Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to inform the Member we have already directed our superintendent to reach out to the community, which they have. They are in discussions. We were going to provide assistance with the community on how to prepare their CAP proposal for this project through the Department of Infrastructure, and we will be working with them closely, and I will be following this project closely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I suspect we can share that during the business planning sessions as we go forward and be able to do it through that process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

One of the things that we are considering submitting under this Oceans Protection Plan when the call comes out is actually for a planning study of marine services in the centre in Tuktoyaktuk. That would be a shipping marine operations for the Arctic Ocean. I know the department has been in discussions with the mayor, and I believe we actually have a letter of support fully supporting our proposed planning study application with the Oceans Protection Plan when we do submit it.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To that specific clause, we want BDIC to lay out their capital plan on how they are going to use their interest and revenue and what portion of that is going to be used for their operational plan. These are early days, as I have said. This is some of the stuff we are proposing that we want to do going forward. With this legislation, we want to be more transparent on how they use their money. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, for many communities across the North, air travel is an essential service. The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to improving airport infrastructure and operations by working and strengthening connections with public and private sector partners in transportation infrastructure.

The Northwest Territories' 27 community airports are critical to the economic and social well-being of our residents. They provide essential services, including community resupply, air ambulance, search and rescue, forest fire response, and much more. Ongoing improvements to our airports...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I see and what we have been doing is, through their corporate planning process, when they come forward, I work with the management of the BDIC and work with them on their corporate plan with their strategic plan going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let's talk about what we have done just lately in the Sahtu region. We have installed a biomass heating installation, as well as complete energy retrofits in the Chief Albert Wright School in Tulita and the Chief T'Selehye School in Fort Good Hope, as well, and we have installed a 400 kilowatt boiler in the new health centre that is going to be opening in Norman Wells shortly. The federal government is also going to be helping us with a program where we are going to do a wind monitoring tower in Norman Wells to re-examine the wind energy in the region and the resource...

After session, I am actually going up to Inuvik, here, right away, for the Arctic Energy Conference, which is in its second inaugural year, which we will participate in. If he wants to have a discussion with the Member as a sidebar of what kind of opportunities we can have around having a conference in Norman Wells, I would gladly sit down and have those discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said in my Minister's statement today updating on all the corridors, the Mackenzie Valley Highway application is in the National Trade Corridors Fund application. We have not heard anything on that submission, but we expect something in the coming weeks on that. Hopefully, we will be able to secure funding on some portions of that highway, and we will be able to move on to the next planning stages of that and the environmental studies for the project as we prepare for whatever key phases are approved through that funding process, be it the Bear River bridge or sections of the highway.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has been working hard to fulfill its mandate commitment to secure funding to advance planning and construction of new priority transportation corridors in the Northwest Territories, including the extension of the all-weather Mackenzie Valley Road, the Slave Geological Province Access Corridor, and the Tlicho all-season road.

Last fall, the Department of Infrastructure submitted two comprehensive proposals for funding to the federal government under the National Trade Corridors Fund. In March, I provided an update in the House on the...