Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. There was an additional $2.412 million approved to help accommodate the costs associated with safe reopening of the Northwest Territories schools as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. This would have included, for example, computer devices and electronic devices, Internet connectivity devices, turbo sticks, to students who may not have had access to those resources otherwise. That is the reason for this particularly high item in 2021. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The value of the resources that are going out from the Northwest Territories, perhaps some of the challenges that we are facing right now, is that we are not necessarily speaking about the same thing. The royalties that are calculated, Mr. Speaker, come from the profits, and so the mines that have to generate profits, that have these resources, have to pay their staff, have to pay salaries, have to pay taxes, a variety of taxes, and have to pay royalties, as well, and, of course, have to pay for the capital to build the mines that actually then can generate the profits to take the resources...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework certainly is being led by the Department of Finance. There were some delays over the last year going out and doing the consultation that was considered appropriate and necessary, but that is back on track now. I am just confirming, Madam Chair, but I believe that it's expected that this program will get underway this fiscal year. However, I don't have here in front of me, the exact date when we would expect to have that underway, so I don't have targets in place now. The idea with the framework is that the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Madam Chair, this is a base budget that was developed coming out of devolution, when certainly the amounts that were anticipated for resource royalties and that were being received for resource royalties were much higher than what they are right now or certainly what they have been in the last year. What would happen is that the amount lapses; it does not get paid out. It's not actual money right now. It's not here. It's money that we are anticipating and that would then, if the revenues are supported, if the actual revenues are supported to reach this goal, that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The amounts that are going down here are showing the amount of principal that is being paid down. As for the legacy building, I think that is reflected under health and social services. I do not have that information here, but if there are outstanding questions on that, I will certainly ensure that that is made available to the committee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't believe so, but if I might just confirm with the deputy minister to see if I've missed anything, please.

As I had said earlier, they may well be into the thousands, the number of forms. I am not going to be in a position myself, personally, to do this. The Integrity Commissioner, of course, monitors the activities of MLAs here within the House, but what I certainly can do is go back to the Department of Finance and speak to those in human resources and ensure that we are doing our best to communicate department by department and to individual regions in what it is to understand the nature of a conflict, what it is to understand the appearance of conflict, and ensure that those materials are...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am, again, not entirely well-versed or well-placed necessarily to answer all of the details with respect to the Housing Corporation. Perhaps I could suggest if there is anything else within here that the deputy minister of Finance or secretary to the FMB might be in a position to provide some further detail, aside from getting to the Minister responsible. I will take it to the deputy minister for now, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is money that we were fortunate to receive from the Government of Canada. It wasn't entirely an item that was able to be funded from within the GNWT's own-source revenue streams. It was a COVID-specific program introduced by the Government of Canada. To be quite honest, yes, certainly, I would say that the information that we are gathering about who is applying and which sectors they are from, I would see no reason why that would simply disappear.

One other note I would make is that it has actually been difficult to spend all of it insofar as there are not that many...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The simple answer, Madam Chair, is no, and the Department of Finance, I know we also have an opportunity to meet with the Auditor General's office and discuss the accounting standards and how they impact debts. I have had that conversation now on a couple of occasions, and I'm not anticipating anything to have significant change here, no.