Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree. I definitely have had a lot of conversations over the last eight months, with you included, about better maximizing and ensuring that people are not saying one thing and doing another, so again I commit to the Member that this is going to change in my department and that we are going to ensure that more northern and Indigenous businesses are winning contracts and working, through COVID-19 and beyond. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will pass this to Dr. Dragon. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The difference in the utilities there is: we've seen the new Stanton Territorial Hospital utilities. It was originally an estimate. We had no other building in the North to compare it to. Now, we have actuals, so that's some of the change. We have $250,000 of marine utilities. We also have a sunsetting, not the right word, but for the Lafferty ferry upgrade, we're spending less there on utilities, now.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't know, specifically, myself, off the top of my head whether or not the resupply of the Beaufort-Delta is from the ocean or whether it's up the Mackenzie. I believe it's up the Mackenzie, but I'm going to ask Dr. Dragon to clarify.

For the 2020 fiscal year, the department will provide additional freight payments for the remote locations to support the strategic goals outlined in the strategy for revitalizing the Great Slave Lake commercial fishery of 10 cents per pound for zones 2 and 3 and 20 cents per pound for zones 4 and 5, which, in turn, will increase cash liquidity to fishers for seasonal start-up activities. The regional office has been having conference calls with the fishers every two weeks. Discussions have been held to provide updates on the status of FFMC, the status of ITI programs, and new safety programs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do have a copy of the advisory panel documents, the report, and I will review. It is an exciting time, especially if this does evolve into being a harvester-led-and-owned entity. We are very excited for this project to move forward, and there is no anticipation that we would not; we're just trying to figure out how that's going to go. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, we are in the feasibility stage of the project, so our focus remains on examining the potential commercial structures, signing an MOU with our Indigenous partners, and working closely with the Canadian infrastructure bank to build a preliminary business case for this project. Technical work is focused on transmission-line routing options and costs. Strong Indigenous partnerships are imperative to the success of this project. I recently met with the YKDFN leadership to hear their thoughts on how they would like to be involved in this project. I look forward to meeting with other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Taltson energy expansion project does remain a priority of not only Infrastructure but of the 19th Legislative Assembly as decided upon by all of us in October last year. The GNWT has been successful in obtaining $18 million in grant funding from Canada and continues to pursue the advancement of the project in terms of examining options for the commercial structure, defining our Indigenous partnerships, and completing technical design and environmental baseline work in order to prepare for a regulatory application.

Yes, the plan is to do the work on the runway this summer. I have not been made aware of any issues regarding COVID-19 impacts to delay this project, so my department will be planning to do so. We have sent a GNWT charter with a mechanic there at this point and parts to fix the issue that we have been having. We are sending the excavator there to fix the issue at this point, to get it so that it's working for now, and then we will take care of the permanent solutions this summer.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are currently working on the drainage issue on the runway in Sachs Harbour. The snow is being removed to clear the packed snow from the edges of the runway. We did experience some maintenance issues and have sent a mechanic and parts to resolve the situation. I am not sure at this time if this work is part of the original plan for the airport or the runway. However, I would say, if this is causing the problem that it's causing right now, it's a good chance that this has been an ongoing issue for years; it would not have just started at this point. I would hope that...