Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today it saddens me to stand in this House and speak about the passing of a wellknown man from the community of Jean Marie River.

Eddie Gargan was born on November 10th, 1945, at Kelly Lake to his parents Celine and Charles Gargan. Eddie was the third oldest of his family. He passed away on October 20, 2022, with his loving family around him. The family told me about the day he was born. His grandma told his sister Beatrice and brother Phillip that he had walk to his mom when he was born. They were so excited to see the tracks outside their grandma's home...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our budgets are out there right now. However, as I had the conversation with the Member and as the process and I have to give credit to the finance minister. She's more than willing to have these conversations on how we can work together and how we negotiate so part of the ask can be from committee to see if we can see that. But right now I can tell you we have our budgets in place right now, and this is how we're moving forward on it. But if the negotiation process comes up with the money, then we're more than willing to help the communities out. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member is correct. We have a working group with NWTAC members and LGANT members sorry, I shouldn't say the acronyms. Local government administrators. So they're working with that. So we were hoping to have it done by the end of this fiscal year. Unfortunately, we've had a couple hiccups so it will be done sometime in June, which means our contribution agreements, which we are signing with our community governments, will be signed using this year's numbers but with the new ones, then we're communicating that with the communities as well, that when we come up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, $250,756. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the NWT there are no programs that we fund that are exclusively for ancestry. In other words, we don't recognize Inuit. We recognize all residents. When we provide funding through that, the pots, we work for all residents of the Northwest Territories. However, Municipal and Community Affairs has during engagement with the SPAR framework which will govern how MACA invests lottery dollars in the NWT. MACA will seek feedback on the type of specific action stakeholders want to do so that will be one of the opportunities to look at that. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member has said, and in our conversations numerous times, a few homeowners in Hay River have indicated they'd like technical assistance with contracting for repairs. MACA is following up with those homeowners to confirm the status of these repairs, particularly as many of these repairs are straightforward in nature, for example, replacement of skirting. MACA is working with homeowners considering replacement to system and obtaining property appraisals so that they can make informed decisions. MACA is also discussing having conversations with Public Safety Canada...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to thank the Member from Hay River South, Hay River North, and the Deh Cho, for asking these questions, important questions, on the residents who were impacted by the flood.

MACA doesn't have the information because homeowners in Hay River are managing their own repairs and replacements. MACA only becomes aware of the work to repair or replacement when the homeowners completed a final claim for the disaster assistance. As of December 31st, MACA has processed approximately 100 claims for disaster assistance in Hay River and on KFN. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The contractor is conducting work to meet the timelines in the order issued by OROGO to close the wells at Cameron Hill and remove pipelines and related infrastructure. This work is being inspected and certified by OROGO according to the legislation and standards. The land and water board issued a permit to allow this work to proceed. The land and water board has required the receiver to submit a revised closure and reclamation plan with other work at the site by June of 2024. This revised plan will be available for public comments through the land and water board...

I would get her to write my Minister's statement because that's exactly how I feel about this.

Mr. Speaker, what happened is we went out. Nobody bid on the contract. Nobody did. So we had to cancel it because there was nobody interested. Fortunately I can say that we have somebody that's interested or a company that's interested. We're very happy with the people that are doing it. They already started the work. So we're hoping it's going to be successful and we're hoping that it like I said this year, hopefully, be able to get this SPAR framework done and ready to go. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the question. The abandonment agreement with the contractor was signed on December 9th following a procedural process authorized by the court. The work is being undertaken by the receiver to carry out the order issued by the regulator of oil and gas regulations. The cost to complete this work is $15 million but as the workers or the contractor gets into the site, there may be additional costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.