Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to provide some clarity around the issues at the Inuvik Airport. Media has reported that the need to dig a trench is the issue; however, it appears upon further investigation this is not correct. The real issue with the airport project and why a delay now could cost this construction year has to do with the permafrost our coldhearted friend that causes so many headaches for engineers and contractors in the North.

Due to ground conditions, construction of the runway expansion in Inuvik requires that the design and construction factor in the...

Against.

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'm still confused at all of the delays and discussion around what essentially is putting down dirt onto the ground; something that we do very well as a territory, something the contractor does very well and has done for several years in that area.

So can the Minister please commit to whether or not she is going to have that lift done this year so we are not delayed by one year? It doesn't matter that there's five years on this project. It is it is a stage. There are phases that need to be completed for anything else to run. People are counting on this money...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pretty surprised that given this is a massive project in the Minister's backyard that she doesn't even know who is showing up to the meetings or the technical qualifications of her department.

Could the Minister commit to please providing me with minutes of those meetings as well as the attendance lists? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to try again with the Minister of Infrastructure.

In all of these supposed meetings that they've been having with the joint venture, were there any participation by project officers, engineers, technical staff, directors, or have they all been high level with Indigenous governments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my day to be on oral questions, I guess.

With the Minister's comments around sorry, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure continuing along this line.

With the comments about there being a mutual conversation that needs to be had, that worries me, Mr. Speaker, because we don't have a lot of capacity in some of our areas to do this type of work, and I'm worried that the department is not going to be able to negotiate with this contractor in good faith in order to get this work done.

Can the Minister speak to what the contingency plan is should they not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak a little bit to the fact that this project hasn't been underway for that long and given that it really only got started in the last year, how did we get to $40 million in cost overruns without this being flagged prior to now? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to make an attempt to ask the questions that I think my colleague from Inuvik Twin Lakes may be wanting to ask.

On Monday, the Minister of Infrastructure spoke about delays to the Inuvik airport expansion. It's my understanding that that those delays are partly due to a cost overrun of $40 million.

Can the Minister speak to whether or not the GNWT will be on the hook to pay the cost overruns, or will the DND pay for that given that it is a hundred percent dollars for this project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And yes, the original 2023 sort of target was definitely prepandemic times, and of course, I'm assuming everything has been delayed as a result.

I wanted to just move on and ask the Minister around another project that could potentially be very critical for not only Canada's strategy but also for economic development in the Northwest Territories. Given that the Tlicho AllSeason Road is now opened, this does open up an area of resource development around the NICO Mine.

Could the Minister speak to whether or not there has been progress on that project and the development...