Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to well, again, if there's a loss of revenue that's impacting an owner's personal income, you know, again I'd suggest they consider applying and we'll consider whether or not they can be eligible, at least under the income disruption stream. More generally, I realize that doesn't necessarily help the viability and strength of a business. So, you know, ITI does have the they have their own programs under SEED, entrepreneur support programs, operational support programs. Those were used for businesses that were affected by the floods last year...

Mr. Speaker, yes, absolutely. I certainly wanted to vocalize that commitment here. Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, we didn't have any staff assigned to this role. This wasn't something that we were contemplating. So while I am certainly cognizant that the people who were evacuated who are now having to go back after an extended period of time, they are the ones who are experiencing the greatest hardship. You know, again, we know that, but two weeks ago we didn't have anyone who was in the position of having to take these applications in. That said, Mr. Speaker, I can't say enough that I extend my...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the back and forth on this issue in this House. I have heard it now for almost four years as well. I'm only hesitant to create something on the fly out of the Department of Finance when I know there's processes happening in ECC that I am less intimately familiar with. But, Mr. Speaker, the departments the two departments are more than happy to work together. I know Minister of ECC and I work together on shared areas of overlap, whether it's finance, whether it's ITI, we have joint meetings. We can certainly start to do that with Department of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, dealing with land leases obviously, I know the Member is well aware, is primarily the responsibility of now ECC. The Department of Finance certainly works with other departments but we really are, essentially, just the financial agent in that respect. So I can't pause the accounts of going out on my own, we would be relying on government policy to do that, and I know that work is happening right now over at ECC. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I was hoping to do some brief closing remarks, largely for the sake of ensuring that the purposes here are clear to the members of the public, so if I may, with that, Madam Chair, we are indeed seeking some supplementary funding for infrastructure expenditures in the amount of $124.5 million. This will bring total proposed expenditures for 20232024 to $462.146 million. As I outlined in Committee of the Whole yesterday, the additional numbers are mainly comprising capital carryovers.

Madam Chair, the GNWT does intentionally budget an amount above what we are...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 92, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, No. 3; Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 (April 1st to December 31st, 2022); and, Interactivity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 (April 1st, 2022 to March 31st, 2023). Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the public reporting, performance measures really are a part of well, there's a number of places where it would come in. They're a part of the work that Finance does in preparing the main estimates that's in the budget papers that are presented as part of those main estimates. It is often part of reporting that takes place when we're doing budget dialogues to help orient participants to what's going on in our fiscal picture. We certainly also are reporting on the provisions when we report in the public accounts. And, really, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this was certainly an interesting opportunity between the committee and the Department of Finance. We wouldn't necessarily, on the regular practice, certainly in the past, have sent a what is a financial management policy, an internal policy with internal application, for comment and review, but we did do so in this case, and I I don't know that I would say that everything was rejected. I've looked again back at some of the detailed responses provided, both from committee to department and from the department back. Just because, you know, the exact wording...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just days ago the Member from the affected region came and said why don't we ask for banking information right upfront on the page; it'll save an extra step when someone is deemed eligible. We have already made that change, Mr. Speaker. The new forms are now already on the website so things can change quickly. This issue of the need of having a contact point was raised today, and I can already assure the Member if he hasn't directly received a response from me, it's probably only because I've been in the House. So he will have that information before he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every individual who's had any sort of income disruption should be applying. So that applies to anyone who is selfemployed, who may be in what is known as the gig economy or temporary employment or, again, any sort of disruptions. So an artisan, for instance, who may be selling typically selling art or crafts, anyone who may fall into those categories, I would encourage them to apply. You know, it's difficult this was a program developed in less than two weeks. It's difficult to anticipate exactly every category of person to whom it would apply and...