Merci, Monsieur le President. As I understand it, the Tlicho AllSeason Road is supposed to be completed and opened tomorrow. It is clear that the road has been supported by various Tlicho governments and that it will undoubtedly bring some benefits. However, there does not seem to be a coordinated approach from this government to ensure those benefits are maximized and adverse impacts are managed.
I was also surprised to learn a few months ago that the road doesn't even go into the community of Whati and that extensive work costing a further $9 million will be required on an access road. I'm not sure how that was overlooked in the planning of a development that will ultimately cost this government over $400 million over the next 30 years. Like the Inuvik to Tuk Highway, the community at the end of the road does not appear to be adequately supported by this government.
There is also some question about this government's unfulfilled measures on the environmental assessment of the project. There are concerns about the adequacy of GNWT's adaptive management of the road's wildlife impacts.
A number of recently submitted plans, including the Interim Wek'eezhii Boreal Caribou Range Plan, a Tlicho AllSeason Road Wildlife Management and Monitoring Plan, and a permit application for boreal caribou and wolf monitoring, all remain unapproved.
A report on woodland caribou was recently released and it recommended that there be a limited or no resident harvest in the area around the Tlicho AllSeason Road and that further research is needed on the Indigenous harvest.
I continue to raise the potential need for sport fishing restrictions on Lac La Martre where there is already a small but successful fishing lodge. No Minister for GNWT seems to want to follow that up on that in any way.
There doesn't seem to be any funding in the GNWT capital budget for park or campground planning or business development for Whati to get better prepared for the road opening. You'd think we would have learned some lessons from the Inuvik to Tuk Highway, Mr. Speaker.
I have lots of questions around GNWT's preparedness and support for communities at the end of new roads. I'll put some of those to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources later today. Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.
