Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, this is, if you all think back to the time when we talked about a change in accounting treatment, here it is in real life form showing up here. So very exciting to learn about some accounting principles. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Any further questions under this community operations? Seeing none.

Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, community operations, infrastructure investments, $22,201,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Next, turn to page 73 for regional operations with information items on page 74.

Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, regional operations, infrastructure investments, $32,545,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, Members. Please return now to the departmental summary found on page 70.

Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, 2024-2025 Capital Estimates, $54,746,000. Does committee agree?

Does committee agree that consideration of Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is now complete?

Thank you, committee. We will now consider Housing Northwest Territories. Committee, Housing Northwest Territories is included in the capital estimates as an information item, and the totals are not voteable. We will continue to review these estimates as we have for the previously considered departments; however, we will not vote on the totals. If Members have comments or questions, they can be raised at the appropriate time.

Committee, Housing Northwest Territories begins on page 75. We will defer the totals and review the estimates by activity summary beginning on page 76 with finance and infrastructure services, with information items on page 77. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I always find when we start looking at the Housing Northwest Territories budgets -- and I know that they're information items but I always get very frustrated. Pardon me?

I have to change out the witnesses. Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witness out.

Minister, would you please introduce your witness.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have Mr. Jim Martin, the vice-president of finance and infrastructure services for Housing Northwest Territories.

Thank you, and welcome. Member for Kam Lake, sorry, can you start over.

Sure. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, whenever we review the budgets for Housing Northwest Territories, I find that I get very frustrated. And one of the reasons for that is we never have a really good indication of what kind of investment we're making in housing and what specifically we're getting for that, especially when we're talking to residents of the Northwest Territories.

And so one example of that is if you look at the 2023-2024 Capital Estimates, the capital estimates were $35 million, 35 five, and then when you look at the revised estimates, all of a sudden we have 136. And so there was a lot of money that came from somewhere, and that's a really good news story but I, sitting on this of the House, there's no way for people who are reading this document in the public to know where that money came from, how the government got it, did it come from the feds? We're assuming it came from the feds. We don't have an idea if there was federal monies that went directly to Indigenous governments and what housing in the Northwest Territories really looks like and what the investment in housing in the Northwest Territories really looks like. And so it would be really great if, going forward, if there was some kind of a table that could go with these information items as additional information to help kind of paint that full picture of not only investment in the Northwest Territories but what some of these numbers look like.

And if you look back at all of the both main estimate conversations and capital conversations that happen on the floor of this House over a four-year period, a lot of our questions are the same, a lot of the information that we're asking for is the same, and some of those questions, Madam Chair, you even asked today in your Member's statement and in question period, again, today.

So my first question is are we anticipating, in addition to this $13 million, any additional influxes of funding for housing from either the feds, or somewhere else, for the Northwest Territories because $13 million is not going to help us solve what we, up until, you know, our wildfire crisis, was really the conversation you heard frequently in the House, which was our housing crisis. So I'm wondering if we're expecting any additional funding for housing this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Madam Chair, you know, I want to say a simple yes. Housing is one that has a lot of attention obviously from the federal government. Housing is an area that has a lot of attention going to Indigenous governments. And there's been significant growth in money going directly to Indigenous governments and community governments, not the GNWT, which is a perfectly good solution and one that we have, in fact, advocated for because it allows communities to be in charge of delivering their own housing solutions. So I would say that there is one -- one of the challenges here is that this number does not represent the total investment in housing in the Northwest Territories, and so I certainly would want that to be clear.

Now, I'm not sure if there's some further details right now that Mr. Martin might be able to provide. Obviously -- but let me see if he's in a position to do that. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Martin

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So what I want to be clear about is I am very much in support of dollars going from the federal government directly to Indigenous governments. This is absolutely a good news story. What I think would be very helpful, and would also be a good news story for Housing NWT, is to be very honest about the influx of dollars for housing because they have a role in advocating for that. So they're doing themselves a communication and a public relations favour by ensuring that that information is publicly available and is tracked in these documents. And so what I'm going to say again, and I know it's be been asked before, is for some type of information sharing that shows the information of public dollars being spent in the Northwest Territories, whether that comes from the GNWT or the federal government.

My next question, though, is in regards to the list of major retrofits on the back page. It outlines about major retrofits to about a hundred units, and so I'm wondering if Housing NWT can now confirm, at the last capital acquisition plan for this Assembly, what their total stock is of public housing units? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm going to turn that number to Mr. Martin, but I do want to just note that with respect to the extent to which an Indigenous government or community government wants to tell us or make public the amount that they're receiving from the federal government is not entirely up to us, but the Council of Leaders housing group is, I believe, now up and running. I don't know how -- what frequency or with which it's meeting just yet, but that will be a forum that is significant in achieving exactly what the Member has suggested. As for total numbers, I'll go to Mr. Martin, please.