Thank you, Madam Chair. In terms of the charters themselves, that's when someone essentially leases a vessel. If someone wants a private vessel for whatever work they are intending to do, that's what we consider to be a charter. We charge them back based on a daily rate which includes costs of the vessel and the staffing of the vessel, as well. In terms of the numbers the 2020-2021 budget for charters is based on the number of charters that we anticipate receiving in this current fiscal year, now. We don't anticipate many charters this year. Therefore, the number is down, now. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Brennan. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We're showing a revenue of $200,000, but expenditures for those charters is $422,000. We're losing a lot more than we're making unless I'm looking at something wrong. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe what he's saying is the charter costs are what they label when they do work on other peoples' boats, whereas the charter revenue is the money we receive to move goods around. Perhaps I would suggest that charter costs, under expenditures, is a poorly named item. It would probably be better to be "work on others," if that is my understanding from what Mr. Brennan has said. He's nodding his head "yes." Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Talking about other items, what do the other items entail? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The increase there is actually the money that we've gotten from the Oceans Protection Plan for the four double-hulled barges. I believe that would be any revenues that we have received when we apply on any sorts of funding that we'd be looking for to do specific, either purchasing or other projects. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for bringing up the double-hulled barges. Can you tell me whether that they are on budget? What the cost to build them and the cost to get them into Canada? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As I mentioned in the House yesterday, they are on time. They will be delivered in August. Sorry. They were $29 million. Maybe I will just ask Dr. Dragon to just fill in a little bit more of the information. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Dr. Dragon.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. That funding was $29 million. That was 75 percent provided by the Ocean Protection Plan. They are on schedule and on budget. They are scheduled to arrive in Tuktoyaktuk between August 12th and 15th, and to this date, we get weekly updates from the manufacturer. Everything is on schedule as planned. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to these double-hulled barges, are they going to be used on the Mackenzie River, or are they only for ocean-going? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will pass this one to Dr. Dragon. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Dr. Dragon.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Our goal is to have the majority of our fleet as actual double-hulled barges. We have two double-hulled pre-owned barges that were purchased in 2017. We have four new double-hulled barges that will come online in 2020. We are also doing conversions right now, two new 1500-series conversions. It will allow us to have eight double-hulled barges that we will be utilizing throughout the northern environment. I think it's one thing to be able to say you're delivering a product that, if we were to get in trouble on one of the ecosystems that we're currently travelling on, we could have a real issue there. I think, again, what we've been trying to do is make sure that all of our barging systems will be double-hulled. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With double-hulled barges, are you going to be able to, with respect to petroleum products, haul the same volume as you would with non-double-hulled barges? I'm thinking here that, if you can't, that may increase the cost of petroleum products in the communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't believe that the double-hulled barges are any lesser in volume than the ones that we already had. If anything, I do believe they are perhaps larger volumes. I see Mr. Brennan shaking his head "yes," so there is no reduced capacity with the new barges. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That takes into account lower water levels? Because my understanding is that, with double-hulled barges, you're going to have maybe two feet, maybe a little bit more, drawn. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would hope that, when the planning study was done in the former Minister's department, they did, in fact, look at water levels in the Mackenzie, as we have had a couple of years now of truncated shipping or barging seasons because of the low levels. I would assume that has been done as part of the studies when the purchases were made. I think that they are comparable, according to Dr. Dragon, so I don't believe that there should be an issue with the lower water levels. I can commit to coming back to you with a written answer on that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We're going to end up with some new barges. What are we doing about the vessels that tow the barges? They are aging, as well. Have we looked at the cost of retrofits versus replacing them? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Actually, part of that other cost is also to retrofit one of the tugboats under the federal funding the LCELF, the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund. As mentioned before, these would also have an asset management plan or a preventative maintenance plan where they would be looking at the life cycles of these assets and determining whether it is more cost effective to retrofit and continue to upgrade or to purchase new tugs. Yes, as part of the entire department's preventative maintenance program and asset management, they would be looking at the life cycles or lifetimes of the tugboats as well as the barges. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to turn to MTC, now. Who actually owns that? Is that part of MTS? Is that part of this government, or are we in a joint venture with somebody from Nunavut? Can you just maybe elaborate on that? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we've entered a lease with the Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium to establish the Marine Training Centre in Hay River. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thank you, Madam Chair. MTC is providing training to fishers for the Great Slave Lake. Are they hiring trainers who are familiar with inland fisheries and inland waters, or are they using trainers who are used to offshore fishing? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We are using both. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
That's fine. Thank you.
All right. Are there any further questions on Marine Transport Service Revolving Fund? Seeing none, I will move on to the Infrastructure Yellowknife Airport Revolving Fund. Any questions? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I'd like to get an explanation of the growing accumulated surplus in this fund, which now stands, at the end of 2020-20201, at almost $45 million. There was a lot of debate and discussion in setting this up as a revolving fund. I even voted against the bill because I think there was insufficient transparency and governance for this fund, stakeholder involvement, and so on. Why is the accumulated surplus going to be $45 million at the end of this year? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The surplus is to do capital improvements at the Yellowknife Airport. We are currently exploring a Yellowknife Airport plan to do upgrades to the terminal building, I believe, and other parts of the airport and the runway. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, I'm well aware of what the money is for. I want it out the door and being spent. I've been waiting for this 20-year capital plan for the airport for some time. Especially now, with the pandemic going on, here's an opportunity. Here's a pot of money that we could actually spend now to start doing some work at the airport. I know this is a complicated issue. People have been complaining about the lack of services, the line-ups, and so on, out of there for years. I know air transport is likely going to change and evolve with the pandemic, but to have a $45-million surplus sitting there and not doing anything with it, this is not a good thing. When is this 20-year capital plan actually going to be finished? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
