Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.

Thank you. Yes, there is a budget for it. I believe the budget has been shared with Members, and if not I can do that. And it is under corporate communications. But I would like to hand it to the director for more information. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the director.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Do those numbers include internal staff costs of implementing this project, or is this all just costs that would go towards a contractor? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.

I'll get the director to repeat that so it's clear. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us -- well, just confirm whether the RFP process has closed, and if so, were any proposals received from NWT-based businesses on this contract? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.

The proposal -- the process is not yet closed, no. It's midstream. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I just -- I have some comments. I have heard from NWT-based businesses who looked at this RFP and strongly doubted that any NWT-based contractors would be able to bid on it given how it's designed. And so I understand that the goal of making websites more accessible is a good goal, but I believe that we could do this differently in a way that makes it more accessible to NWT-based contractors, that it could perhaps be done in stages, or designed differently to allow local businesses to work on -- especially a contract of this size. We're looking at probably over a million dollars here. I would also question the urgency of this initiative at this time when we're kind of scrimping and saving in all different departments, especially when we're looking at a project that, as far as I can tell, is unlikely to benefit our NWT economy in any meaningful way. I think I would also like to emphasize I would like to see us start by looking at the communications functional review that we're doing and finding ways to make sure that we're improving the content of our communications before we focus on sort of the how or the methods that, you know, we -- how our websites link to each other or not or, you know, how you access the information. I'd like to have us focus first on what information we're actually able to access or members of the public. I think those are all my comments now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. I know that, you know, there's not a major huge cuts across EIA but within the Cabinet's support, can the Minister explain or briefly explain what this Public Utility Board is because I think -- well, the budget stayed the same for last fiscal year, and -- actually, it went down a bit. So you explain what this Public Utility Board is? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Public Utilities Board is the energy regulator in the Northwest Territories. So if NT Power Corporation wants to increase its prices, it has to make an application to the Public Utilities Board. We have a Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, and that is Minister McKay. It is arm's length from government as it is -- it regulates, you know, government entities. And the budget has remained the same, I believe, for many years. I briefly held this portfolio about four years ago, and the budget is relatively similar to what it was then. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member for Monfwi.

Okay, thank you. This Public Utility Board, because it's NTPC or energy regulators, I thought, you know, how come it's not under infrastructure or, you know, ECC because it deals with -- that's more within their department, so how come it's under EIA? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.

Thank you. And it's a political decision, I suppose, where it lands, under which department. I would say because it is most dissimilar to EIA, it's more appropriate to be in EIA as opposed to something like infrastructure where that Minister is often also the Minister of the power corporation. And so it is to give some separation. I will say that I've often struggled with where the different regulators are located. I think it was an ad hoc approach over the years, and where they sit now is where they sit. When we get to Justice, we'll see that OROGO is in there as well, which really no rhyme or reason why it is there other than to ensure that it is not in a department that it would be -- that is too closely related. Thank you.