Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Thank you, that's you know, at least now I understand so, yeah, thank you. That's it for now.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to talk about highway operations. This year, we all know that there's been fairly heavy snowfall in the territories which will which may cause some drainage problems come spring. So I'd just like to ask if there is any work to be undertaken to address I guess the draining and ditching prior to melt. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm going to see what our plans are going forward, and I have a feeling it might be a capital initiative but I just want perhaps Gary to clarify. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And that's an interesting question because I think we don't normally do ditching or improve drainage before well, while things are frozen basically. It's usually a summer activity. But what we did do last year because of the increase to the amount of I guess flooding in the South Slave region was we did install some culverts around highway Highway 1, and we also had to repair and improve some bridges on Highway 5, a significant amount of drainage issues. And we did do some inspections at that time as well to see where the drainage issues were. So what we do, then, is we take those inspections and look at future rehabilitation, including drainage improvements on the highway system. But for this year, I'm not aware of us doing anything before freshet. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Brennan. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to talk about I guess airport operations, and this may be capital too; I'm not sure. But upgrading runway lights, and I know there's you know, there's an issue up there and we've been going through and upgrading, I suspect to LED or something like that. And I'd just like to know how that's going and if we're looking at doing all the runways, even in the small communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we have a list of different projects that are happening. This year, we're doing a bit of work at the airports in Fort Simpson. We're doing some work in Fort Smith. We're doing a little bit of work here. I'm not sure, unless the Member wants to speak specifically, where we're at in Hay River. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I don't think there's any planned upgrades for Yellowknife or for Hay River Airport, which I'm assuming is what the Member's referring to here. We did just do a lighting upgrade in Fort Smith two years ago I do believe. But we are looking at all of our airports and trying to convert all of our airports to LED. We generally do that through ACAP funding so it would be capital applications that we're looking at. And I'm just not sure if there is one in for Hay River or not right now. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Brennan. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And this will be, I guess, more of a comment and a suggestion. I just want to put a plug in for Hay River.
When I was at the airport the other day, I looked out at the runway and I noticed that two of the runway lights were kind of off, and it looks like they probably should be straightened out. So whether it's the base that has to be fixed. So I would just maybe check with the guys there. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. You got that, Minister?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I'm going to Hay River for the carnival this weekend so perhaps if we land, I can make sure that those lights are straightened before I land there. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Any further questions? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I probably won't be as funny as my colleague from Hay River.
I just have a quick question, and I get that it would probably be a capital project, but I'm just going to slide it in here. Has there been any further talk about a weigh scale in Yellowknife to help support the winter road? Thank you.
Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's a good one to sneak in because I don't have the answer right now. Normally with projects of this scope that we'd have to perhaps come back to this drawing board, and if it's yeah, thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave, you can't slide it in.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. Madam Chair, this has the area that has road licensing and safety. Can the Minister speak to whether or not there's been some assessment of the system that's used for the toll permits and such for the Deh Cho Bridge? I know that it's a little bit onerous and difficult for people that have certain types of vehicles that are not maybe necessarily semis but do have to purchase the toll, and I know there's been some upgrades around transponders. So I'm just wondering if there's any further work being done there or changes? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to ask Mr. Brennan to speak about that while I have some water and catch my breath here. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. And to the Member's comment, I haven't currently there's no work on the way currently to look at that system. That system was installed when the bridge was built, and I think in terms of purchasing, I'm assuming you mean purchasing individual permits? Yeah, that would be I think you can do that online, and we tend to think in our department that our systems are okay online. Once you get logged in, there are some issues with the log in process that we I think has been identified before. Unfortunately, that's not within our control, to the single sign on, but we'll bring those comments back, though. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I would offer the department if they'd like to sit down with me, I could tell them what's wrong with their online programs. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. If that's all the questions are there any more questions under Infrastructure, regional operations?
Seeing none, please turn to page 255, Infrastructure, regional operations, operations expenditure summary, 20222023 Main Estimates, $221,649,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. There are additional information items from page 258 to 269. Are there any questions from Members in regards to these information items? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'm going to ask a couple questions about leasing.
I understand that due to both a Cabinetlevel policy and a public accounting standard that we only enter into leases of less than five years, because after five years they tend to be a tangible or a capital lease which would then be recorded as a liability and go up against our debt ceiling. You know, seeing that there's $134 million in lease commitments here, we don't even have that room in our debt ceiling. So we can't enter into longterm leases.
Can I just get a sense from the department to the extent that that limitation is influencing this habit of kind of doing repeat threeyear leases? And I'll note we've been kind of doing this in some buildings for 30 plus years now. Is that one of the limiting factors why we are not kind of negotiating this a little bit more aggressively? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to see if Mr. Brennan can speak a little more to the leasing. I see he's got his papers there to be able to explain why the department is not going to further leases. Thank you.
Thank you. ADM Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, just to clarify one of the Member's comments that the $125 million leases, I think a hundred million that is related to Stanton Legacy which is a capital lease, which is causing some grief on our borrowing limit.
As for the other issue, certainly we do try to stay away from capital leases. I'm not sure of the impact it has on our negotiating power, though. I don't know that we've ever looked at that, to my knowledge. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you. And I guess, you know, my understanding is what historically has happened is that leasing has been rather decentralized, and departments just kind of tell Infrastructure what they need. And I guess I'd like the department to speak to any work they might be doing in this area to, you know, centralize it, maybe be push back sometimes and say hey, you don't need this office space; actually we're going to move you into this building because it'll save us a bunch of money. And I know there has been some new design standards to perhaps, you know, lower the total number. I'm just wondering if the Minister could speak to any work to reduce the costs in this area? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. So you look at the leases and it's based on client needs. As per our policy, we do have a leasing policy. We also work with some of the program requirements as well for the leases. So this is not something we just look at every three years or five years. This is something we have a look at ongoing to be able to work with the departments, their needs, whether it fits to do the renewal in terms of what works best for the department as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I remember when they built the new government building, there was a lot of talk that, you know, the energy efficiency of this and it's cheaper to own the build, and I'm sure in order to build it the rent verse own analysis was done. And I'm just wondering, you know, whether we have any plans to build other commercial office space? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that's not something we're looking at in the near future. My understanding is that there was just a new government building built here in Yellowknife so it's not something that we're looking at. And again, it's got to be based on need whether we need the space and whether it's viable to be able to look at lease versus own. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any more questions from Members on any of the information items at the end of this section? Seeing none oh, Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. The Yellowknife Airport Revolving Fund, I know I've been after the department for some time to start to spend money at the airport. And I understand they're supposed to be completing their third version, or third different contractor to produce a master plan, by the end of this month apparently. So what can we actually expect to see any of this money expended in the 20222023 for the airport, and for what? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The airport you know, the airport revolving has has a fund. I'm sorry, I'm just trying to look at, you know, we will be investing $2 million in the coming years for the rehabilitation as well as the airfield drainage in relation to some of the ACAP projects. I'm looking to see if Mr. Brennan can add anything further on, you know, where we're at with the Airport Revolving Fund and the surplus. Thank you, Madam Chair.
