Statements in Debates
Thanks, Madam Chair. There was a lot of work done on mini-hydro for Whati using the Lac La Martre falls, very close to the community, and there was some preliminary work also done on mini-hydro for Gameti and Wekweeti, as well. As I understood from the information that I tabled in the last Assembly, you could probably do all three of those communities as mini-hydro for the same cost of this 60-kilometre over from Snare. Has the department looked at the relative costs of those three mini-hydro projects versus the Whati transmission line? Mahsi, Madam Chair.
Merci, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response from the Minister. I'm not sure he actually understood what I was saying. We need long-term, continuous data sets, but I want to move on. I support the efforts of our staff to stay on top of the situation, but I am not convinced that the Transboundary Water Agreements are working as they should. Could the Minister tell us what lessons GNWT has learned from this experience and whether any changes will be made to the Transboundary Water Agreements? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm not sure that industry relief qualifies for the sort of exemptions that the Minister said, but I understand that it takes some time to have water quality samples analyzed and that, of course, once that analysis is done, we can better understand adverse impacts from upstream. I think some of those impacts may have compounded by high water levels that have been carrying additional sediments into the NWT. Can the Minister tell us whether the analysis of this summer's water samples has been finished and whether there are preliminary findings?
Merci, Madame le President. Pursuant to Rule 6(2), I move that committee continues sitting beyond the hour of daily adjournment to conclude the item under consideration. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Merci, Monsieur le President. The Northwest Territories is gifted with abundant and generally clean fresh water, and we want to keep it that way. There is increasing upstream activity that is causing adverse effects on water from tar sands development and pulp mills. This is why GNWT negotiated a Transboundary Water Agreement with Alberta in March 2015. The agreement is a commitment to cooperate and provides for information sharing, joint management planning, notification of changes to monitoring, reporting, and dispute resolution.
It certainly came as a surprise when the Alberta government and...
Thanks. I think that is the best news I have had almost all year. Look, I think Members on this side want to support the Minister in getting more money for the Housing Corporation for new units, not just retrofits. If you can find some federal money that goes along with it, that is great, but we need more money from our own source, our own pot. I want to shift a little bit here now, Madam Chair, but that was indeed great news and a fantastic commitment from the Minister, and I don't want to underestimate that in any way.
When I look, though, on page 65 of the estimates, this is flow-through...
Thanks, Madam Chair. When I look at all the other departments in here, there are a whole bunch of shiny new toys for everybody except for the Housing Corporation. What's going on here? We have lots of retrofits, I get that, but no new units? I just don't get it. Is this the glass ceiling that we're talking about here, where the Housing Corporation cannot take on any new units because there is concern around O and M? Is that what we're talking about here? This is a question for the Minister. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thanks, Madam Chair. If I did my math correctly on page 66, it looks like there are going to be 104 retrofits and nine new units. The nine new units seem to be in Inuvik. Can someone tell me: is that RCMP housing, or is that housing that is going to be made available to residents? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Where I'm going to go with this is: I am very worried that this project is going to get referred to an environmental assessment. There was no reason whatsoever that that had to happen, had our government actually properly consulted and worked with the Gwich'in Government in relation to this project. I also don't think it's a great idea where GNWT willy-nilly decides that it can reallocate pieces of land that have been designated for certain purposes for other purposes. You can't take stuff out of a reindeer-grazing reserve and unilaterally decide you're going to change it...
Thanks, Madam Chair. I think we're jumping the gun here and including money for the Whati transmission line in the capital estimates when we haven't even made an application to the federal government yet, apparently, for this project. There hasn't been any analysis of the cost of a transmission line versus the cost of having three mini-hydro projects that could serve the three Tlicho communities. I just don't understand why this project is being pushed without that kind of analysis. Can the Minister commit to provide that analysis to this side of the House? Thanks, Madam Chair.