Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Department of Infrastructure is lead on this. So for that level of detail, I'll turn it over to Minister Archie, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 32, an Act to Amend the Northern Employee Benefits Services Pension Plan Act .

The Northern Employee Benefits Pension Services Pension Plan Act, or NEBS, is a defined benefit pension plan that operates in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. NEBS provides pension services for municipal, local housing authority, and nonprofit sectors in both jurisdictions. In 2015, each jurisdiction adopted mirror legislation to formally establish the pension plan.

The NEBS pension plan has been in existence, in one form or another, for over 40 years...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I think the Member's listed certainly some of those factors. It's all the same factors as what drives -- when we bring a carryover forward in the spring. It can be a case where a project may not have had its approvals in place, a project might not have been able to find contracting, there may have been delays perhaps in design. There's certainly, in the last couple years, have been projects that have been delayed and, you know, due to COVID. You know, for example, the Tulita Health Care Centre was delayed when people weren't able to literally get into the...

Thank you Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I asked very similar questions when this first came to me. I don't have all the details here. I do know due diligence was conducted. Perhaps I might turn to the deputy minister. He can speak just briefly to the work that was done by the department and by those responsible for our insurance portfolio. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me just be clear first at the outset that it is, indeed  everyone that has to be, at this point, providing a proof of vaccination or else they will be asked to comply with enhanced personal protective equipment and ultimately a testing regime.

In doing so, in asking our employees to comply with that policy, privacy absolutely was a top consideration, Mr. Speaker. The information that we are requesting, the records we are requesting, they are, indeed, going to be held on a needtoknow only basis at the Department of Human  Department of Finance and Human...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the I have the background here. Let me turn this to Mr. Courtoreille. He may have the most recent detail on what what's done other the current year, or in the last construction season. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So because of the fact that the road was able to well, again, the end date hasn't changed, but in terms of the timing of when some of the portions of it were complete, my understanding is that as a result of that, payments had to be made, and it was underestimated how quickly some stages of that project would go. When some of them go more quickly, the expenses incurred, the debt is then booked to the books, and that's what in doing that final reconciling at the time of doing year end, it was noticed that, in fact, they had exceeded the debt limit as appropriated...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Certainly, you can't say with a hundred percent certainty that there won't still be carryovers from the 2021-2022 infrastructure budget. What we're trying to do is minimize the number of carryovers that do take place on this. So certainly is our -- right now with -- and knowing that the construction season is -- for this year, at least, is drawing to a close or has drawn to a close. So hopefully we're in a position having reviewed this and bringing the negative appropriation, that there won't in fact be carryovers. So it's a different way of looking at the accounting of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, work was done to confirm with our insurance that the assets don't need to transfer. So the assets are still going to belong to YK1 and YCS. They will not get transferred. It is  they are being brought into our program. There had been adjustments prior occasions for insurance, and of course that hopefully now in fact, they will be seeing that we'll be able to get a better insurance rate by being under the GNWT's program. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[Audio] Madam Chair. Yes, $2.8 million was spent in the current. Thank you.