Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we haven't released the action plan yet, and as we try and work within our current fiscal reality we're working on prioritization of those items, so the funding at times will be reallocated from within. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Member for Yellowknife North.

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. So I guess my next question is there are clearly some items that are at least being contemplated in the action plan that we're not prepared to fund. Can the Minister explain why we would put items into our own action plan but not put aside the funding to actually action them? What's the point of having actions in our own action plan that we can't do because we won't fund them? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the items within the action plan and the action plan itself is a document that we're using to work with the Government of Canada in our approach to get additional funding to support some of those items that are currently not funded. But I'd like to pass to the deputy minister for a little more detail. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Deputy minister Jenkins.

Thank you. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Is there any way to -- does the Minister have a total number or amount of money that we're proposing to spend in this budget on climate change actions; have you tried totalling that? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, $2.6 million. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Member for Yellowknife North.

Okay, thanks to the Minister for that. That's somewhere to start and continue our conversations.

I wanted to turn to a few other questions I have on this section. Can the Minister explain why under environmental protection and waste management -- so the number allocated clearly drops significantly between 2023-2024, and then last year down from $4.8 million down to about $3 million, and now we're back up to $4.1 million. Can the Minister explain why there is such big fluctuations from year to year in the amount allocated for that? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the increase of 485K between the 2024-2025 revised main estimates and the 2025-2026 Main Estimates is due to an increase in the expanded waste sites federal agreement, a reduction to travel, and controllable assets, collective bargaining increases, and amortization adjustment, and the decrease to the one-time supplementary appropriation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Is it fair to conclude that the number has gone up and down so much from year to year because of variations in federal funding for certain programs; is that correct to conclude? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Yes, Madam Chair, that is a good explanation, and there's a one-off due to the collective bargaining in 2024-2025. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Is the Minister able to explain, you know, in plain language for most of us, because most of us are not experts, but what -- what we're not able to do this year because of changes in federal funding or what new things we're able to do? Like, if we're quite reliant here on federal funding, can the Minister, you know, explain in a nutshell what kinds of things we're not doing this year or new things we might be doing due to federal funding changes? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll pass that to the deputy minister. Thank you.