Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've already met with the TG government, and we're more than willing just recently, with Cabinet, and I'm more than willing to meet with them. Our staff are meeting with the TG governments as we move forward.

In regards to surpluses and that from the Government of the Northwest Territories, we don't have surpluses. We don't. We're $1.5 billion in debt. We have a budget that we're using. So there is no surplus out there. If there was, we have 33 communities with 33 issues that each community has that we need to move forward on. So I can't promise the Member...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're already focusing on the future and the present. We are working with the municipal government on this very issue. So the Member, I've given her emails showing what was going on. Yesterday I provided an update that was very current as of yesterday morning, that they met with the community and were working on trying to address that issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Member for her comment, and we'll make sure we get that messaging out there about the mobile zone.

So ENR becomes involved or notified of a potential infraction under the Wildlife Act. A renewable officer will initiate the investigation. If they believe that the animal was harvested illegally, they may then seize the caribou and start a legal process. While the investigation's underway, seized caribou are stored securely in a frozen state for evidence. As you are aware in the last budget, we are actually building another storage or building a place where we can store the seized...

Thank you, and I thank the Member for her questions. As we all are aware, the Bathurst caribou herd is facing serious conservation concerns and is currently at record low numbers. The government has worked closely with our wildlife comanagement partners to put a range of management actions in place to support the recovery of this herd. It is important to note that the Wildlife Act and the regulations differentiate between commercial hunts and outfitting hunting.

In 2006, ENR began to reduce the number of tags issued to outfitting numbers given the conservation concerns for the Bathurst herd.

Al...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is not supportive of the plan to release treated tailing water from the oil sands to Athabasca River until we have all the information, data, and science to assess whether this can be done safely.

In this House, I've stated this publicly and make this clear to Alberta and the federal government. We will keep our Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations, committee, and other water partners, informed of our work on this matter which we know is a great importance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to be clear, there's no releases of oil sand process. Water is currently allowed under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act or the Federal Fisheries Act. The Alberta government has said its regulations will not be in place until at least 2023, and the federal government regulations will not be in place until at least 2025.

At ENR, we have employed sciences and experts as part of the GNWT water management and monitoring team who are reviewing the proposals to authorize each release, including those with regulatory expertise. We are also...

Thank you. And I give the Member credit for keep on asking the question. I've had numerous emails. I've had conversations with the Chief and that.

We give money through gas tax, CIP, and we work with the communities. Through the new deal, communities make decisions on where it is. We don't have any other money. There's no slush fund out there. So the answer, quickly, shortly, no. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, the new deal started in 2007. So what was happening before that it was the government of the Northwest Territories were making decisions on what infrastructure was going to go into the communities. The new deal allowed the communities to make decisions. I fully support that. I think the communities make the good decisions based on the evidence they had.

In 2013, the department wrote a letter to the municipality saying you need to look at some of these decisions; here's a potential future problem that could happen. These things happen. We...

I think there was about four questions in there, but I'll try to answer them all, and if I miss, I apologize.

So the first is the funding in regards to each community have their infrastructure. In 2007, the Municipal and Community Affairs came up with a new deal. The new deal, the money is allocated by a funding formula and so since 2007 to 2022, the department gave Behchoko, in the community public infrastructure money, of just over $15 million, the gas tax funding of just over $10 million. And communities make decisions. They make priorities. So they have to make decisions on what they think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the 2022 Winter Olympics ending this past Sunday, like a lot of Canadians I spent a good part of my evenings watching various competition. It was amazing watching our Canadian athletes perform on the biggest stage.

As many are aware, Liam Gill represented Canada in the snowboarding halfpipe event. Liam is a proud descendant of a long line of Dene from the North and represent the Dehcho Dene as a member of Liidlii Kue First Nation. Upon hearing the news, I reached out his grandma to congratulate her on his accomplishment.

Like most Fort Simpson residents...