Denny Rodgers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm proud to recognize my constituency assistant Sheila Nasogaluak who is joining us here in Yellowknife for the week. And I know we all say it, but she is the best.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks again, that is good to hear that the contracts will be let. So I guess, finally, Mr. Speaker, going forward, has the Minister tasked the department with coming up with kind of a long-term plan to ensure that years like this year is not something that we'd expect going forward next year and in future years, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure regarding the condition this year, as I mentioned in my statement, of the Dempster Highway and the Inuvik-Tuk Highway. Can the Minister provide some context on why this year there were delays and what had happened to cause the conditions on the highway this year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Dempster Highway and the Inuvik-Tuk Highway experienced one of the worst summers and one of the worst falls in recent years. Mr. Speaker, as we know, this is a vital link for the residents of the Beaufort Delta for products and services. Mr. Speaker, I've been inundated with emails, phone calls, and texts, and I know that the Minister of Infrastructure has certainly received her share of correspondence from the management of the trucking companies in the Beaufort Delta as well, Mr. Speaker.

To put it in context, we have about -- one company alone has...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the committee wishes to consider Bill 7, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2024; Committee Report 9-20(1), Standing Committee on Social Development Report on Bill 8: An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. The committee also wishes to consider Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. And Tabled Document 193-20(1), 2025-2026 Capital Estimates for the Department of Finance and the Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you Minister Wawzonek. And, yes, we did have a huge amount of snow this year in our region. So can the Minister kind of provide an update on the current status of those contracts now that were, as she had mentioned, had expired and where they're sitting today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm proud to stand here today and support this motion, support the seconder, my colleague from the Sahtu, and to support the people from -- the residents of the town of Norman Wells. This is, indeed, a crisis. We look at $40 a gigajoule of gas in Inuvik and I think that's a crisis. I can only imagine, to pay $6,000 to fill the fuel tank. It's going to be a crisis. It's a crisis now as temperatures get lower.

Mr. Speaker, the -- I mean, the precedent of -- if you want to call it bailing out a community or bailing someone out, we've done this in the past. We've spent an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister Kuptana. I understand that some of the work's being done on M and I. I also understand, I think, there's likely about seven units that still require repairs. And I say this because we do have some folks living in our apartment building up that housing leases that we know is a known area for drug consumption and drug selling in there. So our list is quite long.

Is there any other money, I guess, outside of the maintenance and improvement funding that the local housing authority gets, any other money committed outside of that to repair those units...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given that Monday was Thanksgiving, I thought I'd open my Member's statement this session with some gratuities of my own. As I know you know, and most Members know, on June 28th, 2024 we lost our home in Inuvik to a tragic fire and our contents and one of our beloved pets, as well as my neighbour lost her home as well in that fire. And I'd just like to offer a thank you. The support has been overwhelming, certainly from my colleagues here in this House who sent messages and emails and phone calls, from the staff at the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I know the Minister understands, living in the Beaufort Delta herself, the importance of this work. I guess can I get a commitment from the Minister on -- I know there's at least five units right now that have no funding allocated for them from what I understand in speaking with the local housing authority. Can we get a commitment of a plan going forward to get all these units repaired within the next 12 months? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.