Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. We are about to begin a process to review and evaluate our current NWT film strategy, as the previous Assembly had one laid out for us. In order to move forward on that, we needed to look and build on the success that we have. As all Members know in this House, the amount of work that we've done around the film industry in the 18th Legislative Assembly, there has been a lot of great work done there working with these people. It's one of my favourite diversification files to work with these individuals. There's a lot of fun in this group of people...

As all of the Members know, we have had a challenging year there last year with the issue that happened in the Beau-Del. We are focusing our efforts on high-quality and timely resupply services. We are going to have to focus on a number of efforts across the system, what we are going to have to do to ensure that we will be able to improve resupply. One of those particular measures is trying to get out earlier this year with our ships; that is why the sailing season has been altered a little bit.

Now, again, as I said, some of this is subject to stuff that is out of our control. The supplier of...

Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories, responsible resource development is at the core of who we are. It drives our economy, has generated billions in opportunities for northern and Indigenous-owned businesses, and provides thousands of jobs to residents.

Our natural resource wealth is not limited to minerals. We also have some of the world's largest reserves of natural gas and oil, both onshore and offshore, and these resources, if developed safely and responsibly, will result in significant long-lasting benefits and returns for NWT residents.

Mr. Speaker, as part of advancing the...

Hay River has limited capacity to store all of the fuel that we ship up and down the system, so we have to work hand-in-hand with our supplier to meet the demands of our shipping season. We will continue to do that. It impacts our barge deliveries for the communities.

As I said, forest fires and stuff like that can have a large impact on the system. We are very concerned about the low waters this year. That is already right across the system, but we don't believe that will impact the deliveries to the Sahtu region, because that is before the Sansu Rapids. We are monitoring this situation very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This sailing season has already been posted online. Everyone is welcome to have a look at it. These are subject to change, of course, due to climatic change and other variables that we would be out of control of.

At this present moment we are planning to go to Norman Wells three times this year; June, July, and August. We are looking at going to Tulita twice this year, in July and August, as well. To inform Members of this House and the people of the general public, the terminal in Hay River is now open, accepting cargo for all communities across the Northwest...

As I have said, this year particularly we have moved up our scheduled sailing dates and resupply for the communities. For long-term plans, we are working closely with the Canadian Coast Guard. We have reached out to them about how we can work more closely on the situation that could potentially arise in the Beau-Del again, particularly up on the Emerson Coast. This is something that we need to try to avoid, and we need to work very closely with them and their sailing schedule as well, to align with what we are trying to do, to resupply the communities.

I think that I have mentioned in this...

What I can tell the Member is that the government has over $330 million to invest in electricity infrastructure in the Northwest Territories going forward. That is going to result in more construction jobs, local jobs, and suppliers where it's possible. In addition, the GNWT is investing over $31 million in the Low Carbon Economy Fund that we announced here earlier this year, which will leverage over $70 million over the next three years. This will also support the local builders and contractors and suppliers who do energy retrofits and install renewable energy in the system. Fifty-percent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are already taking significant steps to leverage new federal funding, everyone in this House knows that, to support these new initiatives that we are laying out. We are making unprecedented investments to support energy initiatives across the Northwest Territories. This year, we will invest over $60 million in projects and initiatives intended to support secure, reliable, and sustainable energy in the Northwest Territories. All of this investment, we know, will support economic growth, particularly to the businesses and entrepreneurs around this green, renewable...

Understanding climate and adjusting accordingly is inherent in all our operations of the transportation system. Climate change has been incorporated into our best practice documents and construction procedures and specifications. We keep involved at the national level to influence and incorporate research into updated national standards and promote professional development.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for attending today. I am going to take this opportunity to actually speak to a number of initiatives that the Government of the Northwest Territories is doing, because some Members in this House say they don't think we're doing enough. I want these young people to hear exactly what we're doing as the Government of the Northwest Territories, because I believe the actions that we are taking go beyond. A small jurisdiction like we are, we are punching above our weight, so I'm going to read every word on these questions.

He wants to know what we're doing in the...