Thank you, Madam Chair. This money is long gone; it's out the door.
Laughter
And there are discussions between, you know, our between ECE, people in the regions, people at headquarters and communities who are require infrastructure and so, you know, if a project wasn't successful for whatever reason, there are those conversations that have happened. So that work is definitely being done. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
No, I guess we'll just have to top it up again. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. All right, let's do this again.
Supplementary Estimates (Operation Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, early learning and childcare, not previously authorized, $451,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, junior kindergarten to grade 12 school services, not previously authorized, $2,744,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and advanced education, not previously authorized, negative $96,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, total department, not previously authorized, $3,126,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, we will now consider the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on page5.
Supplementary Estimate (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, main estimates, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, corporate management, not previously authorized, negative $44,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Supplementary Estimate (Operation Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, environment protection and waste management, not previously authorized, negative $18,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you.
Supplementary Estimates (Operation Expenditures), No.1, 20212022, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, environment stewardship and climate change, not previously authorized, $939,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimate (Operation Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, forest management, not previously authorized, $1,328,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, water management and monitoring, not previously authorized, negative $39,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Environment and Natural Resource, wildlife and fish, not previously authorized, $163,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Oh, Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, one of the items here is $300,000 for the barrenground caribou calving survey. Given that it's June 3rd, I think this work might even be underway right now but I'd like to get some confirmation from the Minister about the status of this work. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
Madam Chair, there's no way I would have let this one pass by without hearing from the Minister of ENR on this one, please.
Thank you. Minister of ENR.
Thank you. Member for FrameLake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. That's great to hear because I know one of the reasons why it's here again is because the work couldn't be done last summer with COVID restrictions. So can the Minister tell us when the department expects to have the survey results available to us as MLAs and for the public? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of ENR.
Thank you. My understanding, with all the data and that, we're hoping to have it at the end of the summer but I will get back confirmation with that to committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for FrameLake.
Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. And the reason why this is so important is the last time the survey was down, the herd or done, the herd was down to 8,200 animals compared to a high of almost 400,000. So this is a critical piece of information we need to make the best possible decisions about that area, including whether we should be building roads or not. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Oh, sorry. I didn't know if it was coming to me or. So, yeah, we'remaking sure that data is critical. That's why we were able to work with the Nunavut government and the hamlet of Coppermine to get the survey done, and it was probably unfortunate because COVID. You know, it hit us last year but we're able to start continuing to manage our survey, moving forward. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So it's my understanding, just reading, yeah, that this is just the money being brought forward to pay for the project that didn't happen last year. However, because COVID has happened and we do have additional expense and such, do we anticipate that you can still do the that the department can still do the caribou survey for the same costing as they had originally budgeted, or do we think we'll have to come back later on for more money for this work? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
I have not been given any indication that this is going to be that the project scope or the budget needed to change. So for the time being, the project budget is the same.
Thank you. All right. Any further questions, comments? Seeing none, I'll call the page.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, wildlife and fish, not previously authorized, $163,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Environment and Natural Resource, total department, not previously authorized, $2,329,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, we will now consider the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs on page 7.
Supplementary Estimate, (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Cabinet support, not previously authorized, negative $45,000. Does committee agree? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like to make a comment that this is the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs almost having their travel budget, and when I look at the few million dollars we took out the GNWT travel budget and what it's paying for, you know, investments in mental health and wellness, investments in the poverty fund, I think this is a great work, and I think it was this Cabinet leading by example. And I know we've had no controversy about Ministers, MLAs, and senior management travelling, but I just commend this Cabinet. They made lots of sacrifices, and it hasn't been an easy year, and you didn't get to go to Vancouver or Calgary or Ottawa or all the other places that Ministers usually get a lot of flack for, so. This is by far the biggest proportional cut to any travel budget, executively anyway. That's all, thank you.
All right. Any further questions, comments?
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Cabinet support, not previously authorized, negative $45,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, directorate, not previously authorized, negative $105,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022, Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, executive council offices, not previously authorized, negative $313,000. Does committee agree?
