Caroline Wawzonek
Deputy Premier
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the date when we are expecting the part to -- the cables themselves to arrive would be the first week of November, in the region. It will take a total of three months to get all 24 cables replaced. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The wellness centre is 100 percent federally funded. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, back in August of 2023, it was noticed that there appeared to be a broken cable on this particular bridge. They had engineers on site within 48 hours, and they were able to identify fairly early on what they thought was happening was in fact a metallurgical problem, a problem with the materials themselves. So a number of -- they took the materials out. They pulled the cable off the bridge, took it for testing, wanted to of course to make sure that they knew for sure what had gone wrong, and it was confirmed that there was no defect in the design or the...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm just trying to see if I have their location. The construction company is Surespan Contracting. They're -- I don't believe they're locally-based. This is fairly specialized and technical work. I'd have to get back to the House with respect to where they are located. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You'd think I hadn't done this before. For 2025-2026. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, an all-season road to Gameti is not currently in the Infrastructure acquisition plan for the immediate future for the Government of the Northwest Territories. I'm certainly alive to the concerns the Member is raising and, again, you know, we're seeing what kinds of challenges we have but at this point, Gameti is not in line for an all-season road. They are still relying on the winter roads system and air freight as a backup. We are right now working with the Tlicho in terms of trying to make sure that that winter road gets put in, and the costs of that are...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's probably a question for the Minister of Infrastructure, and that Minister doesn't have a briefing binder on the detail here. I can assure the House and the Member that I asked that very same question, and somewhere just around the timing of it in terms of -- and, again, I don't want to misstate certainly here on the floor, but my recollection is that we were just outside of the time of when there would have been warranty and that the nature of what occurred would not be one that would be covered. So, you know, I certainly haven't ruled out as I...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there is no impact to the funding agreement. Typically, if there are changes of this nature, we would double check with federal counterparts just to be sure. So that certainly is fine. And with respect to the timing, the funding portion that you see here is simply being moved from the current fiscal year into a revised budget for a future year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last several seasons of the ice road certainly have been very challenging. They're starting later, and the roads are deteriorating sooner. As a result, the department has taken a number of measures. For one, and in fact I believe the Monfwi riding is one where they are leading in terms of having studies and better studies done of the permafrost of exactly what's going on to understand what's going on with our roadway systems. We are trying to get out and get the roads in earlier. They are able to try to build up faster so that they can move more...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair, this is, I believe, fully funded by the federal government. Thank you.