Total department, not previously authorized, $2.318 million.
Agreed.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, environment, not previously authorized, $29,000.
Agreed.
Forest management, not previously authorized, $2.246 million.
Agreed.
Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a large amount here of $1.5 million to provide funding for the purchase of eight Air Tractor Fire Boss air tankers. Could I get an explanation of why this is a supplementary appropriation? I believe we had put it into our budget earlier, the budget that was passed earlier this year. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Deputy Minister Aumond.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At the latter part of April, the contractor approached the department with an opportunity or an option to exonerate the first two aircraft in exchange for offering savings on the remaining fleet of craft to be purchased. So we need to increase in 2015-16 about 1.254 million US dollars, or about 1.554 million Canadian dollars, in exchange for getting savings in 2016-17 of about 1.588 million US dollars for a net savings over the total life of the project of about $334,000 US. Thank you.
Thanks to Mr. Aumond for that. I’m presuming that if we are advancing $1.5 million that we’re probably going to have to borrow it. Have we considered the cost of advancing the money in terms of borrowing against the money that we’re saving? I imagine it probably isn’t a heck of a lot, but I have to ask the question. Thank you.
Given that we are likely to be in a cash deficit for most of the year, it will cost us a bit of interest but be more than offset by the savings that we get in 2016-17.
Just one last question. The statement was that this would accelerate the delivery of the first two aircraft. Am I correct, we are going to get two aircraft a little sooner than the original schedule laid out? Will that have any impact on the aircraft following the delivery of the two? Is that schedule impacted? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Kalgutkar.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member is correct; we are advancing the engine and the airframe portion of the first two aircraft, so they should be ready a bit earlier. The remaining aircraft remain on the current schedule. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Kalgutkar. Next I have Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just continuing questions where Ms. Bisaro left off, so we have an accelerated delivery of two of the 802 Fire Boss air tankers en route. I look here and there is some carry forward or offset for an air tanker base workshop/storage in Hay River. We have another air tanker base dispatch standby facility in Norman Wells, which seems to be lapsed money. So, with the anticipated early delivery of these two air tankers, where will these tankers be predominantly located, and again, are we also having multiple air tanker base facilities throughout the Northwest Territories? Is that the intention here? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The current infrastructure will continue to be used. The aircraft will be split initially between Smith and Yellowknife on a start-up basis, then they will be moved across the North on a required basis, wherever that may be. We have other supplementary bases in Hay River, Norman Wells, Simpson and Inuvik, among other places. So we will continue to use the infrastructure that we have to support the current aircraft which, over time, will be surplused. Thank you.
I appreciate the Minister’s response to that. Just as a confirmation, because we are looking at an accelerated delivery of these 802 air tankers, will we have the facility in place to deal with that early delivery? Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Committee, we are on Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, forest management, not previously authorized, $2.246 million.
Agreed.
Water resources, not previously authorized, $180,000.
Agreed.
Wildlife, not previously authorized, $185,000.
Agreed.
Total department, not previously authorized, $2.640 million.
Agreed.
Department of Finance, capital investment expenditures, office of the chief information officer, not previously authorized, $592,000.
Agreed.
Office of the comptroller general, not previously authorized, $100,000.
Agreed.
Total department, not previously authorized, $692,000.
Agreed.
Department of Health and Social Services, capital investment expenditures, administrative and supportive services, not previously authorized, $33.139 million. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of questions here. The first one has to do with the amount of money for the H.H. Williams Hospital in Hay River. I see that this is a carry-over amount of some $200,000. I thought that we had advanced money for this project, so I’m wondering why we still have a carry-over at this point. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Kalgutkar.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As Members know, it’s a large, multi-year project, and we did advance the work the previous fiscal year, and this is this work to complete the project and bring it into service later this summer. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Kalgutkar. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks, Mr. Kalgutkar. Can I get a sense, then, of whether or not we are on schedule, behind schedule, ahead of schedule in terms of the opening date? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The project is on schedule, as far as I understand. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. I’ll go to Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. They’re planning to start moving into that building late summer or fall. It’s on schedule.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the Ministers for that info. The other item here that I have questions about is the health centre in Norman Wells. It’s a large amount of money, almost $15 million. It suggests that that project wasn’t even started. Could I get an explanation as to why we are carrying over such a large amount?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There were discussions and negotiations with the contractor that extended farther than was anticipated, which precluded us from taking advantage of the previous season. Hence, it’s all been sorted out and everything is operational now, but hence the requirement for the carry-over. Thank you.
Thanks. Just one last question. So, is this carry-over going to have an impact on the intended opening date for this facility? Thank you.
