Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And that certainly flows well. I'd like to say that we are -- I'm cognizant of us saying we're working on something and us committing to finding a solution doesn't fill the fuel tank of anyone in the Sahtu this week. I'm conscious of that, Mr. Speaker. I believe we are. As I've said, I've spoken with Imperial Oil myself and Minister Cleveland just this morning. We've spoken with Members in the federal public service. A variety of departments are involved. We have follow-ups happening at our department levels. So I do believe that we are pushing this issue. It came upon...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, I do want to acknowledge we've had a lot of conversations, and I'm grateful for the MLA from the Sahtu. He is in our ears all the time, and it brings the reality of the people on the ground to what can sometimes seem far away when you're not in the moment of it, brought that voice to Ottawa last week as well. And I'm grateful that he was there to do that.

Mr. Speaker, the fuel resupply to the Sahtu is through Imperial Oil. The fuel services division supplies the other Sahtu communities. So figuring out exactly whether we use public dollars to...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Hay River North, Minister of Justice, will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to host the federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers of Justice meeting.

Mr. Speaker, I also wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes will be absent from the House today and tomorrow in order to attend to a personal matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following nine documents: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 7-20(1): Report on the Review of the 2022-2023 public accounts; Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 37-20(1): Mackenzie Valley Highway Business Case Renewal; Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 28-20(1): Consideration for Elders and Seniors in Debt Elimination; Response to Petition 2-20(1): Improved Fertility and Family Planning Supports in the Northwest Territories; Follow-up letter for Oral Question 175-20(1): Marine...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure took a fairly significant role last year. You'll recall that just a little later, less than a year ago, we were already in a situation where because of last year's challenged barge season there was some resupply of fuel that had to happen by air into the Sahtu. That came with costs. It came obviously with some uncertainty right in and around the Christmas period. We were able to get resupplied, and then started into the winter road season. We widened the winter road, had increased patrols on the winter road, had increased...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our Department of Infrastructure does work quite closely with the Arctic Energy Alliance. On this particular area, though, right now in terms of subsidies for wood pellets and, indeed, subsidies for quite a number of energy efficiency programs, this is right now unfunded. This was one of the areas where the federal low carbon economy leadership fund was reduced rather significantly and took a significant hit on our budget in this space. So we are actively asking the federal government what they're going to be doing to bring that back and recapitalize it. We'll get that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we can always do more. There's always room to improve. There's no doubt about that. And quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, the last five years have had a lot of crises and a lot of difficult times and a lot has been asked for the public service in the last five years. So learning through those processes and managing those changes and managing them into the future, absolutely, we can continue to improve. And, again, whether that's through doing the development training that is already on offer, that includes change management, whether that's in terms of our own...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, there are specialists in change management within the GNWT. Their roles though more typically would be in terms of developing the programs that we have. For example, there's a change management senior advisor within executive and indigenous affairs that's helping to lead some of the whole of government work that is underway within this government around being strength-based and trauma-informed and trying to manage that type of cultural change within government.

That said, Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member's question. It's about assessing effectiveness. That...

Mr. Speaker, if the residents of the Sahtu are facing fuel bills that result in them being unable to fill their fuel tanks even as they're working full-time, that is going to be a crisis. It's going to be a crisis the minute somebody can't fill their fuel bills, something like their house fuel is up -- or freezes up. They're literally people are unable to stay in their homes. So, yes, I mean, in that sense, Mr. Speaker, it absolutely is a crisis. It's how we respond, how quickly we can respond, and doing so in a way that actually allows people to continue to live, work, reside, be in the Sahtu...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate creative solutions. So I certainly can say as I, you know, indicated or implied in my last response, the Member for the Sahtu, myself, and other Members of Cabinet met with federal officials last week in Ottawa to address this very issue. Multiple departments were represented from the federal government, putting to them that we're going to need some supports that given this crisis, the impact that it's having across government, given the impacts of low water across government on a number of fronts, we are stretched. But we've put this...