Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Environment and Climate Change works closely with communities to provide advice and recommendations on ways to help mitigate risk for wildfire. Furel breaks are one of the multiple tools that are used in wildfire prevention, mitigation, and response. Characteristics of the fuel breaks are typically based on specific fuel types in a specific area and take into consideration the type of trees, including tree species, height, and density. It is important to note that the fuel breaks are not intended to stop the spread of wildfire. They are to help they are there to help slow the fire and also provide fire personnel a control line to safely initiate from there, where possible, to remove fuel between the community and the main fire. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that answer. Has the department completed an assessment of what each community has for fire breaks and if they are currently compatible with any standards for such? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department regularly provides advice on ways to help protect communities from the risk of wildfires. The department has worked with all 29 forested communities in the NWT to update their community wildfire protection plan, which are designed to help reduce risks for wildfire. One of those tools available to the community is the use of fire break or fuel breaks and are included in the community wildlife protection plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi to the Minister for that. I believe that many of the fire breaks that he speaks of are a bit not wide enough to prevent fires from entering the communities.
Mr. Speaker, failing to have any set standards to determine proper and safe fire breaks for communities in the Northwest Territories, will the department work to develop acceptable standards of fire breaks to protect communities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I noted earlier, the construction of fuel breaks needs to consider a number of factors, specifically to each area and community, including the type of fuel in the area. The Department of Environment and Climate Change has worked closely with each forested community to develop their community plans, which include consideration of these factors. We are committed to continuing to work with communities to provide technical advice and expertise in planning for fuel breaks as well as other fire mitigation measures.
Mr. Speaker, just so people here in the House and people out there are aware, the fires can and have jumped the Mackenzie River from one side to the other. So when we're looking at the size of the fire breaks, again it's not to stop fires. It's to help us be able to break it and to initiate the fight the flames moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Regarding the fire breaks, you know, the wider the fire break and when you get rid of the topsoil, as most communities are starting to chip, using a chipper to chip away and do FireSmarting so that fire that chipping there, that's wood chips, and that's fuel, that adds fuel to the fire. So I don't know if that's a real good idea if the department is advising communities to do that. So even their fireguards, you know, they need to be a set standard because they will protect communities. If we're not doing anything, well we're leaving it up in the air for next fire season. We're going to have communities that will be totally lost because of all the forest that we have in the areas. And we need to be proactive and start looking at trying to mitigate these situations. And, you know, because right now what they're doing is just reactive, getting all the Caterpillars, it's all in the South Slave. Now they're making fire breaks after the fact. You know, that's that doesn't seem to make you know, to rhyme or reason. Funding is always an issue when communities are left to fend for themselves, especially in developing fire breaks that will meet an acceptable standard of protection.
Can the Minister work with all communities to develop a work plan as to the fire break needs of each community and funding requirements and present these findings to the federal government for further funding? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECC has internal funding available each year to help communities implement their community wildfire protection plan, which can include building of fuel breaks. I can advise this House that we work with NWTAC who successfully applied for $20 million of disaster mitigation and adaptation funding from the federal government. That money will be as I said yesterday, will be brought forth to NWTAC and they're going to give it allocate it to the communities, those 29 communities.
Mr. Speaker, NWTAC realizes that work needs to be done now. So they've reach out and worked with the communities to be able to start that work now and then all those costs can be reimbursed April 1st. So if they know exactly what money they are eligible for so we've already done the work. We've already gone to the federal government, and we've done it through the NWTAC. So it doesn't need to be us. We've worked with NWTAC for the communities to get this done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Yesterday I started questioning the Minister in regards to reimbursing residents for airfares incurred during evacuation. And I'd like to continue those questions today.
As I explained today during my Member's statement, some residents tried unsuccessfully to use the government charters, and some also thought when they were leaving on commercial flights that they were aiding the evacuation efforts of the Government of the Northwest Territories. And so I'd like to ask the Minister again, will this government reimburse the personal costs incurred by residents who booked commercial flights to either get out of town or to reenter the territory once the evacuation order was lifted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday it was said in the House that we were telling people to get out on the planes, get the planes going out there. This is the communication that we sent out: If it's safe for residents who have vehicles and are available to drive, to start evacuating now. If there are any smoke conditions, residents evacuating by the highway will be escorted from Yellowknife through active fire zone. Air evacuation is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., Thursday, August 7th, 2023. Only residents who do not have the option to leave the area by road are asked to register for evacuation fly outs.
As I said yesterday under section or has been saying under section 4 of the DFA with the federal public safety eligibility, section 4.11 is a reference to provincial and territorial eligible costs that the province or territorial province provides temporary relocation shelters, etcetera, to residents. The GNWT did provide evacuation support, including transportation, accommodation, and food. So the GNWT will be making a claim for that cost as in terms for the DFA. The Member I understand what the Member has said. I've heard her numerous times. We've had numerous conversations. And, unfortunately, no, we will not be reimbursing people that decided to take the flights out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know I've had numerous conversations with the Minister about this and at this point, I'm thankful that the Minister still answers my phone calls. But I'm not done having this conversation.
Mr. Speaker, I get that the government had evacuation flights. Those evacuation flights weren't available on Thursday. There was extreme environmental factors that heightened peoples' fear; and people were being told the fire's going to be here by the weekend, you need to do what you can to get out. Then they sat in those lineups, and they were not put on planes. I went down to the evacuation centre. People were organized. The military was organized. They had them registered. They had them ready. They were waiting for airplanes. Pilots were waiting to be told when to fly. So it's not just a matter of people just choosing to get on other flights. This was an issue where the flights weren't actually as ready as we'd like to think that they were or we would have liked them to have been. Was it perfect? No. And so I'm asking the government to acknowledge, yes, it wasn't perfect, and there are other mechanisms that we can help residents out. We can help them out by reimbursing the cost of those flights. And I'd like to know if MACA will do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thursday wasn't perfect. I had conversations with the military. The military people that were there helping us were pretty calm about it. They said, for the first day, it's actually going pretty smoothly. Yes, was there a long lineup? Yes. Were flights not ready to go? Yes. But I can tell you the next day we had people out and when people were registering, we were getting them on flights. We had the military that brought in four extra crews to help us get those flights out. So we did have that. We were still within the timeframe that we had. I understand where the Member's coming, and I still take her phone calls whenever she phones and I mean, I understand we got a job to do. However, at the end of the day we had a process of evacuating people from this city, from Dettah, and N'dilo, and we were following that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's one side of things. The other side is the reentry flights. The reentry flights where people literally sat and waited. Some people have never heard back. They needed to get back for work. And in some cases, like I said in my Member's statement, if people didn't get home they lost their jobs, their permanent residency in this country was going jeopardized, the fact that they needed some people to get home for safety reasons. I mean, there's a multitude of nuances. And the other part of that is that the airlines on the way home were also capping flights between $150 and $250. So I'm wondering, then, if the if MACA won't reimburse the flights, even though, yes, I agree it does state under the DFAA eligible response costs include, and that includes transportation. There's also section 5.2.1 which also refers to travel, accommodations, incurred during an evacuation. But if this if MACA will not do it under the DFAA, will they put together a program similar, then, to the transportation Evacuated Transportation Support Program where we supported residents who drove out. They can put together, you know, a fixed cost of what they'll support residents with and tie it into that. So there are other ways that creatively the government can support residents to refund these costs, and I'm wondering if MACA will do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that we've got numerous phone calls from the Members, including Members from on this side, that had residents that were didn't get their information. We then worked with them to get on those flights. Yes, we heard some of the challenges that were there and we were trying to get people on those flights. We also had people that showed up here without telling us, and we were looking for them too. So we did have staff there that we were working on that.
As for coming up with another program, we have our bailiwicks of our options available to us, and at this point in time I am not looking at that. But we can say that it's something that maybe Cabinet can look at later on but right now, we are focusing on what we are able to provide through the Disaster Assistance Program with the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. I appreciate the acknowledgement that Cabinet will take some time to discuss this.
Mr. Speaker, it's one of those things where absolutely there was charter flights that were going out. But there was also other people who did help the evacuation and the reentry process by putting themselves on flights, and people did what they had to do in order to be compliant with the order in order to be safe. I acknowledge that this might in turn be a substantial cost for the government, but this is a cost that the government is much better suited to incur than individual residents of the territory. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to under what parameters would MACA potentially refund a flight to a resident? Because I know that there are times where different residents have different situations that might qualify for a refund from MACA. So I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not going to speculate on what conditions or where that I would take some time to think about it. So right now, I will not be able to answer that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our mandate commits that we will develop the business case for the Taltson hydro expansion for spring 2020, Mr. Speaker. And what's notable about that is that we tabled the mandate in February 2020, and it seems to me the only reason you would essentially not give yourself any timeline to develop something is that it was already done. Yet here we are, Mr. Speaker, in fall 2023, and we have not seen the Taltson business case.
So my question for the Minister of Infrastructure, has the Taltson business case been developed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the business case is being developed to articulate things like the strategic rationale for the project, demonstrates both economic and social impacts to the Northwest Territories, determine the method by which the project is implemented to ensure optimal value for money. This is still work underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, I understand what a business case is, Mr. Speaker. I understand you need one in order to justify spending billions of dollars. I didn't quite get an answer there of whether so I'll try again. Has the business case been developed and if so, can we release it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the business case was shared with the Indigenous groups. Until we get further feedback from our working group and our steering group, whether we provide it to the public that's still yet to be determined. So right now, it is with the Indigenous groups. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, this Cabinet repeatedly, in every single capital budget, including those asking for money for Taltson expansion. We spent tens of millions of dollars already, and we will continue to spend it, and yet they refuse to share the business case with us. Additionally, the Minister refuses to tell us how much the project actually is going to cost. The last cost estimate we have is from 2014. It included a transmission line to the diamond mines. I understand we are no longer doing that.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister give us an estimate of how much the Taltson project is going to cost. I honestly don't know whether it's two and a half billion dollars or $1 billion, Mr. Speaker. That is the order of magnitude I am unsure of the cost of this project. Can we have an estimate of how much this is going to cost us? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is in the early stages of the Taltson project. You know, we are seeking federal government. They have provided us money to be able to work with Indigenous partners. We're doing that. We also need to look at things like, you know, exploring some business options. We're able to work together with Indigenous groups to get everybody at the table because this is going to be a big, huge project for the Northwest Territories. I'm not in a position right now, Mr. Speaker, to provide what the but the next government can decide how much to share. Right now it's confidential with our partners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, Mr. Speaker, I just find it completely unreasonable we're having this debate with no sense of how much this project is going to cost. It's clear this will be the largest infrastructure project this territory has ever built. It's a 60-megawatt expansion. Currently, between Blue Fish, Snare, and existing Taltson, we have about 50 megawatts of hydro. So we are more than doubling the amount of power we need to sell in this territory. That is a giant project. It is a multibillion-dollar project; I feel confident saying that. Unlike nothing we have ever done. So can we answer some basic questions. Who are we selling this 60 megawatts of power to? That is tens, if not hundreds of millions of more dollars of power we need to sell. We essentially have to double our rate base. That is a lot of mines that need to exist, Mr. Speaker. So can the Minister try and explain to me who we are selling this power to? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll say it again. Our working group and steering group are working with Indigenous partners to look at the alignment. You know, we still haven't decided on what phase we're going to work on. And I just want the Member to know it's a big picture thinking. It's thinking about the future. You know, leveraging federal funding so that we could make life better for Northwest Territories residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ITI. It's been a while since I asked her about anything to do with mining so I thought it would be a good opportunity to do so.
Given that a lot of what we've been talking about has been around the wildfires, can the Minister please give us an update on how wildfire evacuation and fighting has impacted our mining sector. And I guess particularly I'm interested to know how Pine Point is doing considering they are in the South Slave area that was quite impacted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the wildfires certainly this season did have an impact on the industry.
With respect to Pine Point, Mr. Speaker, I imagine, quite fortunately, they're I understand their property was not affected by the wildfires notwithstanding how close they may have come. But one of there was one gold property actually much closer towards Yellowknife that did see some damage to some of their properties. But other than that, those are the only damaged properties. The impacts really were more in terms of the timing. There were some slowdowns of some of the operating mines were loaning out their equipment and their staff. Some of the exploration projects were loaning out and perhaps loaning is not the right word but giving access to their helicopters. So work that they would have otherwise planned for the summer season did see some delays. That said, Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to say that Pine Point folks are back on the site. The lithium folks here are back on their sites. They were evacuated. And at this point and we also didn't miss the September 11th valuation date for diamonds, which is a pretty significant event here in the fall and which would have had pretty significant timing issues. So things are now back up and running.
My last comment on in terms of the wildfire impacts, $500,000, I understand, was provide to the United Way by the operating diamond mines. So quite a lot happened, but a lot of it actually ultimately is good news. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And that's really encouraging to hear. I'm not surprised to hear about the donation from the diamond mines. They always have been stepping up when needed, including during COVID and providing cleaning supplies and such to NGOs.
Just a little bit further, and I'm not sure if the Minister has this information, but have any of the mines expressed that there would be delays to their projects given the wildfire season? I'm glad to hear that equipment that was here was utilized. I actually if you run into former Member Wally Schumann ask him about the anthrax guy showing up with his chopper at the 60th parallel during his evacuation. So definitely impacting a lot of our workers are scientists, so. Does the Minister know if there will be any delays to any of the project timelines that were proposed prior to the wildfire season? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd, right now, be probably most concerned about the exploration projects but as I said, at this point folks are back on their sites. They are back up and running and hopefully going to make the most of the time that we still have this fall season. So we are I know that the department is actively looking to get back in touch and to be fully briefed directly from the proponents as to where they're at. But at this point, I don't have any information of delays. There was some concerns about some of the resupplies for the CN rail lines but, again, that also appears to be resolved or on its way to being resolved this fall. And with that, we should see, again, while there was certainly some anxious days, I'm sure, for many projects, it does appear that they are proceeding. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad to hear that. I was a bit concerned about impacts on supply chain, especially since we've already been reeling after COVID with that sector not being super stable as well as materials being shorthanded. I guess another way that I think that we you know, I'm hoping our mineral industry can be supported is that we've been long awaiting the federal government's sort of plan for what they're going to do around the critical mineral strategy, and I know that the Northwest Territories and other territories are key to the federal government's strategy. So I'm just wondering I know there was money allocated in billions of dollars, I believe, in the 2023 Budget. So I'm just wondering can the Minister speak to is that money actually materializing here in the territory any time soon? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the federal, provincial, territorial Ministers for energy and mines were scheduled and, indeed, did meet during the time of the evacuation. I was evacuated but I was able to attend the meeting virtually and with respect to the critical minerals and the mining side of this file, and continue to raise with colleagues federally, as to when we're going to see more progress on this file. It was a good opportunity to meet. I can say we are fortunately now part of the second round of provinces and territories that are doing work called regional energy and resource tables. And that is meant to be the driver that will help determine where and how we can see some of the funds that were announced coming into the territories. But we pressed them again on the fact that, really, the Northwest Territories does need the opportunity to compete at a level that is equivalent to the rest of Canada and we have higher costs. We're going to need some energy availability and sustainable solutions, and we're going to need something that levels the playing field, whether it's a north of 60 mineral exploration credit or otherwise. So all of those conversations were actively had, as I said, really just within the last month. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that there was a recent meeting. I think it's really key right now given where we're at sort of economically in our rebuild. I guess the question I'd want to ask, then, is oh, gosh, now I'm losing my train of thought.
With the Minister meeting with her colleagues and such, and given that as we watched the safety issue with our communities not having roads and the acute infrastructure deficit, has the conversation shifted at all for a recognition that our mining sector is also going to be supported if we look at the infrastructure needs that our territory has? So I guess what I'm trying to say is is there now a greater recognition federally that the lack of roads really, while impacting our safety, is really impacting mining. And is that a way that the Minister can kind of push for us to fix that infrastructure deficit. I feel like it's a good thrust that we now have more than one reason why we need roads. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there's been a long uncertainty about which would take priority, whether it's the roads that bring the resupply or whether it would be access to greener and more sustainable energy solutions, which is really an area that is particularly for critical minerals but for the mineral the large diamond mines that make public commitments as well as to how they're going to move forward, whether, again, which of those two they take first. I'm sure they'd probably be happy to take both. You know, with respect to roads, Mr. Speaker, I know two at least two of the diamond mines I know I believe De Beers and I think at least one other were flying chartered food into some of their IBA partner communities. So they are well aware of how difficult it is to be disconnected from a road system. I think that angle that the Member's getting is always the angle that we present not only for the mineral resource industry, it's really for all of the industries in the Northwest Territories. Our economy relies on transportation corridors just as others do. It relies on energy access as others do. And the minute we can get to a place where we are on par with the rest of Canada, then we'll be far more competitive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Mr. Speaker, the issue that I brought up in my Member's statement is not a new issue. It was actually addressed to the Minister of Finance and her team while she was up in Inuvik. So my questions for the Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corp who was in charge of this contract, for the wind project in Inuvik, that the contractors who built the road for the wind turbine project have outstanding amounts that need to be paid. Can the Minister advise us and the businesses in my riding and region when they can expect to be paid for the work that they completed? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NT Energy has bonding in place for the project to protect the financial loss and protect subcontractors if they're not paid accordingly to the contract terms for their labour and materials they provide. NT Energy provided subcontractors with information on how to access the labour and materials bond, but some subcontractors have been unable to access it due to the terms of their contract with the primary contractor. NT Energy cannot compensate the subcontractors for unpaid work as it's not a party to this contract. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, Mr. Speaker, this is a project that has been praised and praised by this Cabinet in this House. I've raised issue after issue after issue that has been ongoing that's been brought to my attention that I've raised with the Minister multiple times, and now the contractors in my region in my community and in my region are wanting to be paid. This is a federallyfunded project so when is this Minister going to pay going to have these contractors or figure out when they're going to get paid? They're out, some of them, almost a million dollars, Mr. Speaker, and then the cost of living and those small businesses that run in my community, they are putting food on the people's table and roofs over their head and, you know, they can't be out a million, you know. So I'd like to know, and they would like to know, when they're going to paid and how are they going to be paid. Thank you.
