Daniel McNeely

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that answer.

Moving on to my next question here, Mr. Speaker, on February the 29th here, I requested from the Housing NWT Minister housing inventory for the Sahtu. Due to the MTS cancellation, is there what is the new shipping alternative plans for materials as well as new units? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past weekend, I had the opportunity to have preliminary discussions with the principals of Buffalo Airways. Instructions to stakeholders on the Sahtu resupply is as important as the plan itself.

Mr. Speaker, we can no longer deny the reality of low water levels only minimizing repercussions of it. To bring into perspective, Mr. Speaker, last fall's barge delivery to Fort Good Hope seen a topup to the winter road resupply season of 600,000 litres of fuel.

Mr. Speaker, January the 8th, 2024, Sahtu seen the costs of aviation fuel delivered to Norman...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that reply and information here. We all learned something, and I thank the Minister for some heartful discussions we had prior to the winter road season closing back in our last sitting of February. Since then, we have delivered additional fuel with the assumption that there might not be any barge, so it was very comforting to know, looking back now, those plans were discussed, actions were taken, and the additional shipments of fuel went to some of these communities.

And my question to the Minister is, is there going to be inventory checks...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Welcome back. Part 1 of 2, Sahtu climate change and unprecedented low water levels.

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by expressing my deepest appreciation and sincere gratitude to NWT's Buffalo Airways for their recent announcement to provide air barge freight services to the Sahtu region. It's homegrown northern companies like Buffalo Airways that not only recognize a crisis but, most notably, step forward to help.

Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie River covers a distance of 1650 kilometers starting from the Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean. This waterway...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My contribution to the time is I only have two questions.

As you know the Sahtu, like many other communities that are serviced by the MTS company, depend solely on the barging of goods and services and is a lifeline to sustaining these communities, including this government to the institution in these communities.

We are in a similar situation as last year with the recent cancellation notice given today on the barge and acknowledging that narrows down servicing the Sahtu communities along the waterway for seven out of 52 weeks for the whole year.

We have learned something...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information. My last question for the last day of this month here, what work is Housing NWT doing with the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated in the only government in Northwest Territories, the Deline Got'ine government, to increase housing in the Sahtu? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that inventory. My next question is how many new housing NWT public housing units will be delivered this year to the Sahtu region? Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Kevin O’Reilly. I had the privilege of working with him together here during the 18th Assembly. Welcome back to the House there, Kevin. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems to be more good news here. Hopefully it's not like Leap Year, and we get these numbers here next four years. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my third question to the Minister is what is Housing NWT doing to plan for the transportation difficulties like last year's low water on the Mackenzie River or poor road conditions, particularly in the low water season. We've had a number I think there's been a number of examples of possible low water this season. So can the Minister answer that there, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is to the Minister of NWT Housing, or Housing NWT. As we mentioned on numerous occasions, the Northwest Territories is facing a housing crisis. In the Sahtu, there are 61 people on the waiting list, Mr. Speaker. My first question to the Minister is how many public housing units does Housing NWT have in the Sahtu region? Mahsi.