Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to ask Mr. Koe to explain that, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Unfortunately, I may not have a fully satisfactory answer for the Member insofar as the simple reality is that, obviously, one can assume or one knows that an asset will come into play and will need to be budgeted for the year that the asset is completed or is in service. Obviously, one could assume that you would know that the hospital that was being built would come into service during this particular year. That said, there were uncertainties as to the exact timeline of the hospital and uncertainties as to the final total of the hospital, and so, again, while I can't...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Two parts: firstly is that, in the process of seeking main estimates from the various departments, individual departments certainly need to be given perhaps more scrutiny, more pressure, to ensure that those estimates are accurate. It will be somewhat challenged in the next budget cycle. Departments have already been providing those estimates before this administration even took their seats, but we will do our best over the next coming months to know that that is an expectation.

Internally, the Department of Finance, when this issue arose and our own conversations were...

My understanding at this stage is that the type of public reporting that the Member may be inquiring about is still part of the system that is being developed with respect to implementation, and, as I mentioned earlier, the draft of that will be shared with the committee in due course, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

I can say that there have been some discussions on some level, certainly before the Carbon Tax became law and mostly with regard to the structure of the Carbon Tax regime itself, not necessarily with the implementation of the program or of the draft guidelines, so I'm not sure that the discussions that were had are necessarily going to the substance of the matter that is at issue presently. If there have been any further discussions more recently, I would certainly endeavour to inquire about that, but to date my information is that the discussions were prior to the implementation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table the following five documents pursuant to Section 35(1) of the Financial Administration Act. I will be tabling the document entitled "Public Accounts 2018-2019," second, "Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization), No. 3, 2019-2020," "Northwest Territories Coroner Service 2018 Annual Report," pursuant to Section 72.2(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act, a document entitled the "Annual Report on the Activities of the Rental Officer – April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019," and finally, pursuant to Section 9(2) of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a matter that is of significant importance to me, as well. I am pleased to have this question from the Member. The need to modernize the Public Service Act is really overwhelming, the last substantive review, of course, being back in 1988.

With that, I am pleased to be able to say that it is my intention to bring a bill forward to amend the Public Service Act early in 2020. A significant amount of work was actually already completed on this during the previous Assembly, back in 2017. I have already been briefed on that work, and I have already requested that the...

I'm sure, as the Member is aware, there certainly were other consultations that were conducted during the development generally of the Carbon Tax program. These included, of course, both in-person and online consultations. The Annual Report on the Northwest Territories Carbon Tax will be tabled annually in the Legislative Assembly. That certainly does provide the Members of this Assembly with the opportunity to review the implementation and to inquire as to that implementation. In addition, the Northwest Territories Climate Change Strategic Framework itself also commits to an annual emissions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The regulations are being currently drafted by the Department of Finance, but also in collaboration with other departments. As they are going through that process, I can assure the Member that, indeed, draft guidelines will be shared with the committees for review. While I don't have a deadline for that, I am expecting that that should be in early 2020 and, at that time, I would be happy to join in terms of making myself available, as well, to the Member in order to participate in the review of those draft guidelines. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I appreciate the question in that ensuring that we engage the stakeholders, in particular the unions, Union of Norther Workers and the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association, is critical. Both of those organizations, as key stakeholders, were significantly involved two years ago, during the initial consultations, and it is critical that they be involved again before this matter can actually progress in any real way. Again, making sure that they are involved and that the relationship with those unions is renewed between the government and the unions is of critical importance to me...