Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, having a revolving fund where you take a specific amount of money and put that aside, typically it's used for Crown corporations, for example for the airport where there's money in and going in and going out. It allows an entity to operate and conduct its operations with that revolving fund. Having it where there's a revenue source coming in and we take that percentage out, one of the concerns is that you actually wind up saying, all right, here's the $10 million that we're going to use for this initiative. And I think the Member's statement laid out quite...

Mr. Speaker, I'm also the Minister responsible for the public service and the work that we do as a government can't happen without that public service. So that is I hope not a rumor that's out amongst the public service that that's where we're going to be starting to find a way for better and more responsible government. Being a responsible government, having responsible fiscal policies, does not necessarily require us to go out and get rid of those people who deliver our programs and services. It does mean looking at how we do things, looks at the duplication of services, at government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ensuring that there is a budget that is compliant with the Fiscal Responsibility Policy has always been an important feature for myself, and I expect will continue to be so under this administration. And I do reference the Fiscal Responsibility Policy because that's the document that helps guide our assurance that we're providing the budget that is sustainable.

As far as balancing the budget, having debt in and of itself for a government of our size, Mr. Speaker, is not the challenge. The challenge, though, is ensuring that in our expenditures that we don't...

Mr. Speaker, later today I will table the Interim Estimates, Operations Expenditures, 20242025 which presents an interim budget for the Government of the Northwest Territories. This interim budget will provide funding for programs and services over the first quarter of the upcoming fiscal year, giving the 20th Legislative Assembly appropriate time to complete its transition and to set its priorities. Mr. Speaker, it will come as no surprise that flooding, drought, wildfire events, and the global COVID19 pandemic have all negatively impacted the government's financial capacity. Despite these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it so happens I've been asking to see a draft of this document for some similar reasons. I'm quite keen to have my hands on it. I don't know if we can get it ready in its format officially but in some sort of format where information can be shared with Members in advance of the priority setting, I'll commit to finding some way to get that information into the hands of my colleagues under confidential under confidential proceedings of this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is quite a lot that could be potentially said here, and I certainly while I don't want to speak for my colleague too much with respect to housing, I am able to happily say that there is already, as of this last year, the Housing Northwest Territories has its own energy strategy. There's also, of course, a variety of GHG grant programs administered by the GNWT. Arctic Energy Alliance has been a longstanding partner with the GNWT. Almost $3 million goes to them for a variety of programs that include rebate programs for folks to make changes in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly can ensure that all of the net revenue from the carbon tax goes is spent on some sort of measure that will assist us in our climate change adaptation and GHG reduction efforts, and those efforts are reported in the public accounts every year. What I suspect maybe actually the Member's after here is some sort of separated fund. The concern of having a separated fund is you then just earmark a handful of dollars when, in fact, Mr. Speaker, we spend far more than just the at this point projected $11 million or so net revenue. 10 percent of that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just firstly for the Members, communities, and residents of that riding and all ridings, the budget isn't parsed out by one community at a time. A large amount of our budget is actually spent on services, programs, so for example health care services, that don't necessarily line up according to our riding line. So I certainly don't want any residents feeling like they don't get a fair shake out of the government.

With respect to cuts, Mr. Speaker, that would certainly always be the last and cuts to programs and services has to be the last thing that we look...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later today I am tabling the interim estimates that we're proposing, and with that does come an update as to our proposed borrowing. I can say, Mr. Speaker, that we do typically run an operating surplus where available for the government. Now, we do also provide updates in the fall with the capital planning process and normally would be providing the update as well as part of the budgeting process here. We're still waiting on numbers, and we're still coming in from this wildfire season. So the last time we did May estimates, 20232024 Main Estimates, we were...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents: Interim Estimates, Operations Expenditures, April 1st to June 30th, 2024, and Annual Report 20222023 Northwest Territories Power Corporation and Northwest Territories Hydro Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.