Agreed.
Thank you. Education, Culture and Employment, income security, not previously authorized, $1,318,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Education, Culture and Employment, junior kindergarten to grade 12, school services, not previously authorized, $1,715,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and advanced education, not previously authorized, $5,395,000. Does committee oh, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I see that there's $5,470,000 for the transformation to a polytechnic university. I'm very happy to see that this is 100 percent federal money. But I believe there was a couple million in the capital budget previously for some upgrades to the college as well. But I'm just hoping the Minister could give an explanation of what we are spending this $5 million on. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, can I turn that to the deputy minister, please.
Deputy minister MacKay.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the money that came from the federal government is spent for the transformation team that's overseeing the transformation to a polytechnic as well as some contract services to put together the facility's plan which so they'll require some specialized architectural and engineering services to put that together as well. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, glad to hear that, and I know the facility's master plan is well underway and there's a lot of work to be done on that.
I guess my question is, can the Minister provide an update whether there's any further money committed from the federal government for the transformation? You know, I think well, obviously, there's hundreds of millions needed one day for infrastructure. But I know we're also doing a programming review which is kind of key to that, and we've actually agreed to reimplement some programs so I'm just wondering if there's any federal money in the programming area. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's nothing currently appropriated that's not well, if it's not showing up here, it's not coming in as an appropriation at this time. I think it is probably reasonable to assume that more is going to be needed before we get to the point of a polytechnic. But that, we'll have to stay tuned for that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. General comments? Or, sorry, any on this section, labour development and advanced education?
Okay, so Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and advanced education, not previously authorized, $5,395,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, Education, Culture and Employment, total department, operation expenditures, not previously authorized, $18,092,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, please turn to page 7 of the tabled document, Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Environment and Natural Resource, corporate management, not previously authorized, $15,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Environment and Natural Resources, environmental protection and waste management, not previously authorized, $311,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Environment and Natural Resources, environment stewardship and climate change, $379,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Environment and Natural Resources, forest management, not previously authorized Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just wondering if I've beaten my colleague to asking about this one.
It's my understanding that there is a prediction of a warmer and hotter summer this year and, as a result, probably a higher forest fire risk. So could the Minister please speak to how many airplanes are we getting for that $830,000? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand that provides for two aircraft. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And are those two aircraft with one company, or will that be spread over two organizations? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We are anticipating this is with one company. Thank you. It's for 45 days. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. What happens when, or if, we don't use that money, or is this going to always be spent as a result of just keeping those airplanes on standby? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, quite often the finances would be restricted for particular purposes but let me just turn this to the deputy minister and see if he can provide more detail on this one. Thank you.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the department required, at least for this year, to ensure that they had those planes available in case they needed them, and that was because it was apparent that there was going to be a shortage of planes available this season. So they wanted to make sure they had those available in case so that they wouldn't be short planes if they needed them. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So then is it correct to say that this is just the amount of money to hold the planes and then should the planes then be used for suppression, we wouldn't be incurring more costs? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, my understanding is that this is meant to be a contract for the use of those planes for the 45 days. It's similar, if you might recall, to what was done last year, again, just given, you know, what the impacts of COVID were on the airline industry and the predictions for the potential for a significant fire season.
It's not necessarily intended to be long term in the sense of multiple years but will provide for the use of the planes for this year. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think one last question, does that then include like the cost of fuel, all costs in for suppression, or would there be additional sort of materials costs on top of that? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is my understanding that this should be the full costing for the use of those airlines for the 45 days. Now, I say that, always, with just a note of caution that what we're seeing right now in terms of inflation and fuel costs, and essentially all costs around us seemingly rising, it's not to say that there couldn't be increased costs to the forest fire season this year. We're certainly very hopeful that it's not. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Maybe you can ask the Minister of Infrastructure then if you can buy fuel from her, since it's always steadily laid out. No more comments. Thank you, Madam Chair.
As a comment. Or a suggestion.
All right, environment and Natural Resources, forest management, not previously authorized, $830,000. Does committee agree?
