Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. The Minister is full of good news today, and that is sincerely good news. I appreciate the work on that, and I do want this money to be well-used. The next line item is $2.6 million. This is for continuing to roll out the child and youth counsellor program. I think the Deh Cho has already been done, if I remember correctly, and I think it might be the Tlicho region. Now it's Yellowknife's turn, which is good, but I've heard some concerns here because some of the Yellowknife schools already had some individuals doing some of these functions. There was some concern that...

Are we concluding the consideration of the supplementary right now? I want to seek indulgence of the committee to go back to page 15, the last item on the page. It says, "Taltson Expansion, pre-construction, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada," and there is an amount close to $2 million. I would just like to know what that is about, please. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to relive this debate. The fact is that this was targeted by the federal government to support essential service workers, but our government made a decision and then negotiated this with the federal government that all low-wage earners in the Northwest Territories should be eligible. I want to commend the Minister for doing that. That was the right thing to do. Anyway, we made the decision to broaden the application of what was a federal program intended for essential services to cover everybody here who gets a low income, to help them get through the pandemic...

Thanks, Madam Chair. The last piece of correspondence I can see from GNWT on the public registry is dated November 29, 2018. It's a promise that there is further work that's going to take place and that government's going to update the board with regard to its anticipated timelines. When does this government expect to re-engage with the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board restart this process? It's been like a year and a half since they've communicated with the review board. What is going on? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. The Minister is well prepared. I appreciate that. With regard to the uptake on the wage top-up program, I think there are about 2,100 people who might be eligible based on statistical tracking. What is the uptake like as of the most recent number the Minister can give us? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Please provide a list of all contracts entered into by the Government of the Northwest Territories for work related to the Taltson Hydro Expansion, including studies on submarine transmission lines, from September 1, 2015, to present, and:

Indicate the date of the contract signing, date of completion or anticipated completion, whether the contract was sole-sourced, the value of the contract, the general purpose or scope of the work, whether there were any financial or scope amendments and a summary of same, and...

Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. That's the issue here. In the past, it was as small as 12 percent, but now it's up to 40. I guess I'd like to understand why we're having this much carry-over in infrastructure spending from one year to the next. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Can I get, as a percentage of this supplementary appropriation, how much of it is carried over from the previous financial year? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't mind a general explanation at a high level. I'm also cognizant that I've got eight and a half minutes left on the clock, so I don't want an explanation that's going to gobble up two minutes of time. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I am happy to take that commitment from the Minister. I just want to correct one thing. This is actually something that was started in the 17th Assembly, or just before the election, maybe. I just want to know why we are spending $72 million on renovations for a building that we are not going to own and then we have to lease back space out of it. It just doesn't sound right to me, but I'm happy to get the Minister's explanation following this meeting. Thanks, Madam Chair.