Thank you, Minister. Do you wish to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I do.
SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, will you please introduce your witnesses to the Chamber.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right is Willard Hagen, the deputy minister. To my left is Brenda Hilderman, the director of finance and administration. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Do we have any opening remarks, any general comments from committee on the Department of Lands? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am just actually flipping back to page 5, where the lands funding forward over the next three years is shown. There does not seem to be much money that they are predicting is required in 20192020 or 20202021, so what is going on? Does this department not have any capital replacement or aspirations or anything? What is going on with Lands? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the answer to that is that we have not yet necessarily determined all of the needs we may have in the future, so those numbers for the future could change. We are not contemplating, obviously, any major projects currently, at that time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. However, when I see on page 5 that the 20192020 total planned infrastructure investment is $698,000, that is sort of a fairly clear figure. What is that money for? There must be some sort of predictions or totalling of some projects that would equal that amount. Can the Minister or his officials provide any details? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at the fiveyear capital needs, so 20192020 to 20232024, there are some projects, if I can just identify them for you. There is replacement of shop space in Fort Smith. There is a small warehouse in the community that transferred to the government in 1987 and will require a major retrofit. There is also a fiveyear needs assessment which would include a coldstorage space in Inuvik. There is presently a coldstorage and heated shop in Inuvik leased from the federal government, but those leases expire in the next couple of years. If they are not renewed, we would require shop space in support of our operations in Inuvik. Looking longer-term, six to 20 years, shop space in Hay River and Inuvik and a future retrofit in the distant future of the Beaufort Delta office. There are projects, none of them of a terribly major size, in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, for that thorough overview. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the details from the Minister. Perhaps he can confirm for me, then, that we are not cutting capital expenditures in the future for Lands to fund other infrastructure. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Sebert.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we are not doing that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have no further questions.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Any further general comments on the Department of Lands? Seeing none, we will defer consideration of the departmental total until consideration of the activity summaries, the first of which begins on page 59, Lands, informatics shared service centre, infrastructure investments, $1,513,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Turning to page 61 with an associated information item on page 62, Lands, operations, infrastructure investments, $110,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Turning back to page 58, Lands, total capital estimates, $1,623,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you very much, committee. Does committee agree that we have concluded consideration of the Department of Lands?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Thank you to the Minister and your witnesses. SergeantatArms, you may escort the witnesses from the Chamber. Committee, we have agreed to next consider the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. I assume the Minister has no opening comments. Would he like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I would, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witnesses to the House.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right I have Dr. Erin Kelly, who is our assistant deputy minister in ENR. To my left I have Susan Craig, who is our director of corporate services. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister, and welcome to the witnesses. Do we have any opening comments or general comments from committee on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. The same sort of questions I had for the Minister of Lands, to some extent: when I look at page 16, the total capital expenditures really jump around quite a bit for this department. I think I probably have some ideas why, but I guess I would like to hear from the officials. What is going on? In 20162017, it was almost $29 million; 20172018 revised estimates, $10.6 million; this year, for 20182019, it is only $3 million. What is going on here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Ms. Craig.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In year 20162017, that was the purchase of the 802 Air Tractor, so that was quite a large, substantial capital project. In 2017, our main estimates were $3,400,000, which is around our normal allocation for capital, and when you compare that to the 20182019 main estimates, they are quite similar. The main reason for the revised amount is that we had projects that were not completed in 2016-2017, and they were carried forward into 2017-2018.
Substantially, we have a project in Inuvik, the Shell Lake Complex, and in Fort Simpson, we have the lab that is being hopefully finished this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Craig. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That is what I expected, was that those aircraft had bumped up 2016-2017. When we cast our minds forward into future years' expenditures for ENR, back on page 5, for 2019, it is only $544,000, and then nothing for 2020-2021. I know it is often difficult to predict capital expenditures into the future, but surely there must be some sort of a regular replacement cycle and things for vehicles and buildings and stuff like that. Why is there not a more substantial investment from ENR and into the future? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Ms. Craig.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point in time we have projects that are in our 20-year capital needs, and they need to come forward into that planning cycle of 2019-2020. We do anticipate that we will have a small cap allocation similar to our budgets that we have now in the $3 million area. As the Member stated, we need to identify the projects that are either in lifecycle, repair, or improvements on the existing capital projects that we have.
Thank you, Ms. Craig. Further, Mr. O'Reilly?
Mr. Chair, yes. I just make the case again: I do not want to see cuts in ENR to fund other kinds of infrastructure. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have no further questions. It is more of a comment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is funny that Ms. Craig has a comment on my ENR facility in Fort Simpson, so can the Minister please provide us an update of what the status is? It was supposed to be done a couple of years ago, but it has not been done yet. Can he give us an update on what the status of it is? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, our expectation is it will be done during this fiscal year. Thank you, completed.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
That is good to hear, and I thank the Minister for that answer. Can I get an update when it is done so that I can maybe get a tour of this facility? It has been long overdue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. We will be more than glad to send the Member an invite to hold one end of the ribbon. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further, Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. I would prefer not to hold the ribbon, but that is okay. I appreciate the offer. During general comments, I talked about the microwave power near Blackstone River. As the Minister is aware, we have had a little bit of a fire scare there. The community was talking about the potential of putting a cellular antenna on this facility, and this is something that we are trying to look at. Will the Minister be looking at this? Is this something that can be done through the capital planning process, or is this a miscellaneous opportunity they can fulfill doing that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
