Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a particular act where there had been quite a lot of work done a few years ago, back in 2017, and a fair bit of engagement done with employees and stakeholders, and there were already materials being drafted under a "what we heard" type of approach. Of course, an update was done last summer, again, as an update, not a complete full further review or survey but an update to the work that was done only two or three years before that, and consultations throughout with the union, the UNW, as well.

However, as I just mentioned earlier, it was on track and a lot of...

Would that it be so easy. I cannot make that commitment at this point. What I am going to commit to, again, is that we are going to get the information with respect to the stretch of highway between Behchoko and Yellowknife and to see what that costing might be, what those options might be. Once we have that in hand, we can start to look at other stretches of highway in the Northwest Territories. Again, it's not lost on me, the aspect of safety, and it's not lost on me the costs or the fact that we are behind coverage compared to the rest of Canada. There is a lot of attention on this issue...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, as I was just saying, there are a number of contingencies fairly conservatively built in. I am not expecting right now that there would be any need for this, but it is an item that is, again, put in here to ensure that there is sufficient flexibility and room in the fiscal plan and in the borrowing plan to not have anything unexpected that's not built into what we are projecting. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, you said short questions. The short answer is, yes, we are continuing the conversations with Transport Canada around the aviation sector support. I don't have anything more to say yet, other than just that. We are working on, indeed, a third phase that would, I hope, be similar in nature to a partnership in terms of Transport Canada and the GNWT providing supports. With respect to the cost of living and the wage top-up specifically, that is still ongoing right now. Those funds have not been exhausted. As for the specific timeline over which that will be unfolded, I don't have an...

Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to a plan, there are two sides to the coin, Madam Chair. Firstly, we need to get a better handle and control on the expenditures to ensure that expenditures don't continue to rise when revenues remain stagnant. To that effect, there are a number of things that are under way. I know there has been talk already about government renewal as an opportunity to look more carefully at the creation of each departmental budget and ensure that each one is utilizing the resources that we have most efficiently as possible. There are other steps under way, Madam Chair...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The health recruitment unit that is being described is a joint partnership between the Department of Health and Social Services and the human resources branch of the Department of Finance. They have the expertise in terms of what is actually required and the human resources has the expertise in terms of human resources recruitment and retention planning, so yes, it is both, Madam Chair.

Certainly, having cellular coverage over our highways would certainly improve safety. There is no question about that. I have not heard of the tourism aspect of it before today, so that is certainly an interesting aspect to have understood. We are taking steps, as I implied with my last answer. We are taking steps right now to have expressions of interest with respect to the highway through to Behchoko, between Behchoko and Yellowknife. It's my hope that, with that information, we will be able to look more broadly at other highways in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, we're not projecting to hit the borrowing limit this year or next year, and the reality is that there is a lot of projections in here that continue to be fairly conservative, not the least of which is the revenue projections. For example, the performance of our corporate sector or our industry sector, whether it's royalties or whether it's corporate taxes, we do tend to take a fairly conservative approach in terms of the projections. I am not concerned about hitting the borrowing limit here. The other side is, of course, there are contingencies built in both to the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also think that, frankly, eServices and the work of ISSS is perhaps under-highlighted. It is not by accident that the chief information officer is with us today. The Member is right, that the first couple of bundles do include, for example, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Services, fishing licenses, healthcare cards, applications and renewals of some of the vital statistics items, so those are examples of the first two rounds of items that are going to be coming.

As for the rest, Mr. Wind has already mentioned the working group that will be existing that is cross...

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's not reflected in the document. That is included in the main estimates. I believe the year that we are looking at right now would be in 2023-2024 as a projection. Thank you, Madam Chair.