Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I just I have some comments. I have heard from NWTbased businesses who looked at this RFP and strongly doubted that any NWTbased contractors would be able to bid on it given how it's designed. And so I understand that the goal of making websites more accessible is a good goal, but I believe that we could do this differently in a way that makes it more accessible to NWTbased contractors, that it could perhaps be done in stages, or designed differently to allow local businesses to work on especially a contract of this size. We're looking at probably over a million dollars here. I would also question the urgency of this initiative at this time when we're kind of scrimping and saving in all different departments, especially when we're looking at a project that, as far as I can tell, is unlikely to benefit our NWT economy in any meaningful way. I think I would also like to emphasize I would like to see us start by looking at the communications functional review that we're doing and finding ways to make sure that we're improving the content of our communications before we focus on sort of the how or the methods that, you know, we how our websites link to each other or not or, you know, how you access the information. I'd like to have us focus first on what information we're actually able to access or members of the public. I think those are all my comments now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. I know that, you know, there's not a major huge cuts across EIA but within the Cabinet's support, can the Minister explain or briefly explain what this Public Utility Board is because I think well, the budget stayed the same for last fiscal year, and actually, it went down a bit. So you explain what this Public Utility Board is? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Public Utilities Board is the energy regulator in the Northwest Territories. So if NT Power Corporation wants to increase its prices, it has to make an application to the Public Utilities Board. We have a Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, and that is Minister McKay. It is arm's length from government as it is it regulates, you know, government entities. And the budget has remained the same, I believe, for many years. I briefly held this portfolio about four years ago, and the budget is relatively similar to what it was then. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member for Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. This Public Utility Board, because it's NTPC or energy regulators, I thought, you know, how come it's not under infrastructure or, you know, ECC because it deals with that's more within their department, so how come it's under EIA? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.
Thank you. And it's a political decision, I suppose, where it lands, under which department. I would say because it is most dissimilar to EIA, it's more appropriate to be in EIA as opposed to something like infrastructure where that Minister is often also the Minister of the power corporation. And so it is to give some separation. I will say that I've often struggled with where the different regulators are located. I think it was an ad hoc approach over the years, and where they sit now is where they sit. When we get to Justice, we'll see that OROGO is in there as well, which really no rhyme or reason why it is there other than to ensure that it is not in a department that it would be that is too closely related. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go go back to the Member from Monfwi.
And for compensation and benefits, okay, so that's a number of staff, that's the staff that we have here. Like, 89 in headquarters. So that represents that number, the budget? North Slave is four I mean, I'm just trying those are the one below is GSO.
Thank you.
And all these jobs are besides GSO, is there any other jobs that's allocated in small communities? Like, I know we have GSO. I know Tlicho community have four GSO. I just wanted to know if there was any other jobs, a high level, like you know, not regional well, hopefully regional. You know, like I just wanted to know if there were other jobs that were allocated in Tlicho region. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.
Thank you. So in this division, I don't believe so. But we have or sorry, I guess the PUB is we do have someone in the PUB in Hay River. So that's one example. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay. Since we're still on this well, no regional allocations, Cabinet support, so community allocation, so headquarter regional offices. Where are these regional offices? Because it says six, is that in like, I know there's nothing in Tlicho because we're still part of the North Slave. So there's a South Slave. There's Dehcho. Sahtu. Are these jobs allocated in these regions?
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.
Thank you. So I believe we're still we're in Cabinet support right now? That's where I sort of lost track of where things are going there.
we're still on (audio)
I just want to clarify that we're still on corporate communication. And so that's where we're on page 132. I'll continue on. Do you have any further questions on corporate communications? Thank you.
We're still on the community we're still on Cabinet support, because I'm looking at community allocation on page 129. So there's the headquarters. There's ten. But the active position here for the it's different, that's what I'm referring to.
(audio).
Thank you. We just concluded Cabinet supports over on communication, corporate communications. Okay, I think next Member, I think Member from the Sahtu.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I too wanted to add to my colleague, Inuvik Boot Lake, is the fact that if we're going to build relationships with our Indigenous community, that position as regional director as we previously mentioned last week I believe it was that position covers 13 out of 33 communities and represents the government in three settled land claim jurisdictions. So it just adds to the importance of the role and the functions of the role and, in particular, representing this government in those jurisdictions. So I just emphasize the need, and, for the record, I support the quicker the better we can fill this regional director position to help bridge the gap on communications and relationships and partnerships and dialogue for improvement to the 20th Assembly. Mahsi.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister of EIA.
Sure, I won't comment. I believe that's in the previous section so I'll just I don't want to the puck drops in about an hour so I don't want to take up too much time with going back. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Any further questions? Okay, don't see no further questions. I'll continue on.
Executive and Indigenous Affairs, corporate communications, operations expenditure summary, 20242025 Main Estimates, $1,417,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to directorate beginning on page 133 with information items on page 135 to 137. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have questions on this one, again related to the business plan, which contains all the juicy information, page 72 in this case. So there's a couple items in there with relation to a negotiating selfgovernment and other Indigenous rights agreements. And so the first question I'll ask on that is just the actions to support the mandate commitment, is EIA working with departments who will review the GNWT principles and interests to explore possible updates? You know, I just I would note to the Premier that it seems at face value as a bit of an underwhelming commitment. It doesn't seem like a strong commitment to kind of get these agreements done. So I was just wanting to if the Premier or department could kind of speak to this item and what they are looking to achieve with it and what their goals are for the term of this Assembly with relation to selfgovernment and Indigenous rights agreements. Thanks.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I think we're skipping ahead a couple sections this time, but I will say that in terms of the negotiations when it comes to the budget, I think that we can do what we need to do within the budget. I've been meeting with the negotiators. I've been talking to the departments. I've been expressing my views on how we need to proceed. And I've been meeting with Indigenous governments. And the department will be bringing forward options to try and get by some of these roadblocks on some of these negotiations. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, the Premier's right. I just realized that I am asking questions related to a page that's coming up so I'll keep those questions for that time. I don't have questions on this specific page. Thank you.
All right, thank you. Is there any further questions from Members? Seeing none. Oh, I'm going to I got Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The funding for the Women's Initiatives and Native Women's Association and Status of Women Council, these they're all funded like for three they get multiyear funding; right? Or is it just one-year funding at a time? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.
Multiyear funding. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Dehcho.
Thank you. That's all I wanted to know. Thank you.
Is there any further questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just had one question under this. The genderbased violence fund and I'm not sure I know that the national action plan to end genderbased violence has funding, and it's sprinkled in a couple places throughout this budget, but I'll attack about what's here. I'm not I'm wondering if the genderbased violence fund, which provides $125,000 per community or project, is that fully subscribed? And perhaps the Minister could comment it looks like last year in this line item, on page 135, there's $1.68 million that was allocated last fiscal year, and this fiscal year, $1.648 million. Can the Minister talk about whether all of that money was distributed, was it fully subscribed, or are we leaving money on the table when it comes to genderbased violence initiatives.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of EIA.
Thank you. I'd like to through you, Mr. Chair, I would like to hand it to the director.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the $1,648,000 for national action to end the genderbased violence, $200,000 of that is for internal salaries and benefits, and the remainder is to be given out in grants and contributions. Also to note with that, $630,000 of that amount goes to NWT Housing as well. So out of the 1.648, $630,000 goes to housing, and then the remainder goes to grants and contributions based on applications to the program, and it is distributed that way.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so for last year for 20232024, can the Minister clarify whether or not all of the money that was allocated toward grants and contributions was actually allocated to deserving organizations? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
