Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This project has seen an increase to its original budget, and it's likely to see some further increase. Mr. Chair, I don't get to do opening comments in terms of the topical areas we hit but I will say with respect to the IT infrastructure, over the last few years there's been numerous occasions where we've seen an early stage budget that winds up being significantly off, and that is something that the department, with the chief information officer, is trying to get a better handle on. Understanding the nature and the needs of the project more at the front end allows us...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would expect -- I expect that the project officers in the department, officials there, are already doing that. They've certainly been expected to do that for some time. We know that there's going to be more traffic on those winter roads this season just as there was last season when there was less barges. With no barges, fully expecting that road to be busy. So those meetings are already underway. Mr. Speaker, it was -- certainly, it was helpful for me to meet with some of those involved last year just to get a real picture of it, to have that opportunity...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So climate change considerations are part of the substantiation sheets. And -- yes, I mean, in this case with respect to the $1.9 million allotted, or roughly thereabouts allotted to maintain our basic infrastructure, it's -- this was not a consideration or a factor that, you know, went strongly really one way or the other. There was not a lot considered in this particular element. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is simply an amount that allows us to ensure that the existing infrastructure that we have -- technological infrastructure we have remains current. There are a number of assets that come due for support and that are -- whether that's servers, the networks, storage, telecommunications, all of which, I think -- you know, I don't want to presuppose or assume, but technology changes very quickly. It changes quickly on a government scale as well and so this provides us the ability to maintain some currency within that space by using this project budget. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And -- doesn't help. Mr. Chair, I was -- I'm looking at a blank page. Can I turn that to the deputy minister, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of Finance. And on my right, Dave Heffernan, the government's chief information officer.

No, thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, nobody likes a short answer of one that just says no, but unfortunately this instance the short answer is no. The supplementary estimates are -- they come forward as having been gone through the financial management board to bring about issues or things that arise. One example is the collective agreement that was finalized, so this comes forward to bring a couple of collective agreements in. And I have to obviously comply with the collective agreement. Another major item in there was fire suppression funding. We have to pay the bill for our fire suppression funding. Another big...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This certainly is a challenge. It's a challenge across industry. But given the situation we're in, we are trying to bring in more licensed drivers. Some of that backlog, I will say, you know, a bit of a plug for folks who are looking to get their licenses as new drivers, if they want to take a driver's course first, that might reduce the number of repeat customers that we have over at the DMV. But with respect to those that are looking to be professional drivers, that's a different category. They're struggling with the same issue in that we have the same limited number...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is precisely what I was speaking to. But if I may, I might suggest having the chief information officer just speak to that a little bit further. Thank you.