Denny Rodgers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you've heard me speak in this House regarding the Inuvik satellite station facility, an important piece of the economy viability in Inuvik and certainly, Mr. Speaker, was the anchor tenant for the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Line, which I appreciate this previous government had completed. Mr. Speaker, now there's a redundancy line being built through the Dempster Highway and through Whitehorse and over through Fort Nelson as well to ensure that we do have a redundancy loop for any breakages or any lapses in that line that's important to this facility.

Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, just briefly -- and I'm assuming maybe following up on my colleague's question -- I notice that the seasonal positions in the Beaufort Delta dropped by three coming up in this year. Can the Minister speak to why we're no longer required to have those positions in Inuvik? Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. It's unfortunate certainly given that likely anything we do with petroleum, particularly around obviously as this House has heard me say, around the trillions of cubic feet of natural gas we have in our region, the fact that we have a natural gas production facility getting ready to come on stream in the next couple of years in our region, certainly would be great if we felt that ITI had beefed up the staff in that region as well to coincide with this work being done and hopefully to look at work that's going to be done in the future as this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just to clarify, because I know there was no reduction of full-time positions in the Beaufort Delta region, so I guess that obviously was likely amalgamated in the previous year, and did that result in a reduction of a position at ITI in Inuvik, or is that position still -- the manager's position is now filling that role?

I guess -- thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess specifically, I mean, I know a lot of research is being done around permafrost degradation in my region around the -- as the Minister said, around the geoscience, around the knowledge economy, and around the mineral and petroleum potential in that region, particularly around the petroleum potential. So I guess my question is does the Minister feel that that will have a negative impact on the amount of research programs now happening -- ability for research programs to happen at the Aurora research institute, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my question's around the Great Northern Arts Festival. I know the Minister knows how important this festival is to the community of Inuvik and to the Northwest Territories. I note that I believe the answer is that the funding was deferred, but I just wanted to get -- sorry, moved to another department. I just wanted to get that on record, Mr. Chair, that the $25,000 for the Great Northern Arts Festival is still available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the committee wishes to consider Minister's Statement 4-20(1), Minister's Statement 5-20(1), Minister's Statement 17-20(1), Minister's Statement 24-20(1), as well, Mr. Chair, the committee would like to consider Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2024-2025, and Tabled Document 93-20(1), 2024-2025 Main Estimates, Departments of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Housing Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I ask that question, of course, because it's my understanding that the federal funding was provided for the Whitehorse to Dawson portion of that line. I'm wondering if that line, then, would be owned by NorthwesTel.

Mr. Speaker, one final question, part of this proposal obviously was having redundancy and fibre into the community of Tuktoyaktuk too along the new Inuvik to Tuk highway. Can the Minister speak to the ongoing work on getting that line in as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure or Finance, I'm not sure. It's the same person, so she'll figure it out I'm sure.

On the fibre line, Mr. Speaker, I spoke to, can the Minister tell me if there has been any consideration given to the redundancy beyond Fort Nelson and is it too late, I guess, to relook at that agreement between the GNWT, Yukon government, and NorthwesTel. Thank you.

That's fine, Mr. Chair. Thank you.