Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate that the Minister is well in tune with Mr. Philipp's presentation and the concept of the microgrid and the district energy system, but one of the key pieces of that presentation was the idea of just simply getting a community, a large community, off of one large generator that runs full bore 24/7, 365, and getting it replaced with multiple smaller generators. Never mind the other aspects of, you know, graphene batteries or heat exchangers or what have you, just the idea of getting one large massive generator off and putting smaller ones in so that you can only have as many generators running as you need to cover the load that is required at the time, is there some thought being given to us putting some idea into future, replacement of our big, old, large generators into using this smaller multiple-generator system? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. I just caution Members: try not to mention any names for future, but we will go on to Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have said, you know, I am very interested in what Mr. Philipp is doing. Oh, sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are interested in looking with a number of proponents who brings these ideas forward with us. As I said, our strategy is a three-year rolling plan. Things are going to change. These types of ideas are out there. There are a number of people who have approached us on a number of ideas on what we can do in the communities, be it biomass or gasification. There have even been conversations about mini-nuclear and all these sorts of things. We have to be open-minded on moving this initiative forward, of lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The Premier has clearly signed on to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change with the Prime Minister, and we have lined up our strategies and our federal funding to try to be able to achieve these things, so we have to be very open-minded on going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The $300,000 that is identified here seems like it is a contribution that we make every year to help the Power Corporation in regard to this. Can the Minister give us a little bit of a description on what is being done this year or what projects we might see some improvements, maybe a variable-speed generator or some other integrated residual-heat system completed with this year with this $300,000? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of projects I believe the department is working with on the NWT Power Corporation, and I think that refers to one of the solar projects in the Sahtu. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Guy. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Okay. That is great to hear. It is good to know we are making those kinds of investments in renewable alternative energies. No further questions in this activity. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Any further questions, committee? Seeing none, I will call the page. Infrastructure, programs and services, operations expenditure summary, $31,885,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. Next, we have regional operations, operations expenditure summary, from pages 247 to 249. Any questions from committee? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Since Yellowknife is considered the North Slave district, let's start by confirming: can the Minister confirm that resources are in this budget for the roadside turnout at Big Hill Lake? I believe there were going to be some resources set aside for some predesign, et cetera. Can the Minister confirm that? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Presently, we are working with our own forces internally with the design on this thing. We are working closely with ITI on it, as well. When it comes time to build this, we will be coming forward with appropriate appropriations to build that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
I appreciate that. It seems to me that there is at least some effort internally being put toward that. That is appreciated. What was my other aspect that I wanted to raise here on regional? I will defer for now, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next on the list, we have Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is related to page 248. I think it might fit well with regional management or facilities management. As we all know, the opening of the regional health centre in Norman Wells took place last year. It is a very modern building. Is it standard within the department to have some set-aside money on the after-care of personnel training to get more and more familiar with some of the small problematic issues that might arise with the new building and in the areas of troubleshooting, for example? Are there monies for staff training for these new facilities coming on stream? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To inform the Member, in this budget year, particularly around the Norman Wells Health Centre, there is $196,000 that is going to be put in there for O and M and upgrades and stuff going on there with the assets. There are two people who are going to be hired in the Sahtu region primarily to support the region. There is going to be an operating engineer and a plumber being hired on staff to dedicate some forces towards the Norman Wells Health Centre. Ongoing training is also another aspect that will continue as we further evolve with our staff on that building. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. McNeely.
Nothing further, Mr. Chair. Thank you. It was brought to my attention, so I am satisfied with the reply. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have some questions about the revolving funds. Is this the appropriate place to ask them?
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Guy.
The question was to the chair, Mr. Chair.
Say again, Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think it is actually the next section. When can I ask some questions about the revolving funds?
Mr. O'Reilly, right now, we are on page 247 to 249. Then we will do the information items. Once we finish this section, then you could ask questions on the information items. Next, we have Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hopefully, this will be really quick. In regard to highway operations, I am assuming this include winter roads in this section? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Yes, it does, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to the Sambaa K'e winter road, again, it is the question about the hills there. Have you identified money to help them with two hills for this fiscal year, or is it the past fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think, when the Member asked me in the House about this particular question, I said that we would be working with the community on a CAP application. They have submitted one, and we are working with them to looking at approving to do some work on the winter road this year through CAP. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is this fiscal year, or are we talking 2019-2020? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That will be this fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Any further questions committee? Seeing none, I will call the page. Infrastructure, regional operations, operation expenditure summary, $145,523,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you, committee. Next, we have information items from pages 250 to 261. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Let's start with the Petroleum Products Revolving Fund. The deficit is sort of jumping all over the place between 2017-2018 and 2019-2020. Can somebody explain what is happening here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. McCormick.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On this information item, the 2017-2018 actuals are the only, for lack of a better term, real number on the page. The main estimates for 2018-2019 were what we estimated at that time. Revised are updated to reflect the operations throughout the years. That is roughly where we would be this year. The accumulated deficit is just the accumulated operational surpluses for the year. Basically, they are sort of rolling budgets as we go along. We do the best we can to estimate them. Then once the financial audit financial statements are done, then we would update at that time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McCormick. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. 2019-2020, it is predicted that the accumulated deficit is almost going to be $1 million. Is that what I am seeing here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. McCormick.
