Thank you, Madam Speaker. I got a question for the finance minister. I was just reviewing your 20222023 budget, and in the budget it talks about grants from Canada. And I'd like to ask the Minister if she's able to maybe talk about the grants from Canada and perhaps break it down further because I'd like to know how the money's coming in and how is it broken down. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there's different types of grants that we get from the Government of Canada. I mean, it's obviously a pretty excellent question here for budget session and being day 2 of having just received our the budget speech. So I'm trying desperately to find my summary of revenues, Madam Speaker. I have it in front of me now.
So the biggest grant we get from Canada, the territorial formula financing. That is really the backbone of what forms our budget. But there's others in there that I think perhaps don't always get the same attention and may be less well understood.
There is, of course, also the social health transfer. That involves a lot of the social programs over in ECE and health. And there's other health programs. The DIF transfer that also helps support a lot of what happens over at the Department of Health. But, Madam Speaker, then there's also all the infrastructure contributions. So when we get infrastructure contributions, that too comes into the revenues that we are seeing here in the operations budget, and that then goes to help pay some of the infrastructure projects we have on the go. And then there's no doubt many other smaller projects that come in that come in as grants and supports from the federal government.
So that's my two second breakdown, and I'll be happy to talk about that more. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Can the Minister also explain as the grants contribution comes in and it's broken down, normally you would have to do a reporting on those grants or contributions back to the Government of Canada. When that happens and we go ahead and spend the monies here in the Northwest Territories, we also put policies in place when we try and help our people in our communities. So if you could help me understand and explain how you report this back to Canada, and when you get this money from Canada is there policies attached to it when it comes to the Legislative Assembly? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And Madam Speaker, so individual departments, of course, will have the reporting obligations to their counterparts in the federal government. And as we go through the review department by department, starting I think later today, we'll have I would certainly encourage everyone in the House to engage exactly in that dialogue of, you know, what is that we have to report back to the federal government on, what is perhaps the nature of that reporting, and, you know, always open to having the conversation about whether we are providing enough information as is available publicly but also, you know, what is the kind of relationship we have with the federal government as will be reflected in the dollars that come in. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, thank you for that response. I was reviewing the budget for our riding, for the Tu NedheWiilideh riding, and this year our allocation for this year is about 3.4 million.
Madam Speaker, I guess I'm concerned about that number when we really need help in our communities, whether it be internet services, which is really slow in Lutselk'e, dustfree roads in the community of Lutselk'e. That's just to name a few. And then now, you know, I am hearing that we need to improve the winter road and barging season so we can provide essential services into the community of Lutselk'e. So I don't know how consultation's taking place with communities, and how did we arrive with these numbers? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, so the budget, of course, isn't drawn up on a per capita basis. It's not per 33 communities divided up by 33. There are occasions, for example with MACA's budget, where of course Members may want to ask about the specific dollars that go into a community. But for most departments, a lot of what happens is territorywide. So, for example, education or health is delivering services that may be regional. They may be delivering services that are, you know, done in a headquarters. There are services that are done planning communications that are done that benefit all of the territory and can't quite be divided out. You know, even some of the large infrastructure that we put into place, Madam Speaker, there's projects that benefit, you know, multiple regions or, indeed again, when we're talking about significant roadways crossing different ridings and indeed benefitting projects up in the Beaufort Delta help Yellowknife in that it grows the overall economy of the Northwest Territories. So the budget isn't drawn up riding by riding. But that level of detail, I'm very confident will come out over the next couple of weeks to understand what the individual benefits are to each and every community but hopefully to each and every member of the Northwest Territories as residents and as businesses. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Final supplementary, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I guess what I wanted to say is thank you for that response, and I'm probably going to spend the next few days probably to understand the budget that's been put before us here as well. But I want to look forward to work with the Minister of Finance as to how we could look at our budgets for the Tu NedheWiilideh riding, and I want to let her know that we have some big issues there. We want housing's a big issue. Affirmative action's a big issue. Hiring policies is something that's been talked about in our region. So it may be within the next day or two I would like to sit down with you, if we can, and just see what we can do to work together to resolve these issues. Thank you.
Madam Speaker, I don't know that there could be a better set of first questions, certainly not coming to me.
Applause
That's a statement about consensus government. That's how we do government here. We're going to sit down, and that's where the consultations take place, is that we sit down, we talk, we learn from each other, and I am very happy to do that. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
