Thank you, Madam Chair. In looking at the budget on page 261, where we look at the aeronautical line, I do want to note that the variance of $3.388 million is due to COVID and the economic stimulus package that GNWT offered for airlines. Yellowknife Airport did not collect lease, concession, or landing fees for a portion of the year, which the Member is fully aware of. The fees will resume for this fiscal year. There was a decrease of $6.285 million, and it was offered for airlines. The Yellowknife Airport did not collect lease, concession, or landing fees for nine months. Another decrease of $480,000, which, again, the Yellowknife Airport did not collect lease, concession, or landing fees for the month of March. That's the difference in revenues in terms of the aeronautical. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I am wondering if the Minister can confirm if the airport improvement fee is solely collected from the cost of tickets by air travellers or if there are other avenues for money to get into the airport improvement fee? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to get ADM Brennan to speak about the details. Thank you.
Thank you. ADM Brennan.
Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. The answer is yes, the money is collected through tickets. We entered into agreements with each air carrier who collect the fee at the time of sale of their own plane tickets, and then they remit to us after the plane actually moves. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate that clarification. My first point was that I don't know how this is going to increase as substantially as it is shown here between the 2020-2021 revised estimates and 2021-2022 when there is still a recommendation not to travel for this year. My concern is that I feel this revenue is actually quite high, given that we don't have a lot of people coming in and out of the territory. That was my concern there. I appreciate what the Minister said about the waiving of fees and such. My next question is: is there an intention of the Department of Infrastructure to increase the airport improvement fee in the next couple of years? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That is not the intent of the department to increase any fees at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Members, if there are no further questions, I am just going to go back to page 251. Infrastructure, regional operations, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $218,101,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, can you please escort the new witness into the Chamber? Would the Minister please introduce her witnesses?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have assistant deputy minister for regional operations, Gary Brennan. I also have with me assistant deputy minister for energy and strategic initiatives, Robert Jenkins.
Welcome. Committee, we are on page 242, energy and strategic initiatives, with information items up to 246. Questions? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am looking at page 244, and the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund. I believe this is actually federal money that flows in, which I am happy to see. There are three subheadings, and I noticed there was an uptick in the revised main estimates. Can someone just refresh my memory as to what those were? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will turn this over to ADM Brennan.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In 2019-2020, the department wasn't able to spend all of its appropriation for Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund. We requested $4.5 million for a supplementary appropriation in this fiscal year. The difference that you are looking at is that $4.588 million. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I recall that supplementary appropriation. I believe the feds kind of agreed to us carrying that funding forward. Can I just get some confirmation that, for the remaining approximately $7 million under this fund that we are getting this fiscal, we will be on track to get it spent on time? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's normally the intent. Having these on the books is to hope to get them spent. For me to commit to spending them is another thing. I will turn to ADM Jenkins to be able to provide just a little more information on our intent on how we want to get this spent. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is four years of federal funding, so $31.2 million in total. That funding is to fund projects and initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the NWT. We have six approved initiatives there. We have energy retrofits of public housing, energy retrofits of marine transportation vessels and ferries, the government GHG grant fund, the buildings and industrial GHG grant fund. We are also providing an incremental expansion of Arctic Energy Alliance programs and services. We also have the active carbon sequestration in forestry, which is being led by ENR. We have six initiatives there that we are advancing. We hope to be able to utilize funds that have been received from the federal government. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I made this comment during the supplementary appropriation. I recognize sometimes that getting money out of the feds can come with different contribution agreements that can be complicated. Let's make sure that we spend all of this $7.5 million and that the department is not coming back with a supplementary saying that they have not spent it again. I think this actually might be a bit of an asset management question, but it will lead into energy efficiency. Can I get an update of where we are with the new version of the GNWT Good Building Practices? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to turn this over to ADM Jenkins.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a second, please, if you could. I am just getting the information on this one. Thank you, Madam Chair. All of our facilities are designed and constructed to Canadian national codes and standards. We do maintain the good building practice for northern facilities manual, and that's a technical resource for designers and developers to design facilities, specifically for northern conditions. We do plan to release a fourth edition this year. We are in the final stage of edits, and this is something that should be ready to go imminently, hopefully, within the next month or so. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I really look forward to seeing that and having the department releasing it. I've made this comment before, though, that it's essential, I think, to a lot of the work that MACA is doing in looking at a potential building standards act. A lot of our municipalities actually lean on our good building practices for how they design their own buildings. This is the area where we have biomass energy funding, as well as a number of biomass projects. I know we've taken them on in different capacities, and it can be hard to kind of pinpoint how efficient they are. Do we have any kind of numbers on what switching our buildings to biomass results in cost savings? Do we have any of those figures in general or specific? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just going to find it here. Actually, I'm going to get Assistant Deputy Minister Brennan to speak about some of the cost savings because I'm looking at expenditures, and I don't know what the cost savings would be. I'm hoping he can help me. Thank you.
ADM Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to biomass, I think there's a couple of different programs that we run, but in 2019-2020, the biomass movement, there was a utility savings of about $1.8 million. I would add that we also had the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund, as well, which on our capital estimates, we use for retrofits of buildings, not just biomass boilers. Currently, I do believe we're saving $2.8 million per year, and total on that program is now just about $20 million we save through those programs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Brennan. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I heard the Minister talking about the fact that the Department of Infrastructure pays all of the GNWT's utilities, which I think is somewhere in the ballpark of $60 million a year we pay in utility costs. It's a lot. I know the department has a bit of a goal here in increasing energy efficiency. Every time we can do that, I think it's a win-win-win for everyone. I've asked the Minister questions on district heating before. I've asked her both as her role in Infrastructure and her role as the Power Corporation. Where should I ask those questions? Is this the department or unit that would be responsible for district heating? I know they're responsible biomass. Would this be the correct place? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to turn this over to Assistant Deputy Minister Robert Jenkins. Thank you.
Thank you. ADM Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In terms of district heating systems, we do have several programs, again, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that would apply to district heating systems. For projects outside of the GNWT, we do offer application-based grants under the GHG Grant Program. For projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including district heating systems. We offer 25 percent for individuals in businesses and 75 percent grants for governments and communities to undertake for eligible projects. Obviously, we encourage and we welcome people to apply. Also, as we go through each building when there's new work planned or new buildings built, we obviously look at heating systems to try to improve energy efficiency, but also to make sure that we maximize and utilize our funds in the best manner possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will start with a comment in that I think Greenland has 16 of its communities on district heating, and I don't just mean some of their buildings. I mean their entire communities are on district heating systems, and they've seen cost savings of 30 percent. I repeat that almost $60 million a year we pay in utilities, and we know there's a proven method to reduce the utility costs. I cannot speak highly enough about biomass and district heating. I'm going to leave it as a comment, and sink one more in. Where are we at with the business case for Taltson? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to get Assistant Deputy Minister Jenkins to just elaborate on where we're at with this. Thank you.
Thank you. ADM Jenkins.
