Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. CBC is reporting that Ledcor has fired its subcontractor on the first two-thirds of the fibre optic line because the work was inadequate. My question for the Minister is: What is the impact of this change on the cost of the project? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There should be no change. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi to the Finance Minister for that. I would also like to ask about the impact on the timing of the completion of the project.
There should be no impact, but I will follow up with their proponent and confirm that.
My larger question is about P3s. First the bridge, now the fibre optic line, and soon the hospital. What kind of oversight is the government providing of P3 projects to avoid the kind of problems that we seem to run into consistently with them?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we have oversight on these projects, and that is how we discover some of the deficiencies in the project. You know, we can't assume that with the new hospital we're going to run into difficulties there too, but we do have a fairly significant oversight to a lot of products that we work on.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Finance Minister for that answer. Could the Finance Minister please explain what that oversight process looks like? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We would ask for updates from the proponents, and we have our own people monitoring these, and if we feel that there's a need for additional information we will seek that, but I can assure all Members that for the projects we enter into, we will have oversight, because these are public dollars that we are speaking about.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker and my apologies to the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources that I didn't give him a heads-up, but I’d like to ask him some questions about Thaidene Nene, if I may. I think these are sweetheart questions, so I think they are going to be pretty easy for him to answer.
---Laughter.
There's a rather large land withdrawal that has been set aside for this area and some of it dates back to 1970, and I think that's a good thing, but as I understand, that land withdrawal is going to expire on March 31 of this year. Is the department prepared to extend the land withdrawal? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the Member is correct. Interim land withdrawal is expiring in the coming days, but we have applied to renew that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for the response. I think one of the key pieces that's missing to get this going a little more quickly is a review of the Territorial Parks Act. This is an ancient piece of legislation that dates from the 1970s that helped us set up roadside campgrounds, and it really needs to be updated to provide for much bigger protected areas, landscape-level sort of protection. Is the Minister prepared to review and amend the Territorial Parks Act?
The Territorial Parks Act is actually under the banner of ITI, but we will be looking at bringing that forward with him and it's something in the mandate of this 18th Assembly.
I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Can the Minister tell us when we might expect to see a legislative proposal for the Territorial Parks Act?
That is something we would have to confirm. As I said, it falls under the department of ITI, but we can look into it and get back to the Member.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to getting the information from the Minister. The last question I have on this is this. I did attend a public consultation session on the Thaidene Nene last year. I was a bit alarmed to hear the Minister of the day of Environment and Natural Resources say that the primary objective of the territorial government was to limit the federal footprint in the Northwest Territories with regard to Thaidene Nene. I don't think that's a good idea. The feds actually can bring money to the table, and actually have a lot of experience with co-managing parks. I just want to ask the Minister. is it still a primary objective of the GNWT to try to limit to federal footprint in the Northwest Territories with regard to Thaidene Nene? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
This is something that the department is still working on with all Aboriginal governments and partners, including Parks Canada and people in the general public, so what the park and who controls what in the end is still not a final decision. That’s something that we will continue to work on, and we can engage the Member on that too.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions for the Minister of Justice. During my last tour of my constituency, I visited the RCMP in Aklavik and found that they actually don't have a boat in the community, which, as you may know, is isolated for a good portion of the year, mostly during the summer. If there's any search and rescue or issues like that, how will the RCMP respond? I'd like to ask the Minister: what are the plans for getting a boat for the RCMP in Aklavik? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, I understand from what the Member has said is that there is no boat at Aklavik. I understand that there are several boats in Inuvik. I can look into this for the Member, but I don't have any information before me. Thank you.
It's good to hear that there's a number of boats in Inuvik. So what's the Minister's plan? Is he going to transfer a boat to Aklavik for the RCMP there?
Certainly nothing will be done before the ice goes, but --
---Laughter
I think that's mainly an internal issue for the RCMP to determine the allocation of resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have less than two months here to figure out a solution, otherwise, as the Minister identified we'll have no ice road to actually ship the boat over. We can bring it over in the summer, but then we won't have a trailer to take the boat out of the water. Will the Minister ensure that by the end of the ice road season there is a boat in Aklavik for the RCMP, in case we have an emergency over the spring breakup? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I don't really think I can make that kind of a commitment. Again, it's an internal matter for the RCMP to determine the allocation of resources. I will, however, look into it and get back to the Member.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I asked the Minister of Transportation to make a commitment either that he's going to look at the efficiencies of combining it, or put signage and post on the website as to whom complaints should be addressed. I didn't get an answer. Can I get the Minister to please make a commitment to either looking at the department moving it to Simpson, to placing signage on the road and on the website? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can assure the Member I will look into the matter, and as I stated earlier in the House today until we make a decision on the Member's concerns, they can phone the 1-800 number or get a hold of myself. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for the answer, but why can't we put it on the website? Why can we not put it on the website saying here's the information and to whom to address the issues?
I can talk to my department to see about how we can address his concerns, but in the meantime we'll have to have a look internally what we're going to do with this.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Lands.
Regarding the Prairie Creek Mine site, could the Minister inform me when the most recent third-party assessment of environmental liabilities was made, and:
Who conducted it?
What was the scope of this assessment (that is, what was included in the assessment)?
What was the amount of the liabilities estimated to exist?
Can the Minister table this report?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I have another written question if I may?
Masi. Written questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, again my questions are for the Minister of Lands.
Regarding the Prairie Creek Mine site and its ultimate environmental remediation and abandonment, what would it cost to remediate the entire site to current standards, and:
Is there an approved plan to carry out this work?
What is the current amount and form of financial security held under various instruments for the Prairie Creek Mine site?
Does Canadian Zinc have the financial capacity to conduct a full remediation on the basis of its current worth?
What is the plan to close any shortfall between the currently held financial security and the site environmental liability to ensure there are no public liabilities?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following letter dated March 1, 2016, to Mr. Michael Nadli, MLA for Deh Cho, regarding Oral Question 18-18(2), Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
