Thanks, Madam Chair. One more quick question: where does the supplementary reserve fit in on this page, somehow? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Madam Chair, if I could perhaps suggest the deputy minister is a better place to explain the supplementary reserve, please.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The supplementary reserve is on the operation summary page. It's not reflected on this sheet. I can't even remember the page number, but when you look at the sheet that shows what our total revenues are and our total expenditures, that comes out, that then calculates what our projected operating surplus is for the year. That's where you will see the supplementary reserve number. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, deputy minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Trying to dive through all of this, I am looking at the line item for the capital leases under the Government of the Northwest Territories subheading. I note that we currently don't have debt on the books or projected for the end of 2022; however, there is the $500,000 in contingency noting that the contingency is based on the working capital requirements. As the note says: Does the government anticipate that they are going to take on new debt or some sort of new expense here that we haven't currently been spending money on? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, as I was just saying, there are a number of contingencies fairly conservatively built in. I am not expecting right now that there would be any need for this, but it is an item that is, again, put in here to ensure that there is sufficient flexibility and room in the fiscal plan and in the borrowing plan to not have anything unexpected that's not built into what we are projecting. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I know what a contingency is. I am curious to know what you anticipate you would be now accruing or what would be occurring under capital leases. Do you expect to hire more people for the government and have to expand office space? I'm just curious to know why that's showing up there as a contingency. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps I will suggest that we direct this one to the deputy minister from the accounting perspective as to why we decided to include it on this line item here. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just like the other contingencies that are in that column, we are not anticipating undertaking any leases that would be deemed capital leases, but the government does enter into lease arrangements during the course of the year that may or may not be assessed as a capital lease depending on the terms of those lease arrangements. We just wanted to provide a bit of flexibility in there just in case. When the terms of those agreements are reviewed by the Comptroller General's office and they are deemed capital leases, then we would have some flexibility to record them there. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, deputy minister. Member for Great Slave.
I'm still curious to know what those potentially could perhaps be, but I will move on. I just wanted to come back to some comments made by my colleagues around coming close to the debt limit. I, too, am concerned to see that we are doing a lot of borrowing now and spending a lot of money in what I feel like should start to become more of an austerity type time, not taking on new debt.
However, that being said, when the Minister commented around what she thinks will reduce that or not make us hit that limit, it was about comments around Health and Social Services or the health authorities and their fiscal sustainability and then the government renewal, which are both going to take some time, I imagine. What I am concerned is to not hear anything around the mineral resources sector, et cetera, which I understand is not in this part of the budget. However, being that it is 40 percent of our GDP, I will be having questions for the Minister when she puts her other hat on as ITI, so thank you. More of a comment.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. I will take that as a comment. Did you have any other questions? Do we have any other questions on the borrowing plan from Members? No further questions on the borrowing plan? Borrowing plan for the government reporting entity and establish borrowing limits for the Government of the Northwest Territories, total consolidated borrowing, $1,587,475,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Does committee agree that consideration of the borrowing plan is completed?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will now move on to the Department of Finance. Committee, we will defer the departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning with the directorate, starting with page 140 with information items on page 143. Questions? Does committee have any questions for the directorate? Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. There is a contribution here to the NWT Housing Corporation, and I am wondering if the Department of Finance has begun conversations about converting the NWT Housing Corporation to a regular GNWT department? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Finance.
No, we have not, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I am wondering if, from the perspective of the Department of Finance, why it is important that the NWT Housing Corporation be a corporation? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That, really, I anticipate, would be a question for the Premier and certainly all of Cabinet, not one that I am going to be in a position to answer here, but obviously, the matter can go to Cabinet in due course. That's a bigger conversation that, again, I have nothing else to unfortunately assist the Member with here today. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The increases to the NWT Housing Corporation really are quite exciting ones, because they have to do with the co-investment fund, which we on this side of the House are very happy to see. Outside of the influx of money for the co-investment fund, does the Minister foresee increases to the Housing Corporation contribution beyond that? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am, again, not entirely well-versed or well-placed necessarily to answer all of the details with respect to the Housing Corporation. Perhaps I could suggest if there is anything else within here that the deputy minister of Finance or secretary to the FMB might be in a position to provide some further detail, aside from getting to the Minister responsible. I will take it to the deputy minister for now, please.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In addition to the $5 million that we are providing them to start drawing down the co-investment fund, the Housing Corporation also received $190,000 in forced growth funding for some various shelters, I believe. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, deputy minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. One of the things that has come up quite frequently with committee is the conversation around travel. Now, this would be for everything to do with all of the divisions to have to do with the Department of Finance. Given that we are still in a pandemic and that many people are trying to only do essential travel outside of the Northwest Territories, does the Minister foresee actually using the department's travel budget during this fiscal year? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The travel budget as it is approximately, over time, roughly over 80 percent of it tends to be Northwest Territories-based travel, and I do expect that travel within the territory will be increasing with more frequency over the coming months and certainly over this fiscal year as compared to last. With respect to the remainder or the other portion of the travel budget, certainly in the past, it has been a critical part of being able to attend to Ottawa, for instance, for FPT or federal-provincial-territorial meetings, which certainly have moved online. While I would like to hope that the situation with the pandemic changes, I have no ability to know what will happen with other provinces or territories. I do expect that there will be ongoing lapses in the travel budget this year, but at this point, without knowing what the full impacts of the pandemic will be, I don't expect that there will be changes to the base budget this year. Thank you, Madam Chair
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, I appreciate that. I think that travel within the NWT is very important to continuing business with the people of the Northwest Territories, but I think it's also important that we make sure that, if the remaining 20 percent is not being spent, it is spent on things that are important to the people of the Northwest Territories.
My next question I am going to ask to the directorate section, even though it has to do with, again, all divisions of the Department of Finance. I note that the Department of Finance and specifically human resources is tasked with the Indigenous employment framework, and so I am wondering if the Department of Finance has set targets for Indigenous hiring and Indigenous staffing for this fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework certainly is being led by the Department of Finance. There were some delays over the last year going out and doing the consultation that was considered appropriate and necessary, but that is back on track now. I am just confirming, Madam Chair, but I believe that it's expected that this program will get underway this fiscal year. However, I don't have here in front of me, the exact date when we would expect to have that underway, so I don't have targets in place now. The idea with the framework is that the Department of Finance and human resources specifically works with each department, including our own, to set those targets and to see what to track over time and to set targets. As soon as I have targets, I can certainly commit to bringing those back to committee.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any other questions under the directorate? Member for Monfwi.
Madam Chair, probably just a quick question because, every main estimate and budget plan, we talk about NWT Housing Corporation, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation contributions. As you know, it's coming to an end in 2038, 17 years from now. I am sure this is an ongoing discussion with Finance and housing. What's the plan going forward? It will be depleted. We have got to start planning now. I am just wondering where things are at with that, Madam Chair. Masi.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I am certainly alive to the date at issue. However, Madam Chair, I am simply a little bit hesitant to step in on a matter that really should be going to the housing Minister or to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. What I would suggest to do is to take that back to my colleague and to make sure that we have an answer that is done in collaboration between finance and as well with the Minister responsible. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Masi, Madam Chair. Obviously, we need to be provided with that detailed information. I know for a fact that there has been ongoing discussion with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, NWT Housing Corporation, and Finance, with the federal ministers. We are at a critical stage. We can say 17 years is a long time, but it's going to fly by. We are already into year one, over year one, of our term here, so I am looking forward to that detailed information because we need to have a plan now. No questions at this point, but I will look forward to the information that will be gathered for the Members here. Masi.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Are there further questions under the directorate? Member for Great Slave.
