Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, can the Minister or the department commit to providing us with sort of their lessons learned, where the budget when, etc, with the Stanton Legacy building and see are we on track with that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that, although I do want to caution the Minister that BIP is only for a small portion of that overall contract so it may not actually have much weight in this.

And further to that, could the Minister speak to what is the estimated value of the work from the project that could realistically be executed within the community by local contractors. So this includes opportunities such as camp provision, work for laborers, catering services, camp attendants. What do we realistically see that Northwest Territories businesses could actually execute. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, getting back to my original roots here, I'm going to ask the Minister of Infrastructure some questions about the Great Bear River bridge.

Could the Minister speak to whether or not the regulatory review and permitting process is on track to maintain the timelines previously stated on the project website. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I have to hand in my industry card for mixing everybody up there in who was doing what work in the region, but definitely been a long week already.

I do just encourage the Minister to be very proactive in those conversations. We're talking about legacy projects in Norman Wells for, you know, Imperial Oil, etcetera, so there's no reason that that kind of conversation can't happen now and we couldn't have a park named -- I can't say it named -- Nechalacho in Great Slave. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm just going to take this opportunity to ask the Minister if this includes at all the collection points around the lake and maybe if she could provide me with a quick update on where the one is in Great Slave. Thank you.

Thank you. I actually do think I understand what this is. So I do really appreciate that.

I guess my next question, then, and again it could be something for the briefing or in the detailed dive with the departments but is how much validity or certainty is there around this number?

So, for example, using your own example of asbestos, oftentimes when the government is dealing with the decommissioning of a building, they don't know what they have until there's a time that they come into that building and start assessing it. And as any consultant in the environmental world will tell you, and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I apologize to the Minister, but I am going to ask a little bit further along this but just because I think I have an understanding, but I want to make sure I do. And if we can't answer it here, I'd welcome the briefing and maybe it'll direct some of that, how that briefing going.

So in the past, we've seen amortization of of assets that have been accounted for. And now from what I can gather, you're saying is this amount is the extra amount, like technically sort of the amortization if we knew that we were going to have to pay for the removal of asbestos...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I might as well stay on this vein because it did spur a question in me.

It's my understanding with the MARS program, which, yes, we're way behind and I know that industry and explorers have been crying for it for a while, and it does deter investment in our territory.

My question is, there is an economic spinoff for this as well, is there not, and maybe with her Finance hat on, the Minister can answer. It's my understanding that there will have to be a large amount of actual ontheground surveying done in order for this work to be implemented. Is that correct, or am...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad that the Minister supplied even some further examples of areas in which the local community can benefit.

And so I guess my next question is what is the Minister going to do or what requirements will be filled into the project plan in order to ensure that those small and local businesses and contractors are competitive in bidding on work for this project. Does the Minister commit to changing how RFPs are written to ensure greater scoring for those who incorporate training, Indigenous and community engagement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that we have a lot of conversation around small communities and retention of money there, can the Minister briefly describe the community engagement process that's been undertaken until now and tell us what she's been doing differently to ensure that the benefits of the project are retained within that small community and are not being lost to businesses from the south or in regional centres. Thank you.