Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha that Bill 21, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2016-2017 be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 22, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2017-2018, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2016-2017 be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am glad we got the 52 hours cleared up. I have five teachers in our family, so I know first-hand the amounts of hours that they put in, and for the most part, it is more than 52 hours a week. To the Member’s question, we have wellness specialists research the topic of wellness days, and I think that the Member asked if I would provide some detail to the committee, or the House, on the outcome of that work. Once we have that work done, Mr. Speaker, I will have a conversation with the committee.

The Government of the Northwest Territories, we value the contribution that our employees bring to the Government of the Northwest Territories. As such, we have a number of programs to help with employee wellness. The Employee and Family Assistance Program, for example, is one that is available to all employees, and free of charge. In 2016-17, our Learning and Development Calendar offered 24 webinars on a variety of wellness topics, and there are plenty of opportunities that were included in that. I could provide some of the training opportunities to the Members. It is a fairly lengthy list to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, all of it will be offset by revenue. Early understand on the upcoming sailing season is that we may even exceed the $14 million. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, supplementary reserve after sup. 1 would be $29,196,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2016-2017. This document provides for an increase of $7.6 million to the 2016-2017 infrastructure expenditures budget. The major items in these Supplementary Estimates include:

$5.2 million for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the shortfall in the Air Tractor Fleet project due to the significant decline in the Canadian dollar resulting from declining oil prices in 2016.

$2.6 million for the Department of Transportation for the costs associated with the preparatory and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 19, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2017-2018, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member is correct. There was a scheduling conflict with one of the local Aboriginal governments. They were given an opportunity to have some input. We have had no requests from any other business or any other Aboriginal governments for some one-on-one time. That is what I know so far. I am sure there is opportunity if there are some scheduling conflicts to meet with our folks. Again, I go back to the written submissions and the evening sessions where they just have to take the evening off and provide some comment on how this is going to affect them.