Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That's two yeses. We agree that this is one of the most important green energy projects here in the Northwest Territories. It's a project for which we will continue to work hard to advance and is key to both our ability to both reduce emissions in the future as well as support resource development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this project could be a winwin situation for not only the residents of Fort Smith and the broader South Slave but for the whole NWT, thus we must ensure that communication occurs, and we must carry out our mandate items.
Will the Minister work with Cabinet to ensure that this project continues to be advanced and we will work with the First Nations that are most affected by this project, especially the one nation that has reserve lands bordering that dam. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, I agree that this project could be a winwin for the residents of Fort Smith and the broader South Slave and all of the Northwest Territories. We continue to engage with our Indigenous partners and First Nations to try and advance a business partnership that makes sense for all the parties involved. When the time comes, we will also fulfill our consultation obligations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the flooding that happened in Hay River last year was devastating to many. We saw some people lose their homes, businesses, incomes. We've seen the impact on mental health, physical health, and quality of life. In each of these items each of these areas come with a cost financially, emotionally, physically, and mentally. And as well, Mr. Speaker, the building season in Hay River is short so it's very important that the Minister and his department connect with those parties that I mentioned in my statement because they need to get after their solutions to mitigate, you know, current and future damages.
So, Mr. Speaker, will the or does the Minister or will the Minister confirm does the federal government's disaster financial assistance arrangements allow for property acquisitions, and if so, what portion is federally funded? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for MACA.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the federal DFAA program allows for acquisitions of property through a buyout. Disaster assistance reimbursement is provided to all provincial and territorial governments, including the GNWT, based on a sliding scale. All jurisdictions are responsible to pay any costs over what is reimbursed by the federal government. Historically the GNWT has been reimbursed for its disaster costs between 70 to 85 percent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has the Minister considered property acquisitions as a mitigation option for Hay River residents, and who would be responsible for purchasing the properties; would it be the GNWT or community government? In some of the areas we're talking about leased land and titled land. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT Disaster Assistance Policy does not have a provision for buyouts but there is existing provisions that achieve similar results. The decision on whether to rebuild in the same location or a different location is one that is made by the property owner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has the Minister's department given consideration on how property acquisition costs would be calculated if we were to proceed with them? Would it be based on fair market value or similar to what is currently being done under DAP. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With anticipated increase in climate changedriven disasters, the GNWT and other provincialterritorial governments are exploring buyout options but this approach has significant implications for communities and residents and further policy work will need to be undertaken in consultation with community governments in this approach. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's important that this government connect with the people that have been impacted because they're sitting back there, and they are dealing with Pathfinders and other people as well, who are doing a great job, but at the end of the day they want to be able to hear from the Minister, hear from, you know, deputy ministers as well.
So will the Minister commit to a facetoface meeting with those residents of Paradise Valley and the Riverview drive property residents to hear concerns and solutions on how to move these files forward? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Municipal and Community Affairs staff have been and continue to communicate and meet with residents of Paradise Gardens and the Riverview Drive as assess their options. Given that the sensitivity and confidential nature of the financial consideration of these discussions with individuals, this is normally an operational matter that's better addressed by residents with Municipal and Community Affairs directly. However, in saying this, I've received a number of letters from residents in those two locations, and as well with numerous conversations with the MLA from Hay River North and Hay River South about the importance of me getting in there and having that opportunity to meet with them, so I will agree to meet with the individuals and with the Member both MLAs from Hay River North and Hay River South, and we're trying to do it mid April. So we will work with both MLAs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier as I seem to get different answers from different Ministers on whether this government intends to plow ahead with an allweather road project during a regional study.
So, can the Premier tell us whether it is the intention of this government to submit land use permit and water license applications for the Lockhart AllSeason Road that will undoubtedly trigger an environmental assessment while a regional study is underway. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to direct that to the Minister of Infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker..
Thank you, Madam Premier. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government's mandate includes commitments to increasing resource exploration and development as well as making infrastructure investments, including the Slave Geological Province Corridor. The advancement of this project is a priority by which the entire 19th Legislative Assembly, and I will commit to continue to advance this project. It's our government's intent to continue advancing the planning, the design, as well as the regulatory work for the first phase of the Slave Geological Province Corridor, the Lockhart AllSeason Road while recent while the recently announced regional strategic environmental assessment is coordinated and conducted by Canada. The federal minister's decision clearly respects that existing projects can and will continue to advance through this robust environmental assessment and regulatory process while the RSEA is undertaken. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President, I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course I didn't agree with the 19 priorities identified by this Assembly, and I think it is probably safe to say that not everybody in this room would agree with every one of them as well. But I think some of the issues of the timing of the work with the socalled Slave Geological Province Road is a requirement to spend the money by a certain point in time. There has been a lot of slippage in this work and I don't see why the funding arrangement could not be changed to allow for more time or even reallocation of this money to something else like the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
So, can the Premier tell us what the restrictions are for the federal funding for the Slave Geological Province Road and whether a request to extended timelines or reallocate the funds has been made. Mahsi Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. A $40 million cost sharing agreement for the environmental review of the Lockhart AllSeason Road and planning for the remainder of the Slave Geological Province Corridor to the Nunavut border was established under the 2019 Transport Canada's National Trade Corridors Fund.
Mr. Speaker, this agreement includes a current agreement end date of March 31st, 2025; however, the GNWT is currently working with Transport Canada to amend this agreement to end at March 31st, 2028, which will align with the end of the current National Trade Corridors Fund program. This funding is specific to the advancement of the Slave Geological Province Corridor Project and cannot be reallocated. Again, this is a priority of the Assembly that we all set at 19th Legislative Assembly, and I will continue to advance this project, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister. Of course, I am not opposed to collecting data but triggering an environmental assessment while a regional study is going on? That's ridiculous. I am concerned that this government seems to think that it's a good idea to have a regional study as requested by the Tlicho government yet push ahead with a road at the same time that will have irreversible impacts on caribou. So can the Premier tell us what is the point of doing a regional study if a separate environmental assessment is triggered for the Lockhart AllSeason Road? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question is better suited for the Minister of ENR. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the regional study and potential EA for the Lockhart AllSeason Road has two different purposes. The regional study is intended to look at the impacts and benefits of the multiple activities in the region and make recommendations for decisionmakers to consider. A regional study will not replace land use planning or environmental assessment process, but it can inform those processes and improve their efficiencies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister. It seems like it's a real hot potato over there. No one wants to answer the questions. But, of course, we ask questions; we don't actually sometimes get answers. But this government has not done enough to protect and serve caribou. We called out Alaska for allowing development in the camping grounds of the porcupine caribou herd, but we didn't do the same for a gold mine in the calving grounds of the Bathurst caribou herd on the Nunavut side. So can the Premier tell us why we failed to protect the Canadaing grounds of the Bathurst caribou herd, we fail to identify and protecting habitat on our side of the boundary, and continue to bull doze ahead with a road that will have irreversible impacts. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm going to actually read my notes here. So you'll get a longwinded answer here. Mr. Speaker, ENR has worked closely with Indigenous governments and other comanagement partners to protect key habitats for the Bathurst herd. The collaborative development Bathurst caribou range plan supports habitat conservation areas of important caribou habitat, as well as using the mobile caribou conservation measures commonly known as MCCM in the core Bathurst area. ENR provides funding and support to Indigenous governments to identify important Bathurst caribou habitat, which will be used to help inform habitat protection. ENR participates in environmental assessments and land use planning process in the NWT and Nunavut to minimize the effect of development across the range of shared herds. ENR works with the mountain provincial diamonds to file the use of the mobile caribou conservation measures in the field and working with blue STAR gold in Nunavut to assess the effectiveness of MCCMs at their site. Mr. Speaker, ENR is also working with Rio Tinto exploration and Tlicho government to mitigate impact to the caribou from their aerial geophysical exploration projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Can the Minister tell us how the department is ensuring their RFPs are advised early enough in the new fiscal year to get work done during the upcoming short building season. How is industry being engaged in this conversation. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department are doing we're doing infrastructure in different ways to be able to help reduce some of the carryovers working with the contractors to ensure that we get our tenders and our information out so that we can have timely projects happen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's always really frustrating to ask how things are being done to then just get an answer that they're being done. So I'm just going to leave it at that. But that's quite an odd answer. Can the Minister explain if projects are looked at as a whole both within her department and across the entire GNWT to see if there are savings to be had by planning these projects together. These could include maximizing their buying power by ordering bulk materials or sharing labour and transportation costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we are looking at different ways of doing this. For example, enhancing some of our project tracking tools, enhancing some of our project management with best practices. We are staggering out some of our projects in future years where possible, working with our Department of Finance as well to look at our procurement, find historical data. Mr. Speaker, I could go on. I will not other than to say, yes, we are doing that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that the myths's department is doing something. Can the Minister advise if her department is examining the cost benefit of prepurchasing and shipping materials in ahead of time for future projects. So not only looking to maximize benefits by sharing between projects, but also being foreplanning, or preplanning proactive to see whether or not materials could be brought in at a time that the winter roads are in place or the barging is happening so that they're ready to go once the grounds thaws and work can be done. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, throughout the fiscal process, we do our capital plans in the fall so that contracts can be in place in time for summer barging as well as our ice road seasons. Before we can lose a half a year on any projects is at a minimum. We cannot enter into negotiations, RPFs, contracts until our infrastructure acquisition plan is approved every fall. We face capacity issues as well, Mr. Speaker. A number of our contractors that are available to do the work as well, they have same issues on trying to source material and finding workers as well. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain how often she consults with stakeholders who enter the RFP process? I want to make sure that we're actually giving our contractors time to meet the needs of the contract. If that contract doesn't come out until April, they have missed the window for winter roads and, you know, knowing how the barging goes, I doubt private industry wants to rely on that. So can the Minister explain how often is she actually meeting with industry stakeholders about RFPs. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it all depends. I mean, we meet with contractors if and where possible. We have staff that continue to have dialogue with we as leaders in this government have meetings with Indigenous leaders, and we talk about some of the projects that advancing into the regions. So we do have discussions. And, you know, if the contractors have issues, they contact the department, and if they need to, they will we will have those discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of finance today. Mr. Speaker, in the GNWT's response to last year's motion to match Canada's population growth, Cabinet said part of its population growth strategy is to retain residents that the NWT already has. How is the GNWT working to identify why NWT residents are actually leaving the territory so that they can specifically address what these reasons are. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly am also following the statistics that we get quite regularly on updates about population change. Mr. Speaker, I just want to note one interesting fact is we've actually seen an increase in international net migration into the territory. The birth rate, as I think the that was reported yesterday tends to remain fairly stable. So there are some interesting things to draw, and I do want to assure folks we certainly do keep an eye on that as well. As far as what we're doing to what we're doing to keep people aware of what's happening and why this is a good place to be, I can speak from the perspective of finance, Mr. Speaker. There's a lot of efforts being made in the Department of Finance to demonstrate why it's a good employer, which is certainly the biggest one of the biggest employers here in the Northwest Territories. And looking also, again, as an employer at whether we can be doing more to look at why people do leave the Northwest Territories. And a lot of that work does happen right now at the three mines. Thief tried to do exit interviews to look at. And, Mr. Speaker, in short, there's such a myriad of reasons, it becomes difficult to target just one, other than to tie it to look at what it is overall in the territories that does make this such a great place to be, and that is a lot of the work we do in this House to try to continue programs and services that are available to residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
