Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do know that MACA is more than willing to go the communities and work with them on some of the issues that they are facing. I think they are even able to be in a position to provide them some technical advice. To the Member's question, though, my understanding is they are. They can use some of that money to hire themselves a project officer or project manager to help them through that project.

I speak from first-hand experience because, during my time in MACA, I do know there were a couple of projects where the community hired a project officer who did a really nice job. The next community I had a project coming in, hired actually the same project officer come and manage their job. They have that ability. MACA is more than willing to work with a community on some technical and administrative advice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, I believe the Member wanted to ask a question to the table, and I think that we are prepared to answer questions. If the chair chooses, then we will respond to the Member's question.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My apologies to the Member. I didn't quite catch his question but, before we go to him to clarify, we were talking about the carry-overs before. I think we were referring to surpluses, and I do have, across the NWT with all our communities, in the Gas Tax fund, there is about $3.7 million in surplus Gas Tax funding, and in the CPI funding, there is about $12.6 million total in surpluses across communities in the Northwest Territories. So, again, I think that demonstrates clearly that their challenge is not the infrastructure part of it; it's the O and M on the infrastructure dollars they're getting. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My apologies, again, to the Member. I'm sorry, I completely missed the question.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the things that we've heard from communities, and the Member is right, the infrastructure contribution to the communities has gone up. I think we were at $27,002,000 for most of my time as a Minister in this government, and we've brought it up to $29 million, and I think that's what we're asking this Assembly to approve.

One of the challenges that we hear from the communities, and there may be surpluses, they may have capital surpluses, because there are a number of different pots; they have the CPI funding, they have the Gas Tax funding, they have a number of programs they can access. I think that's why you see some communities, and we've heard it from some of the smaller communities that are challenged with the O and M portion of it, and that's another debate for the upcoming 19^th, their first O and M budget session, I think they will need to have those conversations, but I think MACA has given them authorization, I believe, to use up to 10 percent of their capital budget to go towards O and M, because that's where their biggest challenge is.

I don't think it's a lack of infrastructure funds. I'm not sure what the carry-overs would be, or what their surpluses would be. I suppose, if we had to, I could work with the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to get that information and provide it to committee, if we're able to. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have had a conversation with the department about the amount of carry-overs we have within the government's capital estimates, and I think I said when I was before committee that we try to work with all of our Aboriginal partners to try to come up with some of the work made available to them using some of the processes we have, and that might slow our progress down in trying to get some of these projects out the door as quickly as we would like. I think that's the reason we have carry-overs sometimes, is for different reasons, different ways of doing business in the Northwest Territories.

I think I had said that, if we had just taken our capital budget out and put everything out for public tender, I think we'd have people in place right away, but we also hear concern from Members of the Legislative Assembly about keeping the work available to NWT residents, and that's what we try to do. Sometimes, it may cause us to have some carry-overs, but if that's the price we have to pay to keep a lot of the work with the people of the Northwest Territories, then I think we should be willing to pay that price. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The quick answer to the Member's question is there is $120 million in carry-overs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, who is the deputy minister of Finance. To my left, I have Mr. Terence Courtoreille, who is director of MBS, the Management Board Secretariat. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here to present the GNWT's 2020-2021 Capital Estimates. These capital estimates total $398.6 million, and continue to support the infrastructure priorities of this Assembly, as well as continued infrastructure investment in our communities. Major highlights of the plan include:

• $134 million for highways, winter roads, bridges, and culverts. This includes funding of $84 million towards the Tlicho All-season Road project and $10 million for the Mackenzie Valley All-season Road;
• $52 million for health facility replacements, renovations, and equipment, including $20 million for long-term care facilities and $2 million for a vulnerable persons shelter;
• $45 million for various energy projects under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Plan;
• $33.4 million for new education facilities and renovations to existing schools;
• $29 million in continued funding to support community governments with their infrastructure needs;
• $15.5 million for one airport replacement and improvements to other airports;
• $8.8 million for deferred maintenance and energy upgrades to existing GNWT assets; and
• $6.5 million for new and enhanced information technology upgrades.

As in previous years, the 2020-2021 Capital Estimates do not include appropriations for housing infrastructure proposed by the NWT Housing Corporation. The corporation's 2020-2021 capital plan is proposed to be $11.7 million and is included in these capital estimates as an information item.

Including this amount, total infrastructure spending in the NWT for 2020-2021 is estimated to be approximately $410 million. That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.