Caitlin Cleveland

Mr. Chair, to my left I have Pamela Strand, deputy minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. And to my right I have Nina Salvador, who is the director of corporate services. And I know I got that title wrong, I'm going to say. Director of knowing everything.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, unfortunately, and I think that we've -- it's no secret that a lot of times the capital dollars that we invest in capital investments often are vandalized and we end up in a very frustrating situation where we are trying to stretch our dollars as far as possible in order to serve residents of the Northwest Territories and we end up with things being vandalized and destroyed. And so this here is in response to arson, vandalism, theft, and trespassing occurrences that have resulted in infrastructure damage that has exceeded tens of thousands of...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's not information that I have readily at my fingertips. But if we can't pull it up before the Member's last question, I'd be happy to provide that information at a later date.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly don't have control over the operations of departments, and I know that the Member started this conversation by referencing the Sahtu winter road, and I think it's worth stating that the Sahtu winter road really is a good news story at the end of the day. It is maintained by contractors that are local Indigenous contractors all the way up the road and, you know, these are private employers, of course. I wouldn't be able to dictate or determine whether or not they would give staff time off. But the good news is that what really we need...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The answer to those questions are yes.

Thank you for that. So I can certainly go through what I have as far as detail on the background of this project for the Member. So as I said, the last extensive renovation was in 2017. That involved removing and replacing 43 boat slip sections and adjoining floating structures. Engineered design called for concrete anchors which do not provide enough anchoring support for the size and location of the structure. This has resulted in damage to the dock structure, additional anchoring weights being added, and many hours of maintenance to adjust the chains at the beginning of the boating season...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member knows that trades are near and dear to my heart, and I certainly want to see more trades apprentices and trades students in every region of the territory, and I am certainly willing to work with the Member, and we may have staff in each of those regions that are already there that can already support some of this work if I am unable, of course, to make it to all the Sahtu communities before the February sitting, keeping in mind that we have busy schedules, but I certainly want to support the Member in this. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we often hear about people along the Ingraham Trail who have cabin leases or who are using areas along the trail that they find people kind of camping in different spaces so it allows us to use existing space that we have within ITI in order to provide an experience that people are very clearly looking for. It operates on -- or will operate on an honour system and affords access to kind of off-the-beaten-path style camping both for residents and non-resident the alike. It is another way for us to attract people to the territory and also another route...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so that facility is at a cost of $75 a night to the renter. And as far as the overall cost of running the facility versus what we get back, our park system across the territory generally does cost the GNWT more than it receives in revenue. So we do subsidize our parks and camping experiences for users. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Canada-wide, the Government of Canada is putting 1 billion more dollars over the course of five years into classrooms across the country. I am really looking forward to being able to work with the Government of Canada to announce what that will mean specifically for the Northwest Territories, and I'm looking forward to being able to do that in the next few weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.