Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a new program, and I am not sure how far along the Minister of ECE is on it, but he is maybe better placed to at least speak to what state that program is at. Thank you.

Madam Chair, we were just conferring on this side, and we think it may actually only be in Yellowknife at the present moment. If I'm wrong, Madam Chair, I will correct myself in due course. I think right now it's actually still just only in Yellowknife or possibly Inuvik, too.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 7, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2020-2021, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I actually had the opportunity to speak with Northwestel just today. There are quite a number of projects that I think they are looking to advance. There are projects that they are looking to advance on their own, and some that they are looking to partner with various levels of government on, so, while I can't sit here right now and promise that all of Tuktoyaktuk housing and facilities will be linked to high-speed fibre in the immediate future, I can certainly say that this project will get a long way in terms of figuring out exactly what is required. It would...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I am a bit conscious that the detailed specifics should be directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, but I think it is safe to say, really, something that is being experienced and seen across all of the infrastructure projects and a lot of the infrastructure projects that are coming through Finance right now are experiencing some delays as a result of COVID-19, whether it's because of procurement slowdowns, whether it's because of slowdowns on the private sector side, in terms of the ability to have uptake. That is not to say that projects...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would be more than happy to offer that explanation, but to be quite frank, I do not have that contract or those arrangements in front of me and was simply not anticipating to be defending the entire P3 arrangement around Stanton today. I will be more than happy to give that answer, but I think I can really just commit to getting that detail. I am not going to be in a position to answer that fulsomely today.

The return to work site work plan was put out by the human resources division about, I want to say, a week ago, perhaps two weeks ago. It was circulated in the House. I believe it is actually posted on the website. I will double-check that the link is available and will certainly circulate that again. It is a phased approach. It is a phased approach that looks at ensuring those who are already back at work can continue to be at work, that the increase in the number of people who are able to return to work in a more formal capacity, and that, as the Emerging Wisely plan unfolds, that the GNWT...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Generally, I think the Member is accurately stating it. Just by way of a bit of a further example, the secure image management is quite specific to the DMV because it involves, as I said, facial recognition and the printing of actual licences that have people's photos on it. The Enterprise licensing and permitting system is intended to be the e-service delivery in order to access licensing and permitting across departments. It is really meant to be a direction in terms of getting us onto a single unified platform for all of the GNWT's general permitting and licensing...

Thank you, Madam Chair. When something is incomplete in the previous year, then it has to get carried over into this year in order to then be continued on with. Especially the Sissons school project, which is multi-year project, the funding that would be approved in one year still needs to get reapproved into subsequent years.

Again, I don't know exactly what stage the project is at, and if the Member wants a more specific answer, I can certainly turn this back to the Minister of education, but the overall school project is a multi-year project. For that reason, the funding will have to get...

Madam Chair, almost every Minister here is scrambling right now because almost everyone wants to add something. I'm hearing that there are a number of projects that are underway to support moving elders out of Yellowknife and back to their regions, that there are aging-in-place retrofits being looked at for the smaller centres across the Northwest Territories. I'm being reminded, also, that the committee will be seeing, hopefully, a draft of the 2021-2022 Capital Plan by July. Once they see that capital plan, there will be an opportunity for Members from across the Northwest Territories to...