Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm going to stop this line of questioning on this item because I don't think my witnesses here really actually understand what's in the MVR, that our government actually does have the authority to trigger an environmental assessment, which is exactly what they did for the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I might suggest that they do some homework on this issue.

I want to go back to what the Minister said about this project: it would have been good maybe 30 years ago. What I'm worried about is: I would like to see a cost benefit study or a business case developed for the road...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I have detailed a number of delays hobbling the effort to get the long-promised territorial midwifery program in place. A common thread appears to be, in all of these delays, difficulty in staff recruitment. Can the Minister tell us when a recruitment and retention strategy for midwifery will finally be completed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Given that the GNWT itself triggered an environmental assessment for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, is this government going to submit or trigger an environment assessment itself for the Slave Geological Province road or Lockhart Lake road, whatever's it's going to be called? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I just want to again make my views known to the Minister and to all my colleagues on the other side that, as far as I am concerned, the Frank Channel Bridge, which is a public safety issue, needs to be a priority over the Slave Geological Province road. Thanks, Madam Chair. That is all I have.

Thanks, Madam Chair. There is GNWT money being put into the capital budget for this project, and we are hoping that the federal government is going to match it with 75-cent dollars? Is that what I have just heard? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess this is a little secret that I will let the Minister in on then. If we are going to build a road to a community and tout it as a project to a community, we should actually finish the project and make sure an access road is included in the highway. I am finding this really hard to believe, but I do not know how many more millions of dollars this is. It's $451 million, including the maintenance cost to build this highway, and it does not even go to a community? Yes. I think I will just leave it at that. I am more than a little shocked.

My next question is about the...

To Whati.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I have some questions about the Tlicho All-Season Road. I was in the last Assembly, and I am sorry to say that this is the first time that I've ever heard that the highway doesn't actually go to the community. It comes as more than a bit of a surprise. I am furiously trying to look at the environmental review board website, and I do see a map here showing the Tlicho All-Season Road going up to a point that is outside the community boundary. Is there actually a road, then, that is going to go from the end? Is there a road already in place from the end of the Tlicho All...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, no aspect of government service delivery is free of the shadow of COVID, particularly health service delivery. We know midwifery consultation in the South Slave and Deh Cho is on hold, pending COVID. Can the Minister briefly summarize what impacts COVID has had on midwifery implementation and when we will finally have a full, territorial midwifery program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes. I really want to encourage the Minister, maybe working with her colleague the Minister of Finance to do that kind of macro-economic analysis of what we could actually get for $450 million, the cost to build this road. We don't have the $450 million to build it, and I think that's probably on the low side. Would we create more jobs? Would we create greater well-being for the Northwest Territories if we invested in that money into childcare or housing rather than building a road? That's a fundamental question here that I hope that my colleagues on the other side are...