Statements in Debates
Sorry, Mr. Chairman. I missed one. We would also like to consider Bill 32, Naturopathic Professional Statutes Amendment Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a letter here from the Council of Canadians, NWT Chapter. I would like to table it. It is on "Ensuring the NWT post devolution legislation recognizes UNDRIP." Thank you.
Thank you. I think the Minister said capital appropriation. I said that I understood that, but there something in the capital called access road. I am wondering if there is a set amount in that budget all of the time that is similar to this, but maybe has a different objective. I am wondering if there is money there that should essentially have no impact on this budget. I am not sure I am making myself very clear. Maybe the Minister can help me with this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for that response. On page 240, Mr. Chair, I want to just ask some questions around the local community roads. Community access roads, generally, I think, are used for all seasons, to maybe create an all-season road to various traditional areas that individuals would wish to access. I have a question for the Minister: could this money be used for winter roads? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee would like to consider Tabled Document 322-18(3), Main Estimates, 2019-2020, considering the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of ITI, time permitting. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The reason I am asking the Minister if he will discuss with the local people is that what I am told by the people in Lutselk'e is there is a short window, a small window, maybe, or a short time frame in which the road would be okay. It could be as short as two weeks, like I indicated, and it could be as long as a month before the pressure ridges start to come.
Again, I am asking the Minister: he said he could get the staff to look at it again. I am asking if there is at all a possibility that maybe it would not be an ice road that would be constructed for regular traffic, but maybe something...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I talk about the possibility of a winter road to Lutselk'e on Great Slave Lake. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister would do an internal look at the possibility of constructing a winter road on the Great Slave Lake to Lutselk'e. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to do a Member's statement on a winter road to Lutselk'e. I had just been thinking about it and thought I would talk to the Minister briefly and advise him that I would like to talk about the benefits of a winter road to Lutselk'e.
I recognize that we are getting late into this season to be able to construct a winter road. I think most of the winter roads are already constructed. A little bit different here, if there was an opportunity to put a winter road in next month, the situation is a bit different than other winter roads in that the...
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, that is something to work on for me. It has increased quite a bit. I do appreciate that the department has been serious about looking at putting more money into this area because, maybe four or five years ago, it was $300,000, so it has grown quite a bit. It has become something that the communities really find a good program for short-term employment, even training the equipment operators and so on, so it is a very good program. I think that, in the future, the Assembly or the department could look at increasing that amount, maybe even doubling that...
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Going back to the local community roads. Further to that, I just got a little side tracked on the capital aspect of it. I have now seen the budget shown to me by one of our honourable colleagues here, so I am okay with the responses. The question on the winter road: I'm asking if this money can be used for a winter road. Could it be used, like, for example, today I spoke of a possible winter road from here to Lutselk'e. Could this type of money be used for a road that links a community to, say, Yellowknife? Thank you.