Thank you, Madam Chair. I commit to the Member to have that conversation with each of my regional offices, to re-emphasize the direction I have given to the deputy minister to maximize and utilize northern and Indigenous businesses more. As well, we will have that procurement review and input from you on that so that we can make these changes and make sure we are doing better. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Thebacha.
The other one I want to just ask a further question on is kind of on the same lines as one of my colleagues asked, Madam Chair. That is the $66,444,000, the contract services. It was stated that 87 percent of it went to Northerners. The big list that we got on one of our documents, there was a lot of businesses on there that are BIP, but I would not consider them northern, myself, if they are not owners in the Northwest Territories. I am just wondering: how is 87 percent quite possible? Like, I want to make sure because there is a concern about northern content. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree. I definitely have had a lot of conversations over the last eight months, with you included, about better maximizing and ensuring that people are not saying one thing and doing another, so again I commit to the Member that this is going to change in my department and that we are going to ensure that more northern and Indigenous businesses are winning contracts and working, through COVID-19 and beyond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
[Microphone turned off] ...questions, Madam Chair. Thank you.
I will move on to, then, Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Chair. No. Just a question in regard to: I brought up a Member's statement this week in regard to the Sachs Harbour Airport and the situation that there is too much saturation in the community to land small aircraft for medevac planes and only allowed Twin Otters with thunder tires, which the airline does not have at this time. They are working towards getting a plane up there to service the community. Where does that fall in under 2018 main estimates? It was put in there, and then why hasn't it been done, or what is the plan coming to get this situation for Sachs Harbour sorted out? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Sachs Harbour, the drainage improvements are actually under the capital budget, so they will be addressed there. As I mentioned in the House yesterday, we do have the excavator coming this summer to do the work, but I believe that's all under our capital budget. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There must be an excavator in the communities. Why are we having to wait this long? What could we do in the interim for the safety of the community of Sachs Harbour to try to get that runway opened up, or is the department going to be helping the airline for the $58,000 a month to bring that aircraft into the community? It's not the airline's fault; it's our government in regard to not providing adequate runway service to the community. Where does that fall under? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's my understanding they are doing snow removal right now on the runway so that the planes can land. It is under our climate change adaptation strategy to deal with some of these airport drainage issues. How about I will commit, as well, to the Member to have a discussion about that particular airport after? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. We will move on to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions. One of the things that kind of stood out for me was the line item on amortization. For 2021, it's at $58.4 million. I looked through the entire book just to make sure, and it's quite high; it's almost pushing half of the entire GNWT's expenditures. I'm just wondering why that is. I'll start with that, and then we'll keep on going. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Amortization is quite an accounting term, so I think I'll pass this off to Mr. Brennan and remind him to speak up when he answers. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Amortization, I'll try to use some terms that are not too accountant-ese for you and for me. When we put an asset into service, a capital asset, it has a useful life of, say, 20 years, and that asset is depreciated over those 20 years. The amortization shows up every year, and it is representative of how many assets we put into service. It gets charged over the life of the asset. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Brennan. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Madam Chair. I'm glad there was a little bit of clarification, because my next question was: if you had to explain the accounting term to an elder, how would you do that? I guess you kind of caught a little bit of it. Thank you for that explanation. Why is this amortization for this department so high in relation to other departments? Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would believe that has to do with just the sheer size of the Department of Infrastructure and the number of assets that we do manage. We have a lot of the GNWT buildings for other client departments. We have the roads. We have airports. Everything sort of tangible or a lot of tangible things fall under the Department of Infrastructure compared to, say, Finance, which maybe doesn't have as much brick and mortar as we do. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Madam Chair. Just to clarify, those assets could be, like you mentioned, buildings, equipment, and those sorts of items. Correct? Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that is correct. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Moving along, are we doing page 241? We are? Band council subsidized leases. Madam Chair, can the Minister just describe what Indigenous groups this would be applicable for, what group this applies to? Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have the group names in front of me, and I will pass that off in a second. I just wanted to state that the Department of Infrastructure no longer has any agreements with land councils for subsidized leases, so the practice has been discontinued. A submission has to be prepared to reduce the Infrastructure lease budget by $140,000. The accounting offset is included in revenue, so that's why it's showing up. After this, it will no longer be involved in our budget. Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry, I want to just pass to Dr. Dragon. He can tell us which ones those entail.
Thank you, Minister. Dr. Dragon.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Unfortunately, I don't have that information with me, but the Minister is correct. We are no longer providing that service, so we're actually moving it out of the books. My apologies for not bringing it today. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Madam Chair. Just so I have my head wrapped around this, you're saying this is discontinued, so this assistance won't be available to whatever band that this help was meant for, Madam Chair?
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe there were agreements in place that had end dates, and that's why these have ended. I wouldn't be able to tell you what the prior Minister reasoning was of that, but I do commit to coming back to the Member and finding that information and providing it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Marsi cho. That would be much appreciated. I have nothing further.
All right. Are there any further questions under regional operations? Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. Under marine operations, we have resupply to the communities. There is the Mackenzie River communities, so I imagine they are serviced from the Port of Hay River. For the Beaufort-Delta, I'm not certain if they are serviced from Hay River or else the resupply is from Inuvik. Can you just clarify that? At the same time, too, whether we're seeing an increase in the resupply cargo? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The marine operations listed here are the ferries only. The MTS has its own revolving fund, and it does have its own separate budget. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. I think we will be getting to that in the next section, MTS. Sorry. Member for Deh Cho.
Sorry. I'm just wondering about capital projects, whether that's in the section, too.
No, capital projects are not. We're just doing operation budget. Member for Deh Cho, do you have questions on the regional operations?
[Microphone turned off] ...marine operations. The Marine Training Centre, I was hearing about it. I'm not sure where the centre really is located and whether it is still operational and if you are getting a high attendance there. If not, would we consider southern students to fill any empty seats? Mahsi.
Just to be clear, I think that would be under MTS.
