Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake.

Nothing further. Thank you.

Thank you. Now on my next -- on the list here is I have got Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the court services, I see in here that for 2023 and then with the main estimate and then there was some increase in 20 -- later on revised estimate. But within this fiscal year, 2024-2025, it still stayed the same. And then there's a large reduction in the Office of the Children's Law, which is an important -- you know, it's -- this office is very important for many of our children that are in care or for -- you know, they provide good services. I just wanted to ask where is the increase made within the court services?

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

I'd hand it to Mr. Bancroft for that information. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the director.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.

Okay, yeah, thank you. Thank you for that information because I was trying to find why, where. And also within the court services, okay, I think this is probably the court workers, you know. In North Slave there's, like, you know, 57, 57 active position -- we're still in the court services -- and there's nothing in Tlicho. There's nothing in Deh Cho and Sahtu. Why, how come there's no allocations or positions in that region? Can the Minister explain why or why there's no services provided for those three regions?

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

Thank you. The Member's referring to the previous section that we voted on, court services. And the reason that the positions are distributed that way is that's where -- the courts are in Yellowknife. The head main court is in Yellowknife. There are court services that operate out of the Hay River courthouse, and there is a court worker in Inuvik as well. And so that would explain the distribution in the previous activity. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, is there any other Members that want to make comments? If not, I'd like to continue on.

No further questions, please turn to page 314. Justice, legal services, operational expenditures summary, 2024-2025, main estimates, $7,645,000. Does the committee agree?

Oh hang on. We had -- we'll go back to -- we'll go back up here. We'll go back to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Consideration of the Department of Justice, operational expenditures, 2024-2025 Main Estimates, legal aid services, deferred.

---Carried

We will now move to the next key activity. Thank you. Moving on to the Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operation on page 316, with information item on page 318. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So when I was looking through the annual report, the last available annual report for the Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations, it clarified that we don't have any active oil and gas operations in the territory. And to be clear, this regulator doesn't cover the ISR, the Inuvialuit settlement region. So aside from -- sorry, I should qualify that. Aside from the operation in Norman Wells winding down. And that in 2022-2023, 55 abandoned wells -- sorry, wells were safely abandoned. And that represents two-thirds of the suspended wells in our jurisdiction.

So I am puzzled why we are maintaining the budget at $1.23 million for this coming year. Can the Minister explain what more the office will be doing this coming year than, for example, what was accomplished in previous years, perhaps prior to 2022?

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

Thank you. The Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas is arm's length from government, and so I have very little to -- I have no involvement in the daily operations. What we are responsible for is to, A, not meddle in their operations; and, B, to ensure that they are funded appropriately. Through our conversations, this was the appropriate level of funding that was determined. I'm happy to go back and look at next year's main estimates with an eye to adjusting as necessary. And I will note that we did go through an exercise in the last Assembly to adjust their budget based on the level of operations. And I'm happy to do that as necessary but as it is a regulator, I don't want to be heavy handed in dictating what they do or how they do it. Thank you.

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

So I understand that. And I do want to respect the independence of the regulator for sure. But I'm also eager to ensure that the level of funding is appropriate and corresponds to, like the level of need and the level of activity of the office. I wonder if the Minister can -- has any further explanation for us on why he was satisfied that the level of funding being allocated in this coming fiscal year is appropriate to the level of activity or the demands placed on the regulator.

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

Thank you. So I leave OROGO alone unless it's been a while and it's time to look at their budget. And so I'm happy to look at the budget again, and committee is free to defer this activity as well if that is the wish. Thank you