Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Industry, ITI. My first question is: I noted with interest that the statement from Minister Schumann yesterday indicated that $180 million in funding is being invested in the energy infrastructure as part of the three-year rolling energy action plan that is expected to be released during this session. What is the GNWT doing to support the Sahtu region to benefit from this windfall? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let's talk about what we have done just lately in the Sahtu region. We have installed a biomass heating installation, as well as complete energy retrofits in the Chief Albert Wright School in Tulita and the Chief T'Selehye School in Fort Good Hope, as well, and we have installed a 400 kilowatt boiler in the new health centre that is going to be opening in Norman Wells shortly. The federal government is also going to be helping us with a program where we are going to do a wind monitoring tower in Norman Wells to re-examine the wind energy in the region and the resource there, near the community. We have funding available from the federal government to support the Tulita Land Corporation for the new 45 kilowatt solar array that is going to be installed in Tulita, and, as part of the new energy action plan, we have new funding included that will help replace the existing power plant and add a megawatt-scale wind generation in Norman Wells.
That puts a smile on my face. Thanks for the response. My second question: the Mackenzie Valley Highway has been a long-held priority of residents of the Sahtu and is identified in the mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly, yet the project still has not commenced construction. What is the Department of Infrastructure doing to advance this priority?
As I said in my Minister's statement today updating on all the corridors, the Mackenzie Valley Highway application is in the National Trade Corridors Fund application. We have not heard anything on that submission, but we expect something in the coming weeks on that. Hopefully, we will be able to secure funding on some portions of that highway, and we will be able to move on to the next planning stages of that and the environmental studies for the project as we prepare for whatever key phases are approved through that funding process, be it the Bear River bridge or sections of the highway.
Thanks to the Minister for that progress response. That is great news to hear. My next question: how is the GNWT working with Sahtu residents to ensure they are able to be equal partners in the economy?
As the House is well aware, with our application for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, that is not only going to open up the region for communities and transportation of goods; it's going to be able to open up an area that has a vast wealth of natural resources, be it bitumen petroleum reserves or the mineral potential that is unexplored in the area. So we are working hard to advance that along with the Sahtu secretary, who has been a great partner in us trying to advocate the federal government to put some federal dollars into this.
We are also finishing up the Canyon Creek road, which a number of Members, I believe, had an opportunity to tour when they were up there this year. This is something similar to the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, where there was great local participation and training opportunities for people in the area and the Northwest Territories. The numbers that I have around that are very similar to what happened in the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk situation. Roughly 84 per cent of it was local and northern employment, and, at peak employment in March, there were roughly 81 people being employed on the project, 28 of whom were from the Sahtu, and 36 were from the North.
So we are doing our part to help improve the economy in the Sahtu region. Hopefully, with a positive announcement coming out of the federal government, we will be able to continue to move on some of these priorities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. My last question: will the Minister, sometime during this summer, support a Sahtu energy strategy conference?
After session, I am actually going up to Inuvik, here, right away, for the Arctic Energy Conference, which is in its second inaugural year, which we will participate in. If he wants to have a discussion with the Member as a sidebar of what kind of opportunities we can have around having a conference in Norman Wells, I would gladly sit down and have those discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Question 329-18(3):
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance on the issue of carbon pricing. I would like to start with something simple. The federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada wrote to all her provincial and territorial counterparts on December 20, 2017. She requested a response by March 30, 2018 on whether each jurisdiction would implement its own carbon pricing scheme or rely on the federal government. Last time I asked the Minister of Finance, in April, we still had not responded, so can the Minister tell us and the general public if he has written a response, and, if so, can he table it in this House without delay? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did send a letter to ECCC with our planned approach to carbon pricing, and we also told them that we do not intend to use their backstop. So we will be having discussions going forward, and, when we are in a position to, we will release the results of our findings.
I would like to thank the Minister for that information. He did not answer the last part of my question, whether he was willing to table that letter in the House without delay, so I would like to repeat that question.
I will be making it available to the public, including tabling. I can table the letter, but what I need to do before that, out of respect for a consensus system, is share. We have a briefing with committee, and I want to give committee an update before I am in a position to release anything publicly.
I look forward to the briefing and getting the letter tabled so that we can tell the public what is going on. Our government apparently participated with federal government experts to prepare some sort of a study on the impacts of carbon pricing on the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister tell us whether that study has been completed and, if so, when it will be publicly released?
Mr. Speaker, there was a lot of work that went on on carbon pricing since the federal government came up with the initiative to implement carbon pricing, whether it was welcome or not. Our challenge was to do a lot of work, a lot of background work, to see what the effect would be on the people of the Northwest Territories and try to mitigate the effect on the people of the Northwest Territories. I think we have come up with a fairly good proposal in doing that. That is why we told the federal government that we will not be using their backstop. We did some numbers using their backstop, and it was going to add on to, significantly, the cost of living in the Northwest Territories. We have a product that is made in the North, by Northerners, and I think it will be well received by Northerners. Because the carbon pricing was going to be implemented with or without our participation, our challenge was to mitigate the impact it was going to have on Northerners.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to thank the Minister for that response, but he did not answer the question, again. This study that was done in collaboration with federal government experts on the impacts on the Northwest Territories of carbon pricing, is it done, and, if so, can he share it publicly?
I will share anything publicly, but, out of respect for the consensus system, I need to share the information with committee first, because we have seen what happens if we somehow release some information to the public before we get it to committee. So, once we have the discussion with committee and we have our discussion with Ottawa, I will be more than happy to release anything publicly so people out there can realize and know what a great job that the officials within the Government of the Northwest Territories did mitigating the impacts of carbon pricing on the people of Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
