Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not tearing up contracts. We're ensuring that as we move forward and contracts end and where we can get out of contracts at no cost to the people of the territory and at no -- and in a way that doesn't impact the safety of residents or staff, that we're doing that. So all of that said, the direction that has been given to departments has not changed. I don't want to flip flop back and forth depending on what the news of the day is, and so the direction remains the same. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to hear that. Mr. Speaker, the President, also in his recent address to both chambers of congress -- both Houses of Congress said that the American government would initiate retaliatory tariffs I believe on April 4th. So is there any -- does this situation relate to -- or do our counter-tariffs relate to that declaration? I don't know if there's been an update since then either. I know it's -- again, it is a very fluid situation. If the Premier doesn't have a clear update, that's fine, but obviously this is very concerning for my constituents and for all of us here in the Northwest Territories and Canada. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don't have an update for the House on that. And, you know, I want to ensure that people understand that, you know, despite the actions of, you know, an individual in the United States, whether -- despite the fact that person might be the President, that, as a country, we remain steadfast in our unity and our approach to dealing with this situation. And, you know, people might be shaken by the removal of the tariffs today and the removal of some tariffs yesterday and the addition of other tariffs. But we're not shaken, Mr. Speaker. This is what we're in for the next four years. We need to realize that. We need to stay the course and ensure that we're doing what we can to further insulate our economy, territorially and nationally, from the whims of the American president while moving forward and supporting each other. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE in regard to my statement earlier on income support. Is the Minister looking to make changes to the income support program in the future? Thank you.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the income security programs for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment underwent extensive review and changes in the 19th Assembly. We were able to implement those changes just last year, so they still have not undergone a full year in the new system. And so I think this is a time where we are certainly watching to see how those changes are being implemented so that we can establish if changes -- further changes are needed in the future. Thank you.
One of the questions I had was when will these changes -- how will -- what time do you anticipate the changes will take effect and be the changes that are going to be used in the income support program? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So these changes took effect last year, in the fall of last year, and so they're still certainly in their infancy as people get used to them and as we see how they're impacting communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Deh Cho.
I don't know if the Minister will have this information now, Mr. Speaker. But can she tell me what changes were made. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So overall, there was more money afforded to the program. One of the most distinctive changes was that persons with disabilities and people who are elders and seniors were placed into their own separate program, and so now there's the income assistance for persons with disabilities and seniors, and there's the income assistance for adults’ program as well. The income assistance for adults’ program is for persons who are 19 to 59 years old. And within the income assistance program as well, people -- there were other exemptions that were income exemptions that were included in the program, and then there was also exemptions for earned income that was included as well. So people who are wanting to start working more are able to keep more of their earned income today, so it acts as kind of a grace period as they're working their way out of needing that support on a month-to-month basis. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement, my questions today, as mentioned, are to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. To the Minister, has the Department of ECC been involved in the environmental assessment for the line 490 replacement project in Norman Wells? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the department is participating in the environmental assessment process for both the Imperial Oil line 490 replacement as well as the overall operation of the Norman Wells program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question to the Minister is to what degree is the department involved in the 490 process specifically? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has submitted several information requests to Imperial Oil to better understand the plans for the line replacement project as well as the implications of the project on the local communities. Also, the purpose of the information requests from the GNWT is to help us make suggestions on potential mitigations, if they are necessary for the proposed line replacement, and several of the requests have been simply seeking clarity on some of the processes. The department is aware that the old line was shut in and Imperial was seeking to replace that line to continue production. And we certainly understand this is an important aspect to help Imperial Oil continue operations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final supplementary question is, is the Minister aware that this EA, over 300 questions, have been recently submitted with a very limited response time placed by the board? This is a significant number of information requests for the line replacement project considering there is another environmental assessment in progress for the overall operating authority of the Norman Wells facility and likely another EA coming for the closure facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was only recently informed that there were actually 57 information requests which comprised of approximately 350 questions in total that were issued to Imperial Oil for this specific project during the ongoing information requests phase. I'd like to note that the GNWT provided a total of 11 information requests, several of which were seeking clarification from Imperial Oil on some of the aspects of the project.
What I will commit to do, Mr. Speaker, is to ask the department to look into this further and have a discussion with the review board on the intended scope of the assessment process versus the Norman Wells operation, which is also ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Premier and Cabinet put their name forward for Cabinet at the beginning of the 20th Assembly, one of the things they talked about was to build relationships and collaboration and working with Indigenous governments, and that's what I heard.
When I bring forward issues from my riding that comes from the Indigenous governments and my constituents, so to my question to the Minister of Infrastructure is that will the Minister commit to working with the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation chief and council to a feasibility study on the creation of an ice road from Yellowknife to Lutselk'e at the earliest possible date to help lower the cost of living for the community of Lutselk'e and residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's two items in there, and the first one was with respect to having relationships with Indigenous governments, Indigenous leadership. I had the opportunity recently to be -- to travel to Lutselk'e. I work with the chief of Lutselk'e on the Taltson project as a partner and I know, in fact, that the Premier met with the chief of Lutselk'e just today.
That said, Mr. Speaker, a separate question, then, becomes on whether or not initiating a feasibility study is or is not a reflection on the nature of that relationship. Mr. Speaker, I would distinguish the two. An estimate, rough estimate, on a ice road to Lutselk'e is 7 to $8 million. There's no guarantee that that would -- and, in fact, likely would not -- lower the cost of living. It certainly would not lower the cost of fuel. It's quite a distance. Barging is, in fact, a very economical way of getting fuel to Lutselk'e. And last year, Mr. Speaker, MTS, in fact, conducted an extra load to make sure that everything was getting to the community on time and to ensure that they receive not only fuel but, in fact, housing units as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Between Yellowknife and to Lutselk'e, we're looking about 200 kilometers, no different from between here to Gameti.
My second question is what are the barriers to constructing an ice road to Lutselk'e from Yellowknife? Why can't the GNWT build on the experience of other large ice road projects such as the Nechalacho ice road from Dettah to Thor Lake? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a very fair question. We, in fact, do build -- that estimate I was given of sort of 7, $8 million, based on the cost of the Tlicho region winter roads; a significant difference being in the Tlicho region, the winter roads are over ice crossings whereas to Lutselk'e, we are looking at crossing Great Slave Lake, which is obviously a huge body of water, behaves extremely differently. There's significant winds, significant movement on a very deep lake. Pressure ridges develop. There's high risks of having open water at any given moment. Significant variances in ice thickness, significant variance in the currents on the lake which is simply not the same kind of engineering as what it might be on a smaller body of water. Different storm events, Mr. Speaker, and an inability to build maintenance camps on land as they would be throughout -- periodically across a different body of water. So, again, quite a significant series of challenges. It's not to say it's impossible but just as an explanation as to why it is much more complicated and much more expensive. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I appreciate that. The Taltson -- sorry, I guess what I'm thinking about Yellowknife to Lutselk'e is one avenue. The other possibility we could talk about is the Taltson hydro or even from Fort Resolution to Lutselk'e. Would an ice road to Lutselk'e from Yellowknife not be a good fit as part of a larger infrastructure project to secure supply chain and transportation network across the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is, of course, some significant critical minerals deposits not far from Lutselk'e in terms of rare earth elements, and it certainly is, of course, work that's -- we're hoping will be getting underway on a Taltson expansion which would have a cable running under the water but would certainly involve potentially some, you know, work being done in or near Lutselk'e and potentially ending up having to move some equipment. That doesn't necessarily open up having consistent year over year winter road. It simply means that there may be some years where even that high cost can be borne by multiple users. But, Mr. Speaker, I don't want to end on a negative note. The Taltson comment does certainly remind me that as far as strategic infrastructure in this region, there's an interest now in micro hydro in the Lutselk'e region or Lutselk'e community, and certainly very happy to work with them on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to continue on the thread that the Member for Yellowknife North brought into the House this afternoon and talk about the community learning centres which we had a presentation about this morning.
Mr. Speaker, it was noted that there's significant challenges faced by the centres. So, Mr. Speaker, why did the department not work with the college to pursue a more hybridized model that might open the door for the college for cost sharing operation of the buildings and partnering in ways that were mentioned by the Member for Yellowknife North? There's certainly no need -- no shortage of need here, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister elaborate more on why this wasn't done. Thank you.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in December I was presented by the president and the chairperson with an options paper so that I would know what they were looking at. That options paper had multiple different directions that the board might choose to go on it. Following that meeting, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment sat down with the board to let them know what each of the different options would mean as far as potential costs that would arise or how that would come out of their MOU so that they completely understood that it wasn't, you know, just a one means the other.
Following that, in January I then learned, largely the same day -- well, the day before the rest of the House, what option the board of governors had chosen, and the very next morning that decision was made public. So I was not in a position to be able to work on a hybrid model; that process was not afforded to me. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that context. And so that option being taken away from the Minister, I would note that the college having dropped the centres now provides the Minister with the opportunity to take up that flag herself. So it was noted during the presentation and in the What We Heard report that the college could deliver through the CLCs educational opportunities that respond to chronic staffing shortages in roles in the community - nursing, teaching, social work, or other professions. These are all goals that seek to support our mandate commitment of growing the northern workforce. So considering that opportunity that's been handed to the Minister, what does she plan to do going forward now to help the community learning centre succeed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely want to acknowledge that ultimately the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has a responsibility to ensure that accessible education is being afforded to communities. Currently, now following the presentation this morning, the committee knows what I know which is that the college intends to switch to online learning and deliver programming like that. They have some data about some great successes in online learning with students across the territory from one end of the territory to the other. And, really, the opportunity here is for me, along with the department of education to sit down and look at all of the details of that programming and be able to determine where some gaps lie. I know some gaps have been raised by the Member for Yellowknife North, and intend to take this time to be able to look at those and see how we can ultimately react. I acknowledge the Member's comments that reacting to these things are not ideal, but that is the situation that I am left with. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to highlight one other thing that was in the What We Heard report that I appreciate the Minister posting and that was noted that in the absence of Aurora College offering local post-secondary programming, communities have started forming partnerships with other institutions from outside the territory such as University of Alberta, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Yukon University. So it seems that the college has already, you know, been pushed away or stepped away from this issue. So I'm curious to hear more detail in the coming months, or even today, on what the Minister intends to do to kind of capture what could be lost and just emphasize that I don't personally want to see that loss from the communities. We have a goal of growing their workforce, Mr. Speaker, so I want to hear what the Minister's doing to achieve that goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member's absolutely right. There's great things happening in this territory right now, and the more that we can talk about them the more and more people will know about them and can take advantage of them.
One of the other things that's also occurring at the same time is some of our development corporations for Indigenous governments are taking on some fairly robust workforce development plans and executing them through on-the-job training and by pairing their goals with programs that are offered through education, culture and employment. For example, our -- oh my goodness, where did it go; it was right on the tip of my tongue. Sorry, Mr. Speaker.
But our workforce development programs, and there are multiple ones within education. And so I think really working with all of our partners within communities and making sure that these programs are, first of all, known about, that they are accessible, and that ultimately community members know where to go depending on what their career goals are. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the changes to income assistance program last year removed the productive choice requirement and the need to seek and maintain employment. Is the Minister aware of any proposals to improve income assistance program for young people looking for work? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regards to any proposals, if that is referring to future reviews, if there are some kind of scheduled right now, there aren't right now. What we're doing is we're looking at how the program is being implemented throughout the Northwest Territories, the new income assistance programming, and we're very much monitoring how that is flowing out the door given that it is a new program and want to ensure that we're well informed and up to date with how it's working for Northerners. Thank you.
Thank you. For students and young people looking to retrain, payments, including grants and loans that are received for training and education are currently considered unearned income. Can the Minister say if there is any plan to change this so that money received for education purposes does not reduce the income assistance they receive? Thank you.
