Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is as a result of the fact that there's been an increased number of meetings that are being called with more frequency across the Northwest Territories. In order to support full participation by the Indigenous governments, this amount is being increased in order to provide the funding to the Indigenous governments to support their participation in those meetings, in that increased number and variety of meetings. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Madam Chair. I meant to say, Minister of Finance. My apologies. Thank you for the response, by the way. How does the pandemic affect these numbers? Are there going to be changes with this? Are there going to be changes in spending for this fiscal year? Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. One of the biggest areas where there is expected to be some changes -- well, I shouldn't say, one of the biggest areas. There are a lot of changes. One area of significant changes in terms of travel funding, obviously, there may well be a lot less travel occurring. That said, these are internal NWT Indigenous governments, so it may or may not affect how much travel is occurring. Short answer is: yes, but it's uncertain. I'm not in a position to say that it won't necessarily require the full $300,000. We can certainly commit to providing updates as the next few months come forward and we start to see exactly what changes in demands there have been for travel funding. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm hoping our government can help Lutselk'e in the Internet issues because, if the chief wants and the council want to communicate, it's going to be tough. I'll leave that as a comment. I'm glad that there's extra money allocated for this because it's important. Like I mentioned before, we sat at the roundtable, all the governments. We got together and sat together. There were a lot of concerns there, and I'm glad to see that we're actually showing some commitment there. Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. I'll take that as a comment. I will call the page again. Indigenous and intergovernmental affairs, not previously authorized, $300,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Total department, not previously authorized, $300,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
We'll now turn to page 7. Committee, we will now proceed with the Department of Finance, and we'll proceed to the detail on page 7. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2020-2021, Department of Finance, operations expenditures, management board secretariat, not previously authorized, $36,840,000. Questions? Comments? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking at the first line item to provide funding to respond to COVID, $23,400,000. I understand all of this money is essentially flow through, offset by the Government of Canada. I just want to clarify. Is this all money we've essentially already spent or programs that have already been announced, or is this new money? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is not new money at this point. This is money that's come in to date, and that has been provided, I believe, to the end of June. A mix of both planned and spent. I suppose it depends. If we're looking just at the first line item, the $23 million, that is a mix of on the planned and spent items coming in based on best estimates at this point of what's happening with COVID-19. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess my understanding is there are quite a bit of programs, and most of them are kind of all wrapped up in this money. We have spent it, or it's kind of already allocated. The big question is: is there more money expected to come? Do we have any plans to increase our COVID spending ourselves? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As a starting point, Madam Chair, the federal government just this week announced a further $14 billion that they will be engaging all provinces and territories in order to determine the allocation of those different funds. I certainly am not in a position to say, right now, what proportion of that the Northwest Territories will get, only that we certainly will get some share of that. The initial money that we received was, again, part of really an emergency response. Most provinces and territories, and indeed, the federal government, are still really quite in an emergency response stage, albeit it may be evolving. These projections and the money that was received was based, as I say, in fact, on projections on where we were at and where we would be. I'm sure there is more money coming from the federal government. As I say, there is the $14 billion, but whether or not there will be more, I'm certainly not going to make any commitments on behalf of a different Minister and a different level of government. Will there need to be more money coming from the GNWT? "Probably" is probably the best I can say. It's just that at this point, how much? It is going to be difficult to estimate. Much of that depends on whether or not we wind up facing a second wave that is worse this fall or if it is less impactful and more mild, which certainly isn't the prediction right now from a lot of different corners. That will have a big impact on where we're at financially. I hope that's sufficient information. I see the Member still has some time, so there may be more questions coming. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. No. That's very helpful. I just wanted to clarify for the public's sake that, when this $23 million shows up, it's largely money that we've already spent. Moving onto the next line item there, the $8,700,000 for passenger airlines. When this was announced, it was said that it was kind of part 1 of negotiations, and there was a potential second half for our cargo airlines. A number of our airlines that supply our communities in the NWT are fundamental to our supply chain, and they were unable to access this money because they don't carry passengers. Can the Minister provide an update when we're going to see money for those airlines? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. The first round of funding was really directed and really driven at the large airlines that provide scheduled passenger services. We were able to use some flexibility and to receive some flexibility so that we could direct it at airlines more across the Northwest Territories, more broadly than just one or two, which is certainly beneficial and there is a breakdown that was provided to five different airlines. Now, negotiations have continued with Transport Canada regularly. There have been regular communications between the Department of Finance and, I believe, the Department of Infrastructure, as well, regarding airlines. Also, at the Finance Ministers' table and, I believe, probably with the Premiers' table, as well, all three territories are saying that airlines are different up here and we need more than just the passenger airlines, that they really are essential services providing cargo and medical, et cetera.
With that said, the latest word that we've had from Transport Canada is that they will be taking some time and that the funding that will hopefully be coming from them is not necessarily imminent. I'm happy to be surprised and to be wrong if that's not the case, but right now, it's not imminent. It's coming but not imminent, and they're still doing quite a lot of work in order to determine how much they'll be able to provide. That said, we're working internally, as well, right now. It's our hope that we won't be waiting necessarily for the federal government, but that the Department of Finance and the GNWT will be able to take some steps to fill the gaps that we know exist right now for other airlines in the territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm frustrated to hear that Transport Canada is taking their time, and I'm happy to hear that we are considering filling those gaps. I think a number of the communities, if they lose those cargo airlines, we're putting food security and a number of supply chains at serious risk. Lastly, I wanted to go to the third item here, the $4,740,000 for the $18-an-hour wage top-up for a 16-week period. My understanding is that we probably haven't spent all this money yet and people have to apply through their employer to get it. Does this money expire? Is this program dependent on people accessing it? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. No, we haven't spent all of it yet. It does require an application process. I think we might have the up-to-date numbers available in terms of where we're at right now. If I could just check in, perhaps, with Mr. Courtoreille, he might have that available, or Mr. Koe, I'm not sure. Just to get a sense of an update as to what the total expenditures are to date. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Mr. Koe.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The latest statistics as of June 3rd, we've had 41 employers apply and 293 employees have qualified. We've granted about $90,000 and kind of the average monthly support for each employee is about $215 under that program. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Koe. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think we would all like to see at least everyone in the Northwest Territories making $18 an hour. That's still well below a living wage for many of our communities. I recognize that there is some work to do. It's only $215 average a month for an employee. That's not that much money to us, but it's a lot to them. I'm looking for: perhaps there is a way, as this program expires, that we can meet those employers in the middle and offer some sort of wage-incentive program, and they can offer a bit of a raise to their own employees. Really, I don't think anyone should be paying people less than $18 an hour in the Northwest Territories. I recognize that is the reality for these workers. I'm hoping the Minister can give me a sense of whether we can use this current funding as a bit of leverage to get people closer to a living wage. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There is one thing I would note is that this program is for individuals who work at least 30 hours per week. There are likely some individuals who are making less than this, who are at least closer to the minimum wage. A bit of conjecture here but they wouldn't qualify for this program if they're not working 30 hours a week. I would be cautious in assuming that this program is necessarily covering everyone who is making less than $18 per hour and that those numbers might actually be quite different. We certainly do have some statistics, labour market statistics, on who makes what, what number of labourers do make less. That might be a good project for one of the committees to undertake if they are so interested or inclined. At this point, Madam Chair, I'm not going to be able to give much more of a commitment on that particular project. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions, comments under this section? Member for Hay River South.
I just want to echo MLA Johnson's frustration with the lack of financial support for the small regional cargo airlines. My concern is that we're going to end up losing them, either to bankruptcy or to having them move South. I've heard that from a local airline in Hay River, one that actually wants to expand into the passenger side of things. I'm just wondering: I'd like to ask the Minister how close we are to actually providing them some funding. It sounds like we're not going to see anything from the feds in the near future, so how close are we, as a government, in getting them a package out? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
I'm cautiously optimistic that it won't be very long, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I know when she says "not long" it's usually a week. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's all.
Thank you, Member. Any further questions? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I did give the Minister a heads-up that I would ask her some questions about some of these matters. The line of $23,400,000, that's to help cover some of our extraordinary costs related to the pandemic. Can the Minister tell us how much we've actually spent on self-isolation where we helped put up our residents, and in some cases, essential service workers, in hotels and pay for their meals and so on? What have we spent on that so far? Let's start with that. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The total costs, year to date, on self-isolation centres are $1.2 million, and a breakdown is that the majority of that are in Yellowknife, $535,000 or just over; a little over $207,000 in Hay River; $455,750 in Inuvik; and $2,160 in Fort Smith. Madam Chair, I'm happy to provide that chart to the Member so he doesn't have to write down my numbers. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Maybe if you could send that off to all the Members, they might want that. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes. I think I got about three of the numbers down, so it would be great to get it in a table. Forgive me if this was said, but what are our projected costs? Well, we don't know when the pandemic is going to end, but has the department predicted any costs that might be associated into the future with self-isolation, supporting those individuals? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to know, I think I said "to date" on the chart. Those are numbers that are up to May 15th, so there obviously has been almost the better part of a month since then, but those are the numbers that we have collated to now. Again, only having had a few months, but we're at about $1.1 million per month, on average, so if we use that as a projection, then we're looking at $5.6 million to the end of September. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. The Minister is well prepared. I appreciate that. With regard to the uptake on the wage top-up program, I think there are about 2,100 people who might be eligible based on statistical tracking. What is the uptake like as of the most recent number the Minister can give us? Thanks, Madam Chair.
