Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair, let me see if the deputy minister wants to take this and if not, we might -- let's send this to Ms. Burt, please.
Thank you. I'll go to the director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to confirm, we're looking at page 285, and we're talking about facilities management. So in 2023-2024, there was actuals of $28 million, and then for our budget this year it's the $33 million. Is that what the Member is asking about? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.
Yes, there's increase from 2023-2024 up to the current. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the director.
Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The increase that the Member is seeing there is related to the UNW collective agreement. There is a number of employees for Department of Infrastructure that report in under the facilities management division. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Yeah, then, you know, in small communities we have lots of aging infrastructures, even in Behchoko. In Edzo, we have waterline issues while I was still there, when I was part of the community government council, and it was over -- estimated it was over $10 million to replace the waterline. And then we have lots of other infrastructures that are aging, like due to wear and tear and climate change. And I'm sure there were other community governments, they might have highlighted that. So that's why I'm asking why, you know. So with that in mind, I just want to ask the Minister of how much of that is being spent in Tlicho region. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, first, Mr. Chair, with respect to what this is funding, it is specific to GNWT assets and GNWT infrastructure, so that wouldn't necessarily extend to infrastructure that is specific to a community, a community government infrastructure, or anything owned by an Indigenous government for example. It would really only be infrastructure or for GNWT owned.
A breakdown. I know I have provided with respect when we do the capital planning, we do provide some breakdown by region, including by Tlicho region, but I don't have that here to identify how much of these facilities specifically are within the Tlicho region. I think we may be able to get that. I'll certainly make a best effort, and if I can I will then provide it to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.
Yes. And then -- okay, to regional projects as well, there is an increase from 2023-2024 too. So the Minister can explain what those projects are in the regions, like even for example, start with Tlicho region. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to the regional projects, Mr. Chair, these are -- the changes that you're seeing to the 2025-2026 Main Estimates in particular is simply with respect to adjustments due to the collective agreement. There's -- yeah, that's for 20 -- between 2024-2025 and 2025-2026, the increases is due exclusively to collective agreement changes. Thank you.
Oh, and sorry, and again with respect to the staff employed in the Tlicho region, Mr. Chair, under regional operations we have nine full-time equivalent staff in the Tlicho region. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Yeah, that's it for this section. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions are related to highway operations. We see an increase from 2023-2024 actuals of $107 million to $109 million. How much of this is geared toward the upgrade or maintenance of the Dempster Highway between, let's say, Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we -- I mean, the money -- I'd have to take that away in order to ensure that I'm breaking it down by the right dollar values. I'm not sure if anyone would have that available here. The change -- sorry, let me start by actually answering the question.
The change in budget, again, is related to the change in the collective agreement. So it's increased through forced growth because the collective agreement went up and, predominantly, that is the main source of change here. And then I'd be more than happy to provide the specifics of -- and sorry, I'm trying to find it as I'm speaking, but I don't know that that's the most efficient way to do this. So let me make sure that I can provide a breakdown of what we have in our budget year over year for that particular highway -- stretch of highway. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Carrying on with highway operations, in the fall of 2024 they didn't have much time or they did not complete the upgrade or maintenance of the highway section between Rengleng River and Inuvik. But specifically talking about Rengleng River where there's that danger zone there, was there a carryover from last year's -- fall of last year to this year's estimates to -- so that work can be conducted this year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, there is, indeed, now some money there that is available for this stretch of highway. There's -- tender packages are being prepared to be ready in time to be out for this construction season and we -- there's about $18 million in total for this entire stretch of highway between now and 2027 and 2028. So it's over a course of a number of years that this -- that really from the border through on the entire stretch of the highway. So as far as breaking it down beyond that, I -- again, I would perhaps want to just ensure that we are doing so in a way that, you know, aligns up with the timing of the contracts and doesn't interfere with the procurement process. But, again, we do, at this point, have an expectation that we'll be going out in time for this construction season to start to see some of that money flow out the door. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Going on to winter roads, I see I notice increase from 2023 to 2024 actuals to 2025-2026 Main Estimates. In my region, we have one winter road that goes from Inuvik to Aklavik, and the access roads from Tsiigehtchic and the Peel River Crossing, has there been some -- due to climate change and, you know, the opening of the roads at a later date and closing earlier, has there been any reference to this in the increase in the budget to the actuals for the main estimates? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, at this point, these -- the changes in the winter road budget at this point in time related to the Mackenzie Valley winter road stretch and the Tlicho winter roads. In no small part, the Tlicho winter road, for example, that contract was for three years and came due for its renewal. And so with that, that new process of contractual review and engagement, that would then lead to the change here. There is, if I'm not mistaken, a contract in place right now for the winter roads within the Beaufort Delta regions, broadly, so when that does come up, it may well be, and frankly almost certainly seems to be, that when that contract comes due that we would then have to look at whether or not there needs to be a change. And, you know, again, not wanting to presume the conclusion or encourage, but the fact of the climate change impacts is making it more difficult for contractors to provide those services and that then does impact the contract that we come forward with which you then would see for next year. I believe that contract will be up by next year, so you -- if there's going to be a change, it will show up on the 2026-2027 operations budget. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Regional projects, there's an increase from 2023-2024 actuals to the 2025-2026 Main Estimates. There's an increase there. Mackenzie Delta -- the Mackenzie Delta region has seen very little in terms of big capital projects. Is there anything to look forward to within this area here, for any of the three communities in my riding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this increase is fairly modest, just over $300,000 here. And it's, again, related only to the collective agreement. However, Mr. Chair, with respect to our capital plan that we are expecting to be delivering over the next year, we do have the James Creek maintenance camp rehabilitation project that is coming out of Fort McPherson region, and that one is expected to move forward over the next coming year. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have.
Thank you. Next on my list I have is the Member from Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Complementary of this budget, when it gets passed, and it's such a huge department with a lot of benefits, and as we are approaching or going to be approaching our summer student hiring season, can the Minister, not at this point in time but at some point in time and when time permits, provide a student summer employment program with all positions. I see in here there's, you know, not including the subcontractors or the contractors, you get 280 part-time and full-time positions. So it's a huge department to look at shadowing positions, SNAP positions, summer student positions. So if we can get a labour market plan to explain the summer employment benefits and apprenticeship benefits of this budget.
And I also must join my friend from Inuvik Boot Lake in wishing Steven Loutitt, the deputy minister, a happy retirement. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the summer student call I believe has gone out already and very happy to have the chance to encourage potential summer students, who may be eligible, to reach out to the department. It's a bit of a two-part process where obviously departments create these summer student positions and can then go to the Department of Finance and access the bank of names of persons who have contacted and put themselves forward. But to the extent that a student may have an area of interest, an area of expertise, an area of training, an apprentice, if they were talking to the folks in the Department of Infrastructure and can certainly say, look, I have these skills to bring you, it can help make it easier for us to say, look, that we know there's a project that we can open to a student. So it's a bit -- people can certainly apply. Just putting their names forward to finance, they will do their best to match and, indeed, we tend to have over 300 students in the last couple of years, if I recall correctly. But making those connections earlier and often is also helpful. So, you know, through MLAs is also a good opportunity to identify what projects are underway.
I -- you know, I took the Member's question with respect to being a bit beyond that and a labour market plan for the department. I would reference our Indigenous recruitment and retention Indigenous employment plans. That does show some of the different types of positions that we were hoping to bring in more Indigenous employees, and certainly some of the communities tend to have a higher proportion of Indigenous persons eligible and interested and available to join the public service. So it's a lot of opportunities here to see where we see those numbers availability, but then also as I said, to try connecting under the summer student program. So can certainly pull up directly if there's some more information I can provide about what kind of projects there or if there's some information we can get out to the community, to students, to summer students, to, you know, incoming apprentices, all of it, the more we are making those -- as I said, we'll see what we can get to the Member and really to the House to help encourage people to apply. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay, thank you. Next on my list I have is the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a few questions about the business plans, and I feel like this is as good an item as many to address them in. They probably touch on several.
But one of the goals in the business plan is to undertake regular evaluation of programs and services to ensure cost efficiency and to have a mechanism for regularly reviewing and updating infrastructure fees and roles, and it looks like the goal is to review two programs each year. Can the Minister explain what are the two programs that have been chosen for review this year and why those were determined to be the highest priority programs to review. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll perhaps turn to the deputy minister in just a moment, but let me at least give a bit of introduction that the two for this year, for this fiscal, are the deferred maintenance programs. So that is where we undertake ongoing repairs to GNWT assets over the life of that particular asset or building. It's more under our capital estimates program, but we want to ensure that, of course, we are maintaining those assets on an adequate life cycle. Right now they tend to be between somewhere 30 and 50-year life cycle, depending on the type of building or type of asset. So wanted to make sure we're doing that in the most efficiency way to, you know, expend the money that we have and, you know, maintain the assets that we have for as long as.
The second program, Mr. Chair, the driver and vehicle licensing services. So perhaps this is the space where someone might ask me again about weekends openings but this is, again, a review of what kind of services we offer to residents - ID cards, licenses, registrations, etcetera, the -- you know, the online services that we're moving to in-person services, what's working and what is not and what we could potentially do better. But, Mr. Chair, again, these are very operational so I just want to make sure I haven't missed anything with the deputy, please.
Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.
So thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, we haven't determined which programs we're going to be looking at under for 2025-2026. We're going to have to review our program inventory and prioritize on the matrix kind of by MDS. We also still have work to do on our two. The Department of Infrastructure has approximately between 22 and how you count it -- 22 to 30 business lines. So we have a lot of different areas that we'd like to focus this on, so we have to figure out -- when you're only doing two a year and with limited resources, we have to figure out which two are going to make the biggest impacts to the public. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you to the Minister and her staff for that. And perhaps if Members have suggestions or ideas, we could communicate that to the Minister as to what programs can be evaluated next. Very exciting. We know what one Member would pick.
Just to follow up on my colleague's questions about the SNAP students and apprenticeship opportunities, I just -- I know that we have goals in the business plan of I guess the department itself or maybe the department-funded projects hiring ten apprentices and five SNAP students. Is there something different in terms of a requirement that's been applied now than has happened in the past? I know, you know, the department has had students occasionally in the past working. Have we done something different in order to ensure we're, like, able to find more apprentices or students or create more opportunities for them, or are we just sort of carrying on and still hoping that we'll be able to meet these targets? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the challenge with SNAP students specifically -- which is an area that is, you know, has an opportunity for growth -- is that these students are under casual contracts which means that they can't be -- that they have to be rehired after a period of time. But I think there has been some recent movement on that. I'll perhaps suggest I'll turn to the deputy to speak to that a bit further, please.
Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.
