Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this moment to recognize two of the Pages with us today who are constituents of mine in Great Slave. I apologize for names, Gianne Mercado and Willem Jacobs. I thank them for their commitment and time to this work. I would also like to recognize my constituent James Tally in the gallery. Thank you.

Sorry, my apologies. Which one to start with, here. Airport improvements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Making strategic investments in our transportation system is one of the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly. Investing in airport improvements will keep our communities connected while reducing the cost of living and supporting economic opportunities. Given our vast territory and dispersed communities, air travel is essential for northern residents, businesses, and tourists.

The Government of the Northwest Territories manages 27 public airports that support vital services, including...

I will keep it really short. We are working with Memorial University out of Newfoundland to work on the design of the fish plant, so we are looking to experts for that advice; but noted. I take the Member's concerns in note and will make sure that they are addressed. Thank you.

As mentioned, there is a process that needs to be followed. The federal government also just recently had an election. Therefore, we were waiting for that to happen as well as their budgets to go through, and then we would be making the application again. As stated, we have consistently been trying to get this funding, so this is not falling off my department's radar. In fact, it is one of the things that we are moving forward on. I have met with MP McLeod, and we have started to have discussions about the infrastructure deficit that the Northwest Territories is facing. I sat down and had a...

I am just looking through my notes here to see when the next application will go in for the federal funding. My understanding is it will happen after the federal budget is passed in the House, so the intent is to move this project forward as quickly as possible. There have definitely been issues with the bridge, we do understand. However, I should point out that the bridge is safe. It is currently inspected by engineers. There was an interim measure to preserve the bridge until the project funding could be secured, and concrete deck repairs were carried out in September of 2018 and June of...

The Member is correct in that there is a lot of conversation that will go on within the Cabinet and which I would very much be okay with having a discussion with my colleague about your email. I have to say I was actually quite intrigued when I received your questions and did look at this as maybe an opportunity of something we could change. However, as I learned the processes of the GNWT, I understand that there is a process that has to be followed. Yes, I want to streamline and change processes so that they are more efficient. However, at this point, with the knowledge I have, I do not want...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's acknowledgement about the difficulty of sometimes changing a process that has been going on a while. They have tried in the past to change some hours or to privatize the office here, and it didn't work well.

Some of the issues in which they were saying was the problem was that the timing and having people working late was leading to situations of harassment and even stalking. If that was to occur, there needs to be a response team available to the office that is located there. That would then mean extending security hours and others. It would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because I didn't talk enough already, here is my presentation here.

The 19th Legislative Assembly has identified increasing resource exploration and development for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories, as a priority for this government. In January, I attended the Association for Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver with Premier Cochrane, Minister Thompson, and staff from the departments of Infrastructure, Industry, Tourism and Investment, Environment and Natural Resources, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and Lands in an effort to advance the...

Just one moment, please, while I look through my numerous binders here for greenhouses. I know we do have supports in place for greenhouses. My apologies.

I think that one thing that we do need to keep in mind, while maybe the 25 percent that we are putting forward is very dear, or definitely we have things we could be spending our money on, we do need to remember that that has leveraged us a 75 percent amount of funding from the federal government that can only be used towards these types of projects. While we are spending money that potentially we could use elsewhere, we are actually bringing in larger amounts of dollar into our territory which is a contribution to our economy that we wouldn't have otherwise.

Oftentimes in hard economic times...