Thank you, to the Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This specific amount of funding, Mr. Chair, is suggested in order to help fund the cost associated with 2026 Arctic Winter Games which will be held in Whitehorse March 18th to 15th of 2026. The funds do need to be confirmed well enough in advance for teams to be selected and the associated coaching and support staff to be selected, and so that's why it is coming through now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member from Frame Lake.

So what is the current position of the lotteries revolving fund? Because I understand that that's typically where money for Arctic Winter Games and other such sport-related activities comes from. So can the Minister discuss how we got to the point we're providing supplementary estimates to afford to send kids to the games.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so I'll see if we can get the specifics on the lottery revolving fund just shortly. I can same that in terms of more broadly how we get to where we are, where there's a deficit in this particular fund. Mr. Chair, there's a couple of factors at play. One is that the revenues being received from lotteries are not simply -- or simply not keeping up with the costs and the expenditures. Lottery revenues are trending downwards and, meanwhile, the cost of sending students and youth and their associated coaches and sport teams on trips are becoming ever more expensive, and there are more draws on the sport and recreation fund every year so, again, that is leading to -- and also just wanted to try to ensure that there's -- you know, a large contingent that goes from the Northwest Territories. So, again, between the reductions in revenues and increasing costs, the current team for March -- next March of 2026 is proposed to be at 600 participants. I don't -- I can't say necessarily -- or sorry, 600 participants just for the trials and then sort of 360 or so for the final games. So even just running the trials around the Northwest Territories, all of that comes with costs. And, again, costs of travel are on the up and revenues on the down. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so I understand the need for a one-time contribution, but I guess I'd be interested to hear the Minister discuss whether there's been discussion about what can be done in the long term to stabilize this fund because I'm guessing we don't see it as a tenable situation to just simply be providing supplementary funding every single time we need to fund games. I mean, the idea was the lotteries revolving fund was supposed to sustain itself. It seems like we're not in that situation anymore, so I'm curious to hear what we're doing to resolve that problem. Thanks.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there is work underway. This is a problem that was anticipated; it's not new. And so there is, of course, the Northwest Territories active living framework. It is a framework that is, you know, covering the next several years right through until 2033, and in that framework, I can certainly report -- I'm happy to report that there are some new funding agreements that are being signed with different sports partners, different territorial sports organizations, not for the coming fiscal year but for the year after which, you know, hopefully, will start to improve the way that the funding at least is being utilized and distributed which may then, again, impact the overall deficit if it can be used in a way that's, you know, again, spread in a -- spread more equitably, more widely. There also, Mr. Chair, are efforts underway to look at how we select our -- the team selections, the process that we do to -- as I said, over 600 participants are anticipated for trials in advance of this group, and so looking at how that can be still done in a way that maximizes participation by the youth but without perhaps having as much cost, looking at whether or not there needs to be a change in the frequency of games or the games in which we are participating. And certainly, last but not least, but looking to as well what kind of advocacy we could be taking to Sport Canada to see, you know, whether or not the amount that is coming in from them is equitable against the costs for participation for young people in the North. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member of Frame Lake.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There certainly have been changes over time, Mr. Chair, so there are MACA contributions in 2019, 2020, and 2021 were higher than what they continued to be thereafter. I'm not in a position here to say why in the last sort of -- why that change was made some now five years ago. Certainly would be happy to look into that further if I -- if it's helpful. But, really, Mr. Chair, the bigger -- the biggest single loss is coming as a result of the changes in the kind of funds from the lottery revolving fund that's just simply, as I said earlier, not seeing the kinds of revenues it is. And, I mean, you know, certainly during COVID that was more obvious. There was a very quick and sharp reduction in the amount that came in because lottery terminals simply were not open and/or not operating, and it's my understanding that they may not frankly have bounced back entirely since that time and that that -- that period of interruption may well have led to those who use those -- who participate in gambling are finding other ways to participate in that activity so as a result of which we've just not seen a return. Obviously, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is examining whether or not there's opportunity to move into the e-gambling space. I don't yet know, of course, what the results of that consideration will be. We want to, of course, not create any worse problems for ourselves but if there's money that is leaking out in a way that is not benefitting us, then I'm sure that that's what -- you know, that's exactly what we want to try to determine is is there an opportunity here for us. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member of Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's it for questions for me, and I'll just kind of reiterate that I'd like to see, you know, the department of MACA working to -- and Cabinet certainly working to stabilize this fund over time so that we're not stuck coming for supplementary estimates. And I think, you know, we need to figure out how to fund sport to ensure that, yeah, activity is going on in communities. I think a lot of the community programming is really important, and I just want to emphasize that. So I'll leave my comments at that for now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member of Frame Lake. Moving on to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, many of my questions are similar to what the Member from Frame Lake had said. I do have a couple of additional and just a comment, Mr. Chair, for the millions of subscribers that are tuning in to watch us do this important work.

It is important to note that of the approximately $47 million that we're approving today, about approximately $39 of that is funded by the federal government, so it's not just a rubber stamp. We are actually being transparent and doing due diligence here.

But this one is not, Mr. Speaker, and full support of the $1.8 million. I think it's very important that the Arctic Winter Games does get funded. It's unfortunate that the lotto fund is not what it once was for the reasons that the Minister explained. But if we're going to do this, and certainly I would encourage that we do continue to support Arctic Winter Games and whether that's, you know, hopefully not have to come back through a supplemental appropriation but to be able to budget it accordingly as we move forward in next year's budget, but has there been discussions at the department as well around additional funding, or will there be additional funding required for other games such as the Canada Summer Games or the North American Indigenous Games or Northern Games for that matter, which are also very important to our territory and to the residents of this territory? So has that been considered by the department, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Thank you to the Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I certainly can confirm that the department is aware there are a number of upcoming games, really, over the next -- every one of the next fiscal years, whether, you know -- and as such -- so yes, they're aware of them, they're planning for them. Again, the challenge has become knowing what the kind of costs for travel might look like as well as what the kinds of revenue losses may or may not continue to be over time. But they are being planned for, so to that extent, again, I'm not necessarily in a position to predict the cost but other than just to assure that that's -- it's the intention. And I can say, Mr. Chair, I -- you know, the idea of reducing access to students and we're reducing the frequency of games is not something that is generally receiving support from the other participants any more from wanting to ensure that young people are having the opportunity to attend. So as far as and determining what needs to happen again, as I said earlier, with the living -- active living framework now underway and with some of the elements of that being implemented over the next couple of fiscal years that may well -- or that's certainly hoped that it can have an impact. There are other ways to try to mitigate some of the costs. I -- you know, I can note, Mr. Chair, that, you know, there is -- it is noted here to me that there have not been any increases in participant fees since 2020. Again, obviously, the -- you know, that's not -- we want to obviously be careful we don't want to limit access but just making that observation that there have not been any changes to fees in now, some, five -- over five years. And, again, you know, looking to Sport Canada and whether or not this is an area where we similarly want to be able to make a case for an increase and support to the Northwest Territories and possibly to the three territories from this national organization. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. To the Member.

Thank you. And thank you for that answer. And I understand that, there is a potential possibly to do -- you know, I would -- my only concern would be looking at income testing there, and I certainly wouldn't want the cost to students from -- you know, from any of our communities to be an impediment to participating. We've all seen the benefits that students get from participating in these games, any games, given, you know, some of the other social ills that are out there and we've discussed in this House. This is one thing that certainly, you know, is a benefit to our kids. And, listen, I'm a father. I was a coach. I had kids in sports. And I've had friends. And we all do in this House. So it is very important that we keep and maintain the funding for that. So that is it for questions on that. I think the other questions were answered through my colleague through Frame Lake. And I will leave it at that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you to the Member. Moving on to Yellowknife North.

That's okay, Mr. Chair. My questions were already posed and answered by other Members. Thank you.