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. I don't think that answered my question. There clearly needs to be a look at investigating how this project got so far over scope or out of budget before it ever was flagged. We should not be at a point where a project is at $40 million over budget without it raising alarm bells long before that.

I guess my last question, though, is around will we actually save this construction season? Is there a push regardless of who's paying for it to get the trench that my colleague was mentioning on Monday or the critical work that needs to be completed this season is there a push...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't think I need to tell the Minister that we really can't afford $40 million that we did not have budgeted for this work.

Given that there is such an urge at this moment with arctic sovereignty and the key role that the that Inuvik plays in that, can the Minister tell me whether or not it seems favourable that the Government of Canada will accept these costs and if and not only that, actually provide further funding for expansion in Inuvik? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I also agree with the Minister around this conversation as well. I think there's so many great opportunities there around that these roads, and I've often spoke about how we need to have roads in order to do anything in our territory and, really, it is a basic need that we are lacking.

This may be slightly not the Minister's area, but maybe the Minister could speak a bit about I've talked about linear infrastructure corridors in the past, and one of those would be the transmission line to Whati and whether or not there would be the opportunity to run that along...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister and I are on the same page when it comes to how Canada could capitalize and how the Northwest Territories can capitalize on this situation and improve our economy.

In her response, the Minister brought up one of the minerals, which is zinc. Currently, one of the few projects that we actually have progressing towards an actual mine is the zinc project at the Pine Point being operated by Cisco.

Can the Minister maybe give us a bit of an update on where that project is at through the regulatory process, and do we expect that we will be able...