Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the honourable Minister of Finance on the state of our fibre optic telecommunications infrastructure. Has the government done any planning to investigate improving our redundancy, so when a fibre line is cut, in particular to my community of Yellowknife, but when a fibre line is cut, it doesn't knock everything out of there? Are there more options to keep the systems going so that they don't cause that massive interruption to businesses and households? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have raised concerns both with redundancy, with the provider Northwestel and with CRTC, and we continue to work actively with industry partners to explore viable and affordable redundancy measures. I think, with some money that has been made available by the federal government in improving northern broadband, I think one of the industry partners, Northwestel, has accessed on that money to possibly run a redundancy line down the Dempster Highway to serve that area. I take the Member's point that there needs to be redundancy looked at for this part of the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure that that work is ongoing.
I thank the Minister. I think this House is well aware of the excellent work that has been done on the northern part of the territory, the fibre optic line and the future potential it has, but the southern part of the territory still has these issues; in particular, our capital of Yellowknife. Can the Minister bring the public up to date on what is known about the incidents on May the 8th, July the 13th, and August the 12th of this year where the fibre line was cut?
My understanding is three of the incidents did not occur on GNWT infrastructure. Northwestel is the owner and operator of the infrastructure associated with these three incidents. We are unable to speak on their behalf. In some cases, and I think the Member mentioned in his Member statement, there are active investigations that are under way.
Obviously, I wouldn't ask the Minister to respond on behalf of Northwestel if he has no information from them, but is the department or the Minister's office in active communication with Northwestel? They are our sole service provider in many regions of the territory. Is there a way they can coordinate better flow of information, sharing the information, when it comes to these events in the future?
My office, myself directly, have had no discussions with Northwestel. They may have had discussions with my officials, and I will follow up to see if those discussions have taken place, but with my office, personally, I have not had any conversations with them. I will reach out to department to see if we have had conversations with their officials, and, if I am able to, I will share that information with this Assembly.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, one of my largest concerns is how these disturbances can disrupt the productivity and livelihood of business owners in particular, many of whom rely on that service to sell their goods. Shutting it down can have economic consequences, as well. Can the Minister update the House as to what efforts the service provider has been pursuing to improve redundancy to Yellowknife, in particular?
Again, I would have to have that conversation with the service provider. I am not sure if they have any particular plan for the capital. I have not had those discussions, but I do know that there is some infrastructure that was available. I'm not sure if they have accessed that. I think it's a conversation that needs to be had because I think the incident, the last three incidents, how it can lead for some redundancy, and in the southern part of the Northwest Territories, in particular in the capital. I will commit to the Member that I will have those discussions, and then I can report back to Members, or report back to this House, assuming those discussions happen before September 2nd. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
