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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For all of the thermal communities; in other words, communities that rely on exclusive diesel generation for power supply. They are brought down to the power rate that is in Yellowknife so it does -- it would benefit -- yes, it brings the power rates down for those communities. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Deh Cho.

Can the Minister tell me how much -- so I guess it would vary by community so -- or is it zones or districts that say? Because I'm not sure which communities -- I know Fort Providence still runs on diesel. So how much are we being subsidized, do you know, in Fort Providence? Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe I have seen charts setting out specifically what each community does get for the territorial power support program. I don't have it here. I don't think we're pulling it up quite quickly. I'm more than happy to provide that, Mr. Chair, so that folks do know exactly the difference between what they would pay versus what they are benefitting here. It is -- in fact, I think it's on the Northwest Territories Power Corporation website. And, again, I can certainly -- I'll make sure that we provide a link so that that information can be had. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Deh Cho.

Okay, that's the questions I -- because Yellowknife doesn't -- I think that's about it. That's what I wanted to know, was how much was it subsidized and I didn't realize it was, because it just said subsidy program so. That's fine, if the Minister will get me the information. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there any further questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the amount for short-term interest, it's budgeted at $6.1 million, and that's the same amount that was budgeted for in the 2024-2025 mains, but then the revised amount was -- well, getting close to twice that amount, over $11 million, and the 2023-2024 actuals were almost $20 million. Does the Minister feel that the budgeted amount is realistic for this coming fiscal year especially given the increased pressures and indication that we're going to have to increase our borrowing limit going forward? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is an area that may well see a need to have a budget increase between now and 2025-2026, although that said, the last couple of years have had particularly high interest rates, and they only just came down not in time. If I recall correctly, we came down to our low -- it was only over the summer -- so if rates remain -- if interest rates remain low, we may well find that we can return back to a lower number, although we do now have an increased in short-term debt so there's a couple of things to be balancing in there. And if we can move -- you know, again, that's where a few years ago, you may -- well, folks may be aware that we moved some short-term debt to long-term debt because it secured it in at a lower rate. So a few different factors here. Again, I do anticipate this is a number that we need to look at because, yes, obviously in 2023-2024, extremely high rates, and even 2024-2025, although a little more manageable, still high. So I guess those are some of the factors, and I'll leave it there for the moment. Thank you.

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

Okay, I appreciate those insights, and I'll be watching closely to where our interest levels end up.

I wanted to ask about the number of active positions. We have budgeted now an increase in seven active positions. I know the Minister mentioned that two are -- two new positions are allocated to the Financial and Employee Shared Services, the FESS. I do note that the new positions, five of them are for headquarters, and two are somewhere in the regional offices. Can the Minister explain why these new positions are needed or what they'll be doing? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there's a benefits officer being added in Inuvik and a benefits officer being added in Norman Wells. In addition to that, in the payroll office, there's a payroll clerk and payroll officer. That's four. And then with that in addition, one additional payroll supervisor on there and that, in part, is growth in terms of the number of staff and public servants that folks are monitoring.

And, Mr. Chair, before people ask me about whether the growth in public service is driving this, it's not purely or just singularly public service alone; there's also the contractors that these folks provide supports for. So it's not just the indeterminate officers or indeterminate workers but a much wider range of supports that they provide to anyone that they are issuing any form of payroll to. So, again, as I'm saying our contractors and locums and so on and so forth. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, it is a bit of a wicked problem in some ways in that, you know, we need more staff to monitor the more staff that we're taking on. So it just is an added reminder that adding new positions has a broader sort of ripple effect on government finances than just those specific positions and the cost of those but in the other additional positions that we need to then help take care of those new positions. So I can understand how that is the case but just something we need to think about carefully with fiscal sustainability measures going forward. That's all for me. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Any further questions? No further questions, please turn to page 178.

Finance, Office of the Comptroller General, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $102,808,000. Does the committee agree?

Okay, committee. We're going to stop for a 20-minute break. We'll resume, and we'll continue on. Thank you.

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Okay, so the committee wants to continue on, and we will.

Moving on, thank you. There are additional information items on page 181 to 186. Are there any questions?

Thank you, Members. Please return now to the department summary found on page 159 with information items on page 160 to 161. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions, committee, I will now call the departmental summary. Finance, operations expenditures, total department, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $407,895,000. Does the committee agree?

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