Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Chair, I think the money that had to be spent by September 30th might be the next line item under MACA, which is funding for sports and community associations. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs was successful in getting us some flexibility on that one. As such, that's the money that had to go out. I apologize. The money that's going to municipalities, if, in fact, the supplementary does move forward then, at that point, we'd be able to formalize the allocation. I know the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs has been engaged with the Northwest Territories Association...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I am going to turn it over to the deputy minister because I think I just read out the wrong listing of items, and I just want to make sure that I am not getting that wrong. I am going to send it over there while I make sure I am on the right page. Sorry, Mr. Chair. Then I can come back to the $8 million.

I suggest that go to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member actually has foreshadowed my response, which is that it is an ongoing issue. It's not a new problem, but it's one that certainly does involve EIA and the Premier as well as the Minister of Justice. To some degree, there may well be a role for the Department of Finance. Certainly, there are funding considerations here. Mr. Chair, perhaps what I'll do is ensure that we take that away and provide a written response to the Member that better reflects the conversation that needs to be had by all the departments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also came from the private sector before I arrived here. This is the longest I've spent working in the government, other than a stint when I was about 20 years old as an intern. I do also take seriously the situation that is being faced by the private sector right now. That said, Mr. Chair, let me go through a number of the other items that I heard.

Increasing government employment. Again, Mr. Chair, it is very difficult to fight a pandemic when you are redeploying staff who have other jobs to do. The money that we received from the federal government was not money that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, today we have the deputy minister of Finance, Sandy Kalgutkar, and Jamie Koe, deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. They are being allotted a regional way in order to try to help cover off some of the communities that are in need. Right now, to my knowledge, it is the North Slave, Tlicho region, the Deh Cho, and Sahtu that are likely to receive these positions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister of Finance and the Minister responsible for the public service, Mr. Chair, I believe over 400 members of the public service have put their names forward volunteering at various times to take part in the government's response to COVID-19. Not every one of them can necessarily be positioned somewhere as part of a direct COVID response. Although, I believe at one point, we hit 188, if not more, that were, in fact, redeployed. Again, every time you redeploy someone, you take them away from their home position, and you take them away from the programs and the...

Mr. Chair, I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures) No. 2, 2020-2021.

The Supplementary Estimates document proposes to add $88.7 million to the 2020-2021 operating budget, comprised of the following major items: $79 million to support the GNWT's health and economic response to COVID-19, including:

$31.7 million under the umbrella of the COVID secretariat to protect the territory from COVID-19. Bringing existing functions together under the secretariat will help us better meet demand, ensure more efficient use of the GNWT's fiscal resources, and provide a clearer...

Yes, Mr. Chair. That is the case.