Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that I intend to deliver the Budget Address on Friday, May 24, 2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following six documents: Government of the Northwest Territories Public Sector Positions since 2019-2020; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 9-20(1): Home Heating Rebates; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 19-20(1): Carbon tax Revenues Spent on Climate Change Adaptation; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 41-20(1): Lutselk'e Road Access; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 46-20(1): GNWT Carbon Taxation; and, Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 133-20(1): GNWT Policy on Indigenous Hiring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is certainly not a good day for water levels in the Northwest Territories and certainly not a happy day that we've had to cancel the barge season. Having seen last summer and the challenges that there were from having low water, to have to begin this season at the same point certainly makes it very challenging.

Having gone through last summer season being as challenging as it was, MTS made itself -- put itself in a position where this winter road season and, frankly having sat down with leadership, including the MLA from the region -- sat down and made...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, by maintaining our own system that complies with the federal rules, we do control how the COLO does get set. And what we have done in that regard, Mr. Speaker, although we adjusted it because there's a significant drop in revenue to the GNWT with respect to not having home heating fuel anymore, we did still maintain and do an analysis to ensure that the existing COLO amounts should still be enough to pay for the additional amount from the tax, so -- which is challenging at a time when diesel costs have gone up and fuel costs have gone up and...

Well, Mr. Speaker -- Mr. Speaker, I'm often in a situation where I have to just say I agree and then want to sit down. So I've heard the Member's statement earlier. The carbon tax is a challenging one for the Northwest Territories. We're at the front lines of climate change. We desperately need to see change in terms of the approach to overreliance on fossil fuels. At the same time, this is a jurisdiction that doesn't actually contribute, certainly on the part of residents, very significantly to it. So I hear that concern. And I hear it particularly from parts of this territory who are on LNG...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is quite correct. The current Liquor Act, which is still the old Liquor Act that we're operating under, has some pretty limited mechanisms and actually is quite out of date. So in the last Assembly, we were very pleased to see a change to the liquor legislation, modernizing it. Still need to get those regulations put in place. So this is, in some ways, the right time to be asking what those regulations might contain because we are at the point of being able to put those regulations together in a way that can, again, respect the different social...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know, because I did have the opportunity to sit down with the NWT Brewing Company.

Mr. Speaker, the brewery markup is what is at issue here. So right now, the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission has a general rate. For everything that crosses the border up into the North, there is a markup rate on all alcohol products here. And that markup rate does take into account the fact that we have fairly significant social issues that stem from overconsumption of alcohol and alcohol-related dependencies. So that is still part of what makes up that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories does participate. We are a participant in the process. I happen to have been in obviously in the past government, and so saw as that work was getting underway and was present at bilateral discussions with the Tlicho government when the two projects were discussed and where the desire to move forward with both was discussed. So as a partner, we can certainly engage with the others involved and see if there's a way to ensure as partners, as one participant, but just to ensure that everyone knows that there's these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do, as of December, have a type A land use permit that was issued to us, and with that's just going as far as going up to Lockhart Lake. Now with that, it is hoped that we could spend this summer beginning some field work assessments, and again ultimately had been hoping that more would be happening with the regional strategic environmental assessment. I can say, Mr. Speaker, we have funding right now, federal funding, that goes until 2028. So that puts a bit of a time crunch on us to advance what has been often spoke of as one of the critical...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Northwest Territories Carbon Tax Report 20222023; and, Followup Letter for Oral Question 4520(1): Expansion of Snare Hydro System to Tlicho Communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.