Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, can the Minister or department please tell us why Marine Transportation Services has disappeared here from this part of the budget? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I support this motion and I want to thank, first of all, my colleagues for doing all this work on this. I am not on this committee and it has been a struggle to keep up with everything that's been going on. So what I like about this or what I think is really important about this one is that I don't think that the people of our territory or the residents of our territory, private business, should be paying for the failure of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation to maintain its grid properly. It was really shocking to me when I came into Cabinet...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I'm good. I'll let the Minister off the hook for the rest of the minute and a half. Thanks.

Thank you, I stand corrected. But then I still don't see that that's probably making its way into places to like Tulita or Fort Liard or places as that. So I will get myself more informed on where the money is being spent. But, again, I still stand behind that it is a program that is accessed by people that have disposal income to upgrade their homes and not by people that probably desperately need their homes upgraded and need the rebate on their energy.

My last or sort of my next area of question is around the electrical vehicle charging stations, and sorry if somebody already asked this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, International Women's Day has evolved since the women's rights movement of the '60s and '70s. Today, in 2023, we continue to celebrate the fight for gender equality, gender identity, our reproductive decisions, and the right to speak up and defend our emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, and financial wellbeing. We use our voices to say no to the bullying, the violence; no to the oppressive abuses against our right to decide, do, and say what is right for us, what is right for me. Being allowed to take responsibility for my life and my future and to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This Minister's great for always, like, triggering other questions for me. So my next one sort of is around that dust control. I do know that one of the things we did here about the Whati road was that it was quite dusty. And I do appreciate that the department did appear to respond fairly quickly after our visit and get some dust control measures on the road. That being said, I again wonder if we're going to be seeing over time an increased need for dust control and other measures. So where does it become a point where, I guess or is it being looked at when doing the...

Thank you. And I do recognize this is, like, a tiny amount, a drop in the hat of this department's budget. But, you know, every, you know, new journey is taken with the first step. So this is a start. And I do appreciate that, you know, it did sound like if there's more than the $10,000 that is wanted that we would perhaps be looking to add money here so that's great.

I just wanted to ask a bit about around the Arctic Energy Alliance. It always noted and sort of touted as being the solution of getting money out the door, etcetera. And, you know, I'm always in support of NGOs doing work because...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I think that's good. I mean, we definitely want to be increasing capacity within Indigenous organizations to do the work, and I'm glad to hear that it's not just being subbed out and hopefully will lead to some of the longer term jobs that my colleague was mentioning. I guess I just want to say that I have heard some issues around safety that did not have to do with climate change, and I just want that to be noted that it is out there and perhaps the Minister needs to get a better look at that or be aware of that.

My next, though, is around the highway operations. I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So given that there has been incidents, it would seem to me that not approving plans and just looking at them is leaving the government open to a liability here. Ultimately we are responsible for the projects that we have on the ground and the people that are working on them. And when we go ahead and just not ensure that that's being done, I would suggest that that's actually a failure on our part to ensure the safety of our people.

Madam Chair, can I just get a question on the decrease of the transportation costs from the actuals of 20212022 to the main estimates coming...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to clarify, this year the winter road to the Monfwi area to Gameti and such is actually being constructed by the Tlicho themselves, is it not? Thank you, Madam Chair.