Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The direct construction cost, I think the Member made it in her statement before, $185 million. The total capital cost of $214 million, that would include the crude interest, predevelopment costs, and also GNWT costs for geotechnical studies, the EA process, project management, and provide funding for the measures resulting from the EA process Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, a lot of work was done on the Whati road. The project was submitted. Funding was received for it. I don't think that you can underestimate the value of the road to the citizens of Tlicho and Whati and the benefits that it will bring to them. I don't think I need to point out the benefit, but there are a lot of benefits.

The same level of work on the Slave Geological Province has not been done yet, so I think it would be hard to compare the two, but we can never underestimate the value of making work for residents across the Northwest Territories who actually want to work. I think...

If the Member is asking if we assisted them financially to take a stake in the project, the answer is no.

Mr. Speaker, my constituents want to know, as well, as to the course of action that we are going, and I said that we will receive the feedback, and we will analyze the feedback, and then we will make a determination at the time whether this tax should proceed, the sugar-sweetened tax should proceed, and, until then, I mean it is hypothetical for me to say that yea or nay. I will wait until the results, and then, as most good governments do, we will make an informed decision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are doing our due diligence. This was to investigate the introduction of a sugar-sweetened tax. It doesn't say the implementation of a sugar-sweetened tax. This was to investigate. We have heard from people across the Northwest Territories. Obviously, you have seen some of the comments in the news from one person saying that, "I am opposed to any type of tax, and I will continue to drink pop regardless," and somebody else calling it a "goofy tax," but this was just to investigate the introduction of the tax. It doesn't say we are going to implement it. So, being the consensus-type...

I believe there was an answer to the Member's previous question in the response that I provided. They wanted to know why it was $411 million, and I explained that was through the 28-year contract with NorthStar Infrastructure. I think that was self-explanatory.

The initial $175 million from the cost two years ago, since then obviously, the price to direct construction cost went up to $185 million. That is a $10 million difference. Maybe the prices of material and things have changed. I am not sure exactly what that $10 million is made up of, but I can get that information and provide that information to the Member.

No, the financial close has been completed with the proponent, and changing the construction schedule would impact that project cost. Obviously, we would like to see folks working as long as possible. I think, with some of the experience that they gain on this, there may be other opportunities for them to work in other places. It may require some moving around.

I think we have seen a good indication of that with the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway project, where 85 percent of the workforce was pretty well from the Beaufort-Delta. A lot of them, with the experience that they have gained, have been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The $400 million that is being invested in the project agreement signed between the GNWT and North Star Infrastructure is designed to maximize the Tlicho and northern involvement. In addition, the Tlicho government has directly invested, I believe, 20 percent into the project.

As far as the actual breakdown of what is going to be staying in the Tlicho region, I think that we will have a better idea of that as the project gets moving forward. As we do with most projects, there is a reporting process, so we will be able to provide real-time information as the project...

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if I need an interpreter. I said this was to investigate the introduction of a tax. It doesn't say that we are going to do the tax. There is still some work that needs to be done. We need to do our due diligence, and once we do that, a decision will be made at that time, based on all the information received, as to whether the tax will be going forward to implementation or not.