Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, I think the larger amount in this last fiscal year had to do with the collective bargaining. The small fluctuations that you're seeing year to year can be related directly to fire activity amounts of overtime for full-time permanent staff and those kind of things and how they relate to the suppression activities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The next question I had was about I note that there's quite a significant increase in the FireSmart area.
Now, assuming that this is related to delivery of FireSmarting, which it looks like it is according to the notes in the budget here, I'm very supportive of that and happy to see it actually, so maybe the first question I'll ask is whether that can be confirmed that this actually does increase the amount of FireSmarting that's going to be done in the territory, and perhaps if the Minister can provide us some details on where that funding's going to be going. Are there particular communities that are in high need of FireSmarting over others? Are they kind of spreading this out over the whole territory, or are there kind of specific places where this funding's going to be going? Thanks.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for the -- raising this one as well. I think this -- FireSmarting has been a very successful program, and it's delivered all across the NWT in all communities, all forested communities. Some of the key programs that it is running are resilient communities through FireSmart program which received $7.7 million of multi-year funding through 2027. There's also a prevention and mitigation section that we're working with the department on. There's FireSmart communities. There's fuel mitigation projects. And a lot of this work is coordinated through communities and through the wildfire -- community wildfire protection plan, so it's a very multi-fingered approach, if you will, in how that the programs are delivered to the communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And, yeah, certainly haven't poured through that plan in any kind of detail so it's a bit hard to say. But maybe the Minister can help me understand, is the department doing any kind of tracking on sort of identifying high priority communities based on which ones might be most at risk or which ones FireSmarting is kind of most needed and prioritizing those communities, or are we just kind of spreading money around? Because I'm sure there's some communities whose FireSmarting is ahead of others. Certainly we want to get to a place where all communities in the NWT are equally safe, equally protected. So do we have kind of a way of prioritizing these actions to ensure that the funding's going to the right communities that need it the most? Thanks.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you very much for the question. So there's a number of areas of work that is being done in this regard where currently there's been a lot of hazard mapping work that has identified potential risk to communities. The deputy minister met with the NWTAC this morning and had a conversation around the FireSmarting and the community benefitting from these programs. There's $20 million that was acquired from the federal government in 2022 to support communities, firebreaks, and working in that area. The department goes in annually in the wintertime and meets with the forested communities and provides support on their community wildfire protection plans. And through that process, the communities would identify areas of risk and areas that they feel need to be supported to protect those communities, and that's totally supported by the department. ECC and our wildfire experts support that work. So there's a lot of really good work going on. And it's very collaborative in that we engage the communities and give them -- they really have ownership of the plan and the need for their communities, and we're there, you know, to help them on the funding side to get -- support them to access the funding from the federal government and to provide the knowledge required to ensure that the right decisions are made. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Those are all my questions for now.
No further questions. Oh, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the ECC's wildfire afteraction review identified a number of areas of improvement, and one of those was the recommendation that ECC streamline and centralize the budgeting process, human resources, and reporting for wildfire management into a single program with clear reporting structures to ensure more effective resource allocation and cost controls.
Can the department or can the Minister provide a status update on the GNWT's response to this recommendation and any budget that's being allocated or human resource changes that would contribute to fulfilling what's being recommended here. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for the question. So this work is in its very early stages. After the recommendations were received, the department did go back and look at this area and as a result of those internal conversations, we've engaged MNP as a contractor to go away, take -- and provide us with some options on how to best move forward in this direction as it was recommended in the afteraction review. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Okay. Thanks to the Minister for that update. There's another recommendation around increasing ECC's internal capacity for staff who have competency with wildfire modeling. So I'm wondering whether there's anything in the budget here related to systems purchases or improvements to forecast and model wildlife behaviour or training for staff, for that matter. Can the Minister clarify whether that's on the agenda for this year. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, we have -- there has been some -- part of our normal annual operations certainly is training with our staff, and that's always an ongoing evolving exercise. So when it comes to the expertise of the wildfire -- oh, I lost the word now -- behaviour modeling folks, there's always that ongoing training, ongoing training. Unfortunately, right know, we don't have the additional funding required within this budget to advance other components of the recommendations, so we will be coming back with a supplemental appropriation request in the future to address those shortfalls within our budget. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for letting us know. I do certainly think that, you know, we need to urgently, you know, follow those recommendations and do what is necessary to protect us from every upcoming wildfire season and not wait. So I do look forward to seeing those supplementary budget requests and hope that the department can work on this as soon as possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. And, Madam Chair, certainly implementing, you know, the 25 recommendations is certainly top of mind for me as the Minister, and the department has really taken a proactive approach in prioritizing the recommendations that can be accomplished rather rapidly. It's quite an undertaking overall so, you know, I think they've done a good job of implementing everything that could be very quickly implemented and have taken a very proactive approach to implementing the remaining recommendations. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Okay. No further questions, please turn to page 102.
Environment and Climate Change, wildlife and forest management, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $67,491,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. There are additional information items on page 106 to 114. Are there any questions? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I had a question about the environment fund. So that's on page 106.
So the accumulated surplus for this fund seems to consistently be quite large. So, you know, from $9.5 million the year before last. Last year $8.7 million. Now we're back up to a $9.4 million surplus. Can the Minister explain why we need such a large surplus, especially for a fund that, you know, it's bringing in about $7 million each year but why are we sitting on a $9.5 million surplus? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, we are expecting some increases in the expenses here, and there are some additional programs that are going to be rolled out. But I'll pass to director St. Arnaud to give a little bit more detail. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Director St. Arnaud.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So, yes, the expenses are projected to increase as more bottles get returned to the depot. We're actually rolling out three new programs, and the accumulated surplus is being used, if you look at the 2024-2025 Main Estimates and the projected 2025-2026. So we expect the surplus to go down into future years. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the Minister or his staff give any more details as to what are these big programs that are about to roll out that we should be looking for? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Deputy minister Jenkins will provide some detail. Thank you.
Deputy minister Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So looking at over the next three years, about a million and a half, up to 2027-2028, to implement the waste resource management strategy. So different actions under that: Expansion of existing programs and the creation of several new waste reduction and diversion programs; piloting an expansion of the electronics recycling program; promoting existing programs of course; looking at options to reduce and divert construction renovation and demolition waste; working with the housing corporation and Department of Infrastructure.
We're also looking at doing -- making improvements to and investing in our depots and our processes centres. There's a number -- we've got lots of aging equipment there - bailers, forklifts, computers, quality assurance, accounting equipment. Looking at increasing the funding to help counter rising operator costs due to inflation, and some new infrastructure and equipment to continue the expansion of our drop-and-go program, looking at a number of outreach programs on our recycle programs as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Okay. Thank you to the Minister and staff for those -- that description. That is actually really useful to know, and we can follow up to get more detail about those new waste reduction and recovery programs which I think are exciting. Thank you.
No further questions. Thank you, Members.
Please turn now to the department summary found on page 75 with information items on page 76 to 82. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions, committee, I will now call the departmental summary.
Environment and Climate Change, operations expenditure, total department, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $133,814,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister, and thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the chamber.
What is the wish of the committee? Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move the chair rise and report progress.
The motion is in order. The motion is non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion's carried.
---Carried
I will now rise and report progress.
Member from the Deh Cho.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 275-20(1) And, Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from THE Deh Cho. Can I have a seconder. Let’s pick the guy from Hay River North. All those in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? Close vote. Motion carried.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Orders of the day for Wednesday, March 5th, 2025, at 1:30 p.m.
Prayer or Reflection
Ministers’ Statements
Members’ Statements
Returns to Oral Questions
Oral Question 530-20(1), Senior Envoy to Government of Canada
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to the Commissioner’s Address
Petitions
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motions
Motions
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tabled Document 275-20(1), 2025-2026 Main Estimates
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
