Deputy Premier
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, again, Mr. Chair, the department does have folks who have been involved with the file and with the evolution of the federal carbon tax system for quite some time, since its early inception. They were able to respond when there were changes coming out from the federal government in the last couple of years, more than once, and those same individuals, Mr. Chair, continue to monitor what comments are being made. But until we know with some finality if we're dealing with no carbon tax, if we're dealing with a modified carbon tax, if we're dealing with only an industrial...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am definitely going to have to see if we can run that analysis. I suspect we can, but just breaking down, then, the number that you see here for this area and breaking it down in terms of technology services centre, how much of that is our staffing compensation and benefits versus others. So, again, certainly happy to provide that, and I think it does then get tabled to the House. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization), No. 2, 2024-2025, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, Mr. Speaker, we did at the initial stage of having the Restoring Balance framework go out, and, again, it was the first time ever that a fiscal strategy for an Assembly was actually made public and was made the subject of a fairly public announcement, because we wanted to get feedback, wanted to get feedback particularly from public servants who are well placed often to know where efficiencies lie. We received an enormous amount of feedback, and we have continued to receive some feedback over the course of the last year. But, again, certainly always encourage...
Thank you. March 2025. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me send that first to the deputy minister, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And first of all, I do want to commit that the human resources -- or the health recruitment unit that does -- is a shared responsibility between health and finance. More than happy to have them follow up if there -- if we can identify the specific programs that the Member's suggesting, we'll make sure they're following up and even just generally, perhaps, take an opportunity to see that we recruiting -- we do tend to recruit almost all, if not all, graduates from Aurora College, but if there's specifically some Indigenous focused programs elsewhere, that would be very...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it is a formal letter that is written. I don't have it here since I was not anticipating necessarily to speak to that with respect to the contents of the supplementary appropriation requests. I can say we did identify some of the key pressure points that we've seen over the last five years, the wildfires, for instance, flooding two years in a row, wildfires over the course of multiple years, the costs of those that are incurred often have to get carried and carried over while we are waiting for DFAA funding to come back in, and some of those costs are born...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm certainly happy to speak, again, a little bit to some of the circumstances that led to the proposal to have a $12 million over four years, so 48 over four years rather, 12 a year, and hopefully that can alleviate some of the concern or confusion.
What was in my mind, and I just couldn't find my notes from last week because, really, they were relating to my knowledge of this from being NTPC Minister, one of the reasons for selecting this option of doing the $12 million over four, it -- well, for one, it was the lowest rate impact that we were looking to...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there are, indeed, industry standards for public sectors in terms of the amount that should, you know, ideally be held both between being an owned facility versus being a leased facility. Mr. Chair, again, I don't have with me right now for the supplementary estimate document where we fall within that. My recollection was that we actually were falling within the industry standard but, again, I don't have that here to confirm. There is a significant difference as between Yellowknife in particular, where there is a different market for office space as compared to...