Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just looking at the 2020-2021 revised estimates, $31 million. We passed this in a supplementary appropriation, but I know, since that time, a number of cost-saving measures have gone on. Do we have a forecast of how much we will actually spend on the COVID secretariat this fiscal? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The forecast that we are going to actually spend in this new coming year, 2021-2022, will be $34,589,000. However, Mr. Chair, as Members are aware, we do provide variance reports every month. Since we did change the isolation, we are no longer covering for discretionary travel, vacations. We are seeing a savings. We are also seeing a savings by combining the 811 and Protect NWT. Right now, I think we are looking at probably a surplus of around $6 million. However, Mr. Chair, that may fluctuate day to day, but we are seeing savings. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I heard the Premier say that the $34 million budgeted for this fiscal, assuming we went a full fiscal, would actually be about $6 million lower. Can I just get an updated figure of the $31 million we budgeted for the fiscal we are presently in, how much of that we got back from the federal government? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will answer that question, and then I will turn it back to my deputy minister, if appropriate. My notes said $6 million, but she has a different figure. What I would like to say is that right now we got money in bundle 1 from the federal government, and we are just getting bundle 3 for this fiscal year from the federal government. At this point, we are at about 80 percent of our funding for the COVID secretariat being supported by the federal government.
The other thing that I would like to say with that is that the federal government has stated over and over that COVID-19 is one of their major priorities for the upcoming budget. We have already initiated conversations with them. They have already told us to get our ask in. I do assume that another substantial amount of funding will come for the COVID secretariat and not only the secretariat, but for health in general and all of the expenses around COVID-19. Thank you, Mr. Chair, but if I can turn to the deputy minister for clarification on the surplus.
Thank you, Premier. Mr. Neudorf.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For next year's budget, the 2021-2022, the original budget when we brought forward the COVID secretariat and the idea for it was $40.4 million. Since that time, we have learned about the actual operations and what it might cost and made some adjustments. The budget has gone down by that $6 million to $34.6 million, which is the number up for discussion here. The Premier also talked about the current year's budget, which is $31.6 million in the current year. The last variance report that we sent to MLAs showed about an $800,000 surplus. We do expect that that variance, that surplus is growing, will grow, mainly due to isolation centres and the isolation centre payment policy that we brought in. The next variance report will be sent out very shortly. Thank you.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are budgeting for a full year and hoping that we do not need a full year. It would be nice if COVID was wrapped up, but a lot of that is beyond our control. Can I just get a sense of what's going to happen, say, if we wrap this up in September, use half a year's fiscal? How do we plan to make sure that the 150-or-so staff in the COVID secretariat do not simply lose their jobs? Will they be transferred back to other positions, or are they on short-term contracts? Can I just get a little update on that, how we are staffing the COVID secretariat in light of it having to end? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Some of the people, quite a few of them, actually, are new hires. There are some people who were transferred from departments and chose to stay with the COVID secretariat. Those people who were transferred within government departments will go back to their government departments. They are on a leave, but they still have jobs. The other people who were hired for the COVID secretariat started out either as casual and we just actually, because of the agreements with the union, I think that it made a couple of years back when I was the Minister, we have turned them into term employees. The last set will be up to one year. I think we are all tired of COVID, so hopefully, we will be able to wrap up. We are not sure, no one is sure, when COVID will end. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is there a formal kind of wrap-up plan being created for the COVID secretariat, and when would we be able to see that? I think that some of the things that I would like to see is a bit of evaluation of why the COVID secretariat was needed, whether its role was actually worked when we said this is going to combine all the things; it's going to stop things being done off the side of its desk -- it took a lot of authority out of the emergency management organization, so I think a wind-up plan, and will that be done and a review of how well the COVID secretariat actually did and what it claimed to do, which was to kind of centralize all of the communications and functions in response to COVID-19? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Absolutely. I did hear Members. I try to work with Members as much as possible. We have kind of had an oral wrap-up plan that said, once the CPHO eases measures, we would do that. I heard the Member, so we will be working on a formal wrap-up plan. However, we are not assuming anything is going to happen, at minimum, until the end of September, until all jurisdictions are vaccinated. The other thing, too, is we are not even sure right now with the new variants that are coming whether the vaccines -- there is all kinds of research that has to be done on the health side for the CPHO to be able to determine whether we will be able to do that.
However, we will do a wrap-up plan that we can share with Members when that is done. The other, too, is an evaluation. Absolutely, that was critical for us. I am hopeful that I will never see another pandemic in my lifetime, but it would be very irresponsible for a government to have gone through a pandemic and not have a game plan. We had nothing when we started and when we hit this pandemic, so a major part of the work after the restrictions are eased will be for the COVID secretariat to do an evaluation and a game plan -- I am not sure of the right terminology, Mr. Chair, but a plan that says, if ever a pandemic hits again, this is what we shall do as a government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I have some clarification? My understanding is that, when we passed the initial COVID secretariat supplemental, about half of the money was isolation costs. I understand we have been getting those variance reports; we are $800,000 under budget, meaning we have a surplus. When I look at the numbers here, I assume fees and payments $15 million is mostly the isolation centres. However, now, this fiscal, we are being asked to pass $12 million in fees and payments. Can I get clarification of whether that fees and payments line is the isolation centres? If it is, why is it not significantly lower considering we are not paying for as many isolation centres? Thank you, Mr. Chair
Thank you, Member. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do know that the isolation centres do fall within that line item, but for more clarification, I would like to turn it to Ms. Mathison.
Ms. Mathison.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The budget for 2021 was based on eight months, and the Member is correct in that the isolation centres are under fees and payments. There is a reduction in the budget for isolation centres when you factor in the eight months versus 12 months. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Member.
No further questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Questions? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes. My colleague from Yellowknife North asked a number of questions I wanted to pursue. I know that Gahcho Kue mine is closed temporarily, and over 100 workers are in the isolation centre here in Yellowknife. Who is paying for those workers while they self-isolate here in Yellowknife? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Actually, I am really glad to answer this question. Not only is the mine paying for it, but as stated earlier in the House -- I believe it was someone, Ms. Nokleby, who stated that the mines are good corporate citizens. Gahcho Kue mine has actually been extraordinary. When they had the outbreak, they went down into kind of a lower, almost a care and maintenance with them. They evacuated people. They covered all the costs, Mr. Chair. Not only are they covering the costs of the isolation centres, they also have had their own security at the isolation centres to watch the people that they are isolating, which, in fact, actually helps us because they are using the same facilities. It doubles the security. Of course, they are looking at their own, but they are covering 100 percent of the costs. I cannot be grateful enough. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. Member.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That is good to hear, that the mine is covering their own costs. Do we cover the costs and then bill them, or are they paying directly? How does that actually work on the ground? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is that they are paying it directly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. Member.
Okay, thanks. That is good to hear, as well, so we do not have to be worried about trying to recover costs later. Like my colleague from Yellowknife North, I was a bit surprised that the fees and payments were not a little bit lower, but I do want to acknowledge that there have been some cost savings even from what was predicted in the supplementary appropriation that we passed in -- I guess it was probably in October, November, from what I see here now in the main estimates. With vaccinations rolling out and so on, do we anticipate further cost savings in this area over the course of the next several months? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is a difficult question to answer. I would love to say yes. However, Mr. Chair, as stated earlier, not knowing what these new variants coming from around the world and not knowing the research yet, according to my understanding from the CPHO, not knowing if people who are vaccinated can still transfer COVID-19, having no vaccinations yet for children under 18, and not having the research yet if this vaccine is going to work on all of the variants, although some of them have shown positive results, I cannot say for sure, Mr. Chair, if our isolation centre costs will go down until that research comes in and we know exactly what we are dealing with. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. Member.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the Premier for that response. I am not sure I am going to ask the right party this question, but yes, when there are reports issued now about COVID cases, I have had to ask: are we actually routinely testing for the variants, or when a case is reported, does that happen as a routine course now? If that information could be added to the public health advisories when they're issued, that would be really helpful because I know it was even raised on CBC Radio by callers yesterday. I don't know who to address that question to. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if we're testing for the variants on every test that we do for COVID now. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my understanding that all the tests are now sent south for sequencing, and as of this time, we have no variants. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks for that. Can that information be added to the public health advisories when they're issued, about whether it's a suspected or a confirmed case is a variant or not? Right now, it's not part of the public health advisory when they're issued. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is under the responsibility of Health and Social Services, so I'd like to defer that to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The content of the public health advisory is solely at the discretion of the Chief Public Health Officer, so I have no ability to influence the information that it includes. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Great, thanks. I know that the Minister -- we want an independent Chief Public Health Officer, but maybe the suggestion might be made. Maybe she's listening in, and she might listen to what I'm saying. I'm hoping that that kind of information can be added because it is causing some public concern. It was raised on the radio yesterday. In any event, I do want to move on to another area here, and it's with regard to enforcement. There were some issues raised in the public about this. I just would like to know what kind of training do each of the public health officers receive when they're designated under the Public Health Act? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Premier.
