Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a minute to recognize guests in the House and the media. We often talk about the importance of businesses and residents and NGOs and the government in the COVID-19 pandemic, and we don't give enough recognition to the media. A huge thank you to the media for all the work they do to support us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to welcome all the visitors in the gallery with us today. It is always good to have people with us in the House. I know we are not open to the public right now, but it is always good to have media and constituency assistants.
Before we move on, colleagues, I am not sure if my mother is watching today, but she is here in Yellowknife, and it is her birthday, so I would just like to wish her a happy birthday.
--Applause
Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When I made my Member's statement, I talked about the generator and the Power Corporation. The people in Whati, this is their message. It is their words I am relaying to the government, so that is what I want to talk about. [Translation ends]
On January 13th, Whati lost two of its three generators. They quit working in the community. It took 20 hours for the power to go back on. When power goes out, maybe it's an accident, but if two goes out, it's neglect. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation. Can the Minister for the Power Corporation tell this House how old Whati generators are and also tell us an average recommended replacement age for these generators in the community? Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start off by apologizing to the community of Whati for the outage. The customers in the Northwest Territories experienced three times more power outages than the Canadian average. Severe weather events were a huge driver of customer outages due to high winds, falling trees, heavy rain and lightning, so I just want to start off by that. I heard two questions in that, Mr. Speaker, so let me try and answer one of them. It has been known for years that the NTPC power generating infrastructure, including the Whati, is aging and its impact on reliability. The recent outages in Whati were mostly related to some of the transmission issues, although these issues were with the generators at the same time. One of the transmission issues had to do with one of the sections of the power line that were slapping together with high winds due to causing lines to trip offline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[Translation] When we stand here in front of the House, we ask these questions so we can prevent some of these things that is happened. The second question is: [Translation ends] When can a community expect to be connected to the power grid, the transmission line that the Minister is referring to, so you can have a reliable power source supply? Urgency for fast tracking on this power grid is necessary, so when can we see that happening.
The plant in Whati is not scheduled to be replaced in the next five years, although one of the generators will be placed in the next year. I am sure the Member will be happy to hear that. We are working with the generators, which will improve some of the reliability on the plant. We will also be installing some additional mid-line spacers on the affected section of the power line within the next couple of weeks as soon as we can get the bucket truck in and the crew into the community.
I believe urgency is a must here. The next five years, that is a long time waiting for the community of Whati. They could have a power outage the next day or next week, another 20 hours or 30 hours. It could not be prevented by this department. Part of it is nature. My question to the Minister is: Could this particular project be expedited instead of waiting five years? I know there is a generator that is coming, but the community is wishing and hoping and praying for a transmission line to come into the community ASAP.
The Whati transmission line is expected to displace 500 litres of diesel usage per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4 kilotons annually once constructed, which is an important part of our 2030 strategy. Where I am going with this is: Once we have an agreement on the way forward, we can do the necessary costing and technical work to be able to look at putting in a funding application to Canada. I understand that the Member is concerned about some of the timing. Once we get all of our work done, we are hoping to be able to do this by the end of this year.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] If we have to wait for the federal government to respond, it will take years and years and years. Right now, I will have to say, speaking for Whati, we want it here right now. [Translation ends] Even the paperwork alone takes years, and the proposal, submission, and approval can take years, as well. The community of Whati doesn't have the patience for that. They already lost patience when they had 20 hours of power outage. We need to take action now, Mr. Speaker.
My next question is: What special measures has the Minister taken to ensure that a power outage never happens again in Whati or even in other isolated communities in my riding? For instance, will the Minister commit to a comprehensive infrastructure audit to search out maintenance problems, issues, and recommend priority repairs where necessary, Mr. Speaker? Masi.
I can't promise no more outages in any of the communities in the Northwest Territories. There may be additional outages. When winds are high, I mentioned earlier that severe winds are huge drivers in terms of some of the outages in our communities. We look at some of our federal funding, to be able to prioritize some of this. I understand that the Member is concerned about the communities and the number of outages that have happened. That is something that we are looking at. I am hoping to replace the generator by the end of the year and am looking at federal funding to be able to look at some infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier on the sale of the Ekati Mine and whether Cabinet protected the public interest. Can the Premier tell us whether GNWT has agreed to any concessions, debt write-offs, or weakened financial security as part of the sale of the Ekati Mine and assignment of environmental approvals or agreements? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that that is a question best placed with the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there have been no concessions or debt write-offs. All outstanding payments are not being forgiven, and indeed, we continue to hold all of the securities as we did prior to the sale. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, I could never get a fully consolidated list of outstanding amounts owed to this government for taxes, royalties, fees, or any other liabilities or accounts receivable from the Ekati Mine. I need to ensure that these issues are part of our diligent review of this major asset transfer. Can the Minister or the Premier commit to finally providing consolidated lists, in confidence if necessary, with details on how each category was treated as part of the sale of the property?
A consolidated list was provided back in August, and in fact, I believe it may have been tabled in this House, detailing the outstanding payments that were known at the time aside from royalties. Royalties are governed by a separate regulatory regime and are not made public independent of collective royalties. However, I can also update that, as of January, another list was sent, I believe, in this case, to committee, if not at least to the MLA directly, and it does detail property taxes, fuel taxes, various boiler registrations, some airport lease payments, mining survey costs, environmental fees, other miscellaneous fees and costs. We can certainly resend that, though.
I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, I have both lists in front of me, and there are a lot of things that are not on the list, which she is not going to disclose because she doesn't think we can, because we're country bumpkins or something on this side of the House, but merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for repeating all of that. Although this government was a creditor for the Ekati Mine during the proceeding, many businesses and even the union pension fund were in shortfall positions. Can the Premier tell us whether these NWT businesses and the union will be able to recover liabilities or accounts receivable?
To the extent that there may have been ongoing negotiations with the private parties or private entities, I am not privy, nor is the government privy, to their specific negotiations. I certainly can say that, with respect to the outstanding payments that the GNWT is owed, that those payments or any payments owing do have to be made in order for the matter to proceed. Indeed, that includes a full transfer of the securities.
Mr. Speaker, we are very alive to the fact that there is a number of NWT businesses which are owed money, of course, in this process. It is a process that is monitored by the court. Throughout that proceeding, we have continued to advocate in those proceedings and publicly to the courts about the importance of the Ekati Mine to the Northwest Territories economy and the importance and its impact on businesses here.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I am not sure it was really an answer. I mentioned that most of the financial security held by this government from environmental management and reclamation obligations are in the form of surety bonds backed by insurance companies rather than safer, irrevocable letters of credit issued by Canadian chartered banks. Can the Premier tell us whether this government used the sale of the property and our right to consent or not to the assignment of the water licence, land-use permits, and environmental agreement to convert these surety bonds to more secure, irrevocable letters of credit? If not, why not? I gave all of this to the Premier ahead of time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Honourable Premier.
I believe this question would best be directed to the Minister of ENR. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Securities have been transferred dominion to the new company in the same amount and with the same insurance companies and banks. With the cash required for the purchase, it would have been a detriment to ask the company to replace the securities with irrevocable letters of credit or cash in closing. Sureties are an acceptable form of security and our due diligence on the Ekati sale included an assessment of the financial health of the surety providers. There is an agreement in place for the company to replace the securities with cash over time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Mr. Speaker, according to the information that we received, the Moderna vaccine should be administered 28 days apart but can be extended up to 42 days, if necessary. If a vaccine shortage continues, has the department begun a communication plan of what to do if residents cannot get their second vaccine within the 42 recommended days? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. It is my understanding that we are still going to be able to vaccinate everyone by the end of March, but the composition of the shipments is going to change with less vaccine in February and more in March. At this time, we believe that everyone will be vaccinated within the 42-day limit, and if that is not the case, we will certainly communicate that. Thank you.
Can the Minister confirm if the NWT would consider the following as having been achieved: a robust rapid testing strategy has been implemented; community spread remains limited; and a strong system of contact tracing remains in place, and all active cases of COVID-19 can have their contacts effectively traced? If not, can the Minister please explain.
I am proud to tell the Member that we have achieved all of those milestones.
I understand the last requirement of moving from phase 2 is a second surge of infection in Canada and the United States has come and gone, with new cases falling over time and the epidemiological curve has demonstrably flattened. This has not been met. With our border controls in place and a 14-day mandatory isolation in place, will the Minister be looking into moving into phase 3 once we have completed implementing our vaccine plan and our most vulnerable population has been vaccinated?
What the Chief Public Health Officer has said is that, with the number of cases active in the South at this time and with the low rates of vaccination forecasted in this House relative to the entire population, it's more likely that there will be a relaxation of measures within the Northwest Territories rather than opening our borders. Specifically, she has talked about increasing gathering sizes. Those things are possible once the vaccination has been widely distributed in the Northwest Territories. I think it's worth pointing out that many of the items that were to occur in phase 3 have, in fact, occurred in phase 2 because people have asked her to move up the different activities, based on the good containment of our cases.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to clarify that: So with the vaccine, if we do get the vaccine and we are at 75 percent vaccinated, the Minister will commit to negotiating a lot more opening up this summer? Because I feel that, like I said in my Member's statement, we are really going to lose some of our vital, important staff, especially outside of Yellowknife. It is come to Inuvik. You came to Inuvik. The Premier came to Inuvik. There is nothing open there. There is nothing going on there. There is no social life. There is nothing that is keeping people. Even the youth are having mental health issues because it's harder and harder to socialize. So I am really happy to hear that from the Minister. I am just hoping that they can get the vaccine and get it going, and we can get opening up a little bit more inside the territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I recognize that people are really feeling COVID fatigue in the dark and the cold and that they are really looking forward to getting together with other members of their communities and their families, both within the NWT and outside of the NWT, and so I think the Chief Public Health Officer is aware of that, too. Ultimately, the decision about what phase we are in is up to her. She is the one who we have tasked with the public health assessment, and so I cannot make a commitment. However, I can certainly tell you that she has set some thresholds for enabling more gathering in the NWT and for opening the borders, and so let's see how the vaccine goes and take it a step at a time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In line with my Member's statement, I worked with the Minister responsible for ECE, Minister Archie, and ENR Minister Thompson, and I want to thank them for all the information they gave me. So far, I am going back to the Taltson. From my understanding then, BC is denying responsibility, and that is fine. I was given a lot of raw data, and it could be interpreted a lot of different ways. My question now is for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Can he give us an update on what, if any, preliminary findings are on the cause of the high water levels? Marsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to thank the Member for the question. He has been doing his due diligence. He has been phoning me throughout as this has been coming out there. Again, I thank him for that. I know he is very passionate about it, and he is working for his residents.
ENR has received data both from Water Survey of Canada and NWT Power Corporation, and we are assessing the situation. The Taltson River has experienced high water levels since the summer. High snowfall and rainfall, including two very large rainfall events in mid and late August 2020, have caused the high water levels. Available data on the Tazin and the Abitau Rivers, which flow to the Tazin Lake, indicates a very large flow event in mid to late August 2020 with slow recession. Water levels in the Tazin Lake have been high enough to cause flow over the existing weir since July 2019, which is extremely rare.
This has increased the area flow out to the Taltson River by about 20 percent. ENR issued a public service announcement on November 19, 2020, because of the high water and possibility of unusual freezing this winter and the fall. ENR has received data from NTPC and has confirmed that the facility has been in compliance with their water licence, including over summer and fall of 2020. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for the response from the Minister. With that information, I will likely have some more questions in the form of a written question later on. I guess for my next question: Can the department provide scientific data from a neutral third party to provide an assessment of the overflow and flooding? Because I think it's important that we get information not just from a GNWT source but from an outside source to have a more unbiased look at what is happening.
