Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I guess further to the conversations that I'm hearing today between colleagues on this side of the House, the Minister of Infrastructure, the Minister of Finance or ITI here today, one of the things that has struck me is this idea of getting projects done on time and on budget right now. And one of the things that we have just heard as well acknowledged by Minister Wawzonek on screen was, you know, the rising costs of living in the Northwest Territories and inflation as well.
So if, you know, costs of wood, steel, all have gone up over the last period of time, how really are we completing projects or expecting businesses to complete projects on behalf of the GNWT on time and on budget? Especially if projects still have the same scope, Mr. Speaker.
And so I am wondering, are conversations between the Department of Infrastructure happening with the federal government about existing projects to ensure that projects aren't being completed on the backs of northern businesses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. I mean, you look at some of the infrastructure projects and the costs overruns and this government, going through our budget stuff and in a current deficit, it is difficult to look at some of the infrastructure projects, especially if it is our mandate item. You know, we have a mandate to be able to 22 mandate items is a lot to, a lot to go through. We have heard it all week here, so I mean, we are looking at specific projects, going to the federal government, seeking additional money to be able to at least advance some of these projects. And it is a challenge, like I mean within each of our different departments and trying to push some of our projects forward. So it is a challenge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on this one here I was looking for kind of commitments around what conversations are happening at federal tables in order to protect NWT businesses in contracts that they have entered into before COVID, before inflation, and that they are now bound to in this new market. And especially where we heard today a contract was signed in 2019, it is now 2022, and the work is still being expected to be on time well, it's not on time, on budget, under the same scope. And so you how is the GNWT working with the federal government to protect northern businesses in these existing contracts? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I feel like it's not just Minister of Infrastructure but it's Minister of Finance, the Premier, all having discussions at the federal level to be able to advance and seek additional funding for these projects. You know, some of the contracts that we have are that's the private contractor's role, to be able to to do the work within the contract scope. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess what I am going to do is kind of shift here to just a GNWT focus and take the feds out of the equation.
So even within the GNWT, there are existing contracts. We have hundreds of millions of dollars of carryovers from Infrastructure every year and some of those are contracts that have already been set before COVID, before the inflation. Like even a contract that was set at this time last year would have been incurring additional substantial additional costs this year. And some of those might have people in certain business situations where really they are almost expected to now pay out of pocket to be able to work for the GNWT, depending on the sector, depending on the project.
And so what is the GNWT then on its own, its own contracts, what kind of conversations are they having with northern businesses about those existing contracts to make sure the work gets done without costing northern businesses money to work for the government? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. I mean, you know, we look at some of our contracts and staying within scope is difficult. And, you know, we do experience costs overruns in some of these projects but we do as a department, Infrastructure anyways, work with the contractors to make sure that we stay within targets and within milestone and budget as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Mr. Speaker, I know colleagues have questions so I will sit down, thank you.
Okay, taken as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
