Two trailers, Madam Chair. So make it happen. Thank you.

All right. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And thank you to my colleague from Nunakput for painting a picture, you know, life on the ground in Tuk.

We as the Standing Committee of Social Development had the opportunity to be hosted in the community of Tuktoyaktuk by the Member in June of this year. And what we saw was a school gymnasium that was not useable by community members because it was literally the entire gym was covered in a tarp in order to protect the work that was going on underneath it. But that meant that kids weren't allowed to use it. My perspective on this project is different because I serve a lot of the contractors that are doing some of the work on it from down here. And so my experience with this goes back to the beginning of this Assembly. This is a project that was awarded by government before we were all here. And it's still not done. We -- this -- it was awarded in the 19th Assembly. There were delays, yes, with COVID, but there were issues with this that were raised to myself that were then raised to the Minister of Infrastructure years ago. And I'm sitting here looking at an email right now that says to me, you know, staff from infrastructure were travelling to the community of Tuktoyaktuk almost exactly a year ago. And things haven't changed. Things -- the school is still not done. And when we were there in June, one of the saddest piece of that was what was portrayed to the committee as far as how this has had an impact on the attendance of schools in the community.

And a lot of times when -- especially when you're younger, gym is your favorite -- it's your favorite class. It's what excites kids. You know, math isn't exciting for everybody, but gym generally is. It's also an area that communities use in order to bring communities together and that has been removed from the community of Tuktoyaktuk who has just experienced a tremendously challenging year. And so having a school out of play for, you know -- and a project like this on the books and having a school kind of taken apart for years and years and years, we're not just talking about, you know, a delay to contractors; we're talking about a complete shift and a complete change to the fabric of a community. And that's a huge, huge deal. And so, you know, the Minister responded to the Member's questions in regards to schedule, but I'd like to know what was the initial budget for this, what has been spent to date, and of this money that is in this capital budget, what portion of that is specifically for Mangilaluk School in Tuk? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, I do have, I believe, the project here of $36 million. This was -- it was from prior years. We still have $2.5 million is what we're asking for the current plan that's before the House right now. This was a major renovation. This was intended to be, you know, really a place that has a mezzanine area, the gym viewing, a gym -- a new gym with, say, all bells and whistles, a career and technology building. It was meant to be the kind of flagship place that students want to go to school. It was something -- Madam Chair, I don't think anyone disagrees with the importance of this, and it is not lost on me that the Beaufort Delta has had a number of challenges in the last few years in particular, and it is a region that I am concerned for those students. So it is not lost on anyone, and it is not lost on the government.

We are unfortunately relying on a contractor who it became apparent was not able to complete this on the timeline that we had hoped. And when meetings were being held this summer, we were given further assurances and steps were taken and in line with those assurances to demonstrate that the good faith would be acted upon. As I said, project management was changed, and oversight was provided, and things seemed to be going well. The evacuations did lead to some delays. I don't have the details of it, but I can certainly get that. And right now, as I -- I don't think I had the date in front of me before, but we are looking at a date in November at this point to have what was previously promised at those meetings in the summer that I was at. That included the completion of the gym, the -- and the CTS, or the trades space. So looking there at November the 1st. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So this project, the Mangilaluk School, will be done November 1st, 2023, in its entirety? Can that be confirmed, please.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, as I said earlier, Madam Chair, the overall completion date for the total project is August of 2024. The revised gym completion date -- because when we recognize, again, discussing with community leadership at the behest of the Member from the region was really looking at that as a priority for the community for the reasons that the Member's already mentioned and so the revised gym completion date, which was supposed to be ready for the school year, is now, I've been given, November the 1st. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Yeah, thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, just quickly, then, so if the students are still going to be without the completion of the school for another school year, what is the interim solution from this government for yet another school year? What is the interim solution of what they're going to do with kids? I know that my colleague mentioned portables. And we've heard that on the floor of this House numerous times. And so is that an option that they're looking at for this school year?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I understand that early access to this gym and a school, rather, at this point as quickly as possible it does remain a priority, which is why it is given the new November 1st date. And in the interim, there's been a phasing of some temporary classrooms that are adjusted in order to continue instruction. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, given the conversation we've just had now about the importance of schools in communities, the fact that we heard, you know, even during the Premier's Member's statement about how this has truly been an Assembly where we have gone from crisis to crisis to crisis, what is the intent, then, of the Department of Infrastructure -- what are their intentions of how to keep these very important projects moving on time and moving to a state of completion? Because to get a project like this done in five years is not timely. It's not realistic for a community to not have a school for five years or to not have access to a gym for extended periods of time. Like, these are projects that we need to make sure are moving along on time, on budget, and in a realistic amount of time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Madam Chair, that is a huge question. It's a huge question that comes in light of the fact that, you know, again, this was -- this was a difficult few years, and we have some projects where people work in communities for safety reasons didn't want teams come into their communities. Then we had other projects where they were not able to go into those communities. And we've had then some other projects where the supply chain has utterly disrupted our schedules and then significantly impacted on the costs.

So I'm not sure that in -- at the end of those -- three years of that nature is necessarily the right moment to provide some simple answer to say well, okay, we'll just -- you know, we'll do better next time. We have to do better. I can say, Madam Chair, that there was less carryovers over the last year that -- in terms of the proportionality of the total budget and then what was actually being spent. That has seen some improvement. We do have a more manageable project, which not only does it mean that we'll spend more of the budget; it also means that we are now having to prioritize the projects that are actually going to get done and then be able to better monitor them. So hopefully those two things combined with hopefully less crisis over the next few years we'll see significant improvements across the board. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any further questions under the junior kindergarten to grade 12 school services? Seeing none.

Department of Education, Culture and Employment, junior kindergarten to grade 12 school services, infrastructure investment, $3,100,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Members, please turn now to the departmental summary found on page 17. Department of Education, Culture and Employment, 2024-2025 Capital Estimates, $3,590,000. Does committee agree?

Does committee agree that consideration of Department of Education, Culture and Employment is now complete? Thank you.

Committee, we will now consider the Department of Environment and Climate Change, which begins on page 23.

Sergeant-at-arms. Minister, would you please introduce your witness.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I still have the deputy Minister of Finance with me, and I'm now joined by Dr. Erin Kelly who is the deputy minister for Environment and Climate Change.