spending, and what are we able to support. I've heard it, and I know the Minister responsible for emergencies has heard it as well. So I believe that it's always been our effort to try to maintain sharing. I would certainly say that it would be -- I will try to make sure that I'm doing that. I can point to the example of the spending we've done on the floods over the last two years and the reporting we've done to Members in that regard, I believe monthly, if not quarterly, about what has been spent and updates on that. So with that as being a common example, I would say that would be fine. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Member for Yellowknife North had asked for a high-level breakdown of costs. And I'd like to see that include what went out to local, regional, territorial, and businesses outside the NWT as well because this is something -- is this something, I guess, that the Minister can be provided? Because firefighting, really, in -- when we look at it is beneficial to part of our local and regional and territorial economy, and I think that, you know, when we're looking at it as much as, you know, we -- you know, we don't want to see fires because of the destruction they can cause but it does benefit our economy, and I just want to make sure that we have the numbers there to show that we did everything we could to ensure that local businesses and the businesses of Northwest Territories were given first chance at and the first opportunity in providing services. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we certainly can. There is a contracts report that does get prepared every year. Procurement does manage and monitor and ultimately will be able to sort of collate, if you will, all of the spending. Certainly, in emergency times, that spending wouldn't necessarily follow a more formal procurement process, but sometimes it does too. All of which is to say those types of reports are prepared regularly, and I can see that there being one prepared that is specific to the wildfire season. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Of the $75 million ask, I guess, will a portion -- or what portion of it will be used to offset the costs incurred by local governments, you know, as of today because most of the -- you know, most of our local fire departments are volunteers but they are using local personnel, they are volunteers there, they are using local equipment and infrastructure as well. So, again, like Ms. Cleveland said, is that, you know, we got to make sure that, you know, their costs are covered as well because this is going to, you know, set us -- this whole fire season is going to set the NWT back a bit here. So if she can -- if the Minister can answer that. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this $75 million is going to the Department of Environment and Climate Change. They are the lead, and this to supplement their existing budget of roughly $21.8 or so million. So this is to supplement that budget. That's a base budget that they have annually for wildfire suppression. I don't know exactly what proportion of that necessarily flows directly to a community or to community government or to individual contractors, nor can I say at this point whether the shortfall is going to proportionate to that or not. We would -- we have been doing variances in terms of what is being spent within that area of funding but not necessarily a detailed breakdown. So as I've said, we can repair ultimately -- we do prepare annual contracting reports and can ensure that there is one that is specific to the wildfire season. That might take a bit of time. We are sadly still in the wildfire season right now. It's out of control with fires burning in multiple locations. As for, again, what will go to individual municipalities, you know, as I said to the Member from Yellowknife earlier, it -- you know, I don't yet know from the municipalities themselves what they have spent. So there's still a bit of work to be done, and -- but as this comes in, we'll certainly -- I can certainly commit that we'll be doing an effort to make that contracting and reporting available. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that does seem to be directed at the Premier. I'd like to suggest that she address that. Thank you.