Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is correct. We did a significant amount of work on this in the previous Assembly, where legislation was actually passed to allow us to support human and tissue donation. In the Northwest Territories it was agreed at that time that given the magnitude of the project and the small size of the jurisdiction it made more sense to actually cooperate and join with Alberta on their registry. They have far greater capacity than us. We had actually entered into negotiations with them at that time and had some dollars set aside and allocated to support this project.
Unfortunately, they had an election, at which point they had a significant change in leadership in the province and asked us to defer, or rather they chose to defer the negotiations until they were a little bit more stable and set up. We've been looking to them to reinitiate those negotiations. We were hoping that we might make a little bit of progress last fiscal year. We did insofar as they said, yes, we're ready to start talking and we're looking to move forward with actually our inclusion in their registry in the 2017-18 fiscal year. It is a negotiation process. There is a bunch of work that needs to be done, some boxes to check off, but we're feeling pretty good that we should be able to get that work done in 2017-18, and open the registry up for residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further? Mr. Testart.
I'd like to thank both Ministers for their clarification. Nothing further.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Seeing nothing further, I will call this page. Health and Social Services, operations expenditure summary, administrative and support services, not previously authorized, negative $289,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, negative $289,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Moving on to page 7, Environment and Natural Resources. Comments or questions? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the department if they gave any consideration to, I will call it, hedging this investment? Maybe the department can enlighten me on what the original contract value was of the air tractor fleet? I believe it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of about $30 million to $35 million, somewhere in that neighbourhood, and it just seems that, if we are in a situation where we are at risk because of the Canadian dollar losing value, that it's going to ultimately cost us an additional $5 million, that we should give consideration to hedging our investment. I wonder if the department can just inform us as to did they in fact look into that, and, if so, why did we not choose to hedge the original contract? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Kalgutkar.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we first entered into the contract with the supplier, we contemplated hedging, but there are some risks involved in terms of entering into hedge, and there are some expenses to do it. When the dollar started dropping in relation to the American dollar, it was dropping so fast that the benefits of a hedge were no longer actually there. So, by the time we actually thought about it, it was too late because the dollar had dropped so fast, so quickly. In the future, what is going to be suggested is that we actually build sufficient contingency into the project budget to deal with these types of currency rate fluctuations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne.
That is good. No further questions. I appreciate the answer. Thank you.
Thank you. Seeing nothing further, I will call this department. Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, forest management, not previously authorized, $5,212,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Environment and Natural Resources, capital investment expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $5,212,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. On to page 8. Comments or questions related to Health and Social Services, capital investment expenditures on page 8? Seeing none, I will call this page. Health and Social Services, capital investment expenditures, administrative and support services, not previously authorized, $20,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Health and Social Services, capital investment expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $20,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. On to page 9, Transportation, capital investment expenditures. Comments or questions? Seeing none, I will call this department. Transportation, capital investment expenditures, highways, not previously authorized, $2,620,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Transportation, capital investment expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $2,620,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Do you agree that we have concluded consideration of Tabled Document 315-18(2)?
Agreed.
Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that consideration of Tabled Document 315-18(2), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2016-2017 now be concluded and that Tabled Document 315-18(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion on the floor, and it is being distributed. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
The motion is carried. Thank you, committee. Next, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 316-18(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2016-2017. I will again turn to the Minister of Finance for any opening remarks. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2016-2017. This document provides for an increase of $28.4 million to the 2016-17 operations expenditures budget.
$22.9 million of these supplementary estimates is for the Department of Health and Social Services to provide additional funding associated with the higher-than-projected utilization of health programs, such as: hospital and physician services provided to NWT residents in southern jurisdictions; the residential placement of NWT adults and children in southern facilities so that they can receive the specialized care that is not available in the NWT; and the provision of supplementary health benefits.
Other major items in these estimates include:
$2 million for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment for the Slave Province Geophysical, Surficial Materials, and Permafrost Study.
$884,000 for the Department of Public Works and Services, for the costs associated with the planning and implementation of NWT marine operations.
$606,000 for the Department of Justice, for the Framework for Enhancing Victim Services Agreement in the NWT, 2016-2021.
That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. You may take your seat at the witness table. I will note for the record that Mr. Stewart and Mr. Kalgutkar are still at the witness table. Does committee have any general comments on this tabled document? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I was just wondering if the Minister can tell us how close we are to the supplementary reserve limit? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. After accounting for the items that are in this supplementary bill, there will be approximately $6.4 million left in the supplementary reserve for O and M for 2016-17.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Nothing further from O'Reilly. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just on the health, the $22.9 million of the supplementary estimates for the Department of Health and Social Services: year on year, it's typically around a 20 per cent overage as the average that the Department of Health and Social Services exceeds its projected estimates, and committee looked into this, and this is not in recent years; it's over a range of years. It's a historical fact that the health department consistently exceeds its estimates.
So why do we continue to budget this way when we do have an average forecast of when estimates are going to be exceeded? If the Minister could respond, I guess, instead of just allowing me to go on for 10 minutes? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. I will ask you to hold that until we get to page 7, the Health department, as this is time for general comments. Seeing no further general comments, we will proceed with consideration of the document, starting on page 4, Legislative Assembly. Comments or questions on page 4, Legislative Assembly? Seeing none, I will call this page. Legislative Assembly, operations expenditures, statutory offices, not previously authorized, $270,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Legislative Assembly, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $270,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. On to page 5, Education, Culture and Employment. Comments or questions? Seeing none, I will call the page. Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditures, education and culture, not previously authorized, $139,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $139,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. On to page 6, Environment and Natural Resources. Comments or questions? Seeing none, I will call this page. Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, wildlife, not previously authorized, $310,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $310,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
