Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On October 9, 2015, right after the federal election, Prime Minister Trudeau wrote a letter to our Premier. I would like to ask some questions of the Premier on that letter. In the letter, it indicated that the northern residents tax deduction that was announced and was part of the campaign was going to be something coming into effect and increase in the northern residents tax deduction. I would like to ask the Premier if he knows when that comes into effect. Thank you.
Masi. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did meet with Prime Minister Trudeau about a week ago, and I raised the matter of the cost of living and he reconfirmed that he had committed to doing something about it, specifically, the northern residents tax deduction. He did not specify a timeframe or timeline, but we all know that Minister the federal Minister of Finance has committed to filing his first budget in March, and we will wait and see if it makes that first budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Also, in that letter, the Prime Minister wrote about Nutrition North Canada and about increasing that program by $40 million. I would like to ask the Premier if we have any indication of which communities in the NWT would be positively impacted by that program. Thank you.
Minister Carolyn Bennett, the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, did come to the Northwest Territories in January. I forget the exact date, but she did travel to Norman Wells to talk specifically about Nutrition North, since Norman Wells is one of the communities that is covered under Indigenous North, and she did consult with the affected people.
There is no indication of when this will come into effect, but she has certainly indicated the government is prepared to move on it fairly quickly, and again, the way governments work, I don't expect there will be any indication one way or the other until the first budget of the Government of Canada is delivered towards the ends of March.
: The Prime Minister wrote about doubling infrastructure investment in the country from $65 billion to $125 billion. That’s over ten years. Do we have any indication at all about how the money is going to be divided, or if we know what our share of the $125 billion infrastructure spending would be?
In his letter, he indicated for the first two years, they would double the infrastructure funding budget that was billed in Canada. That is a question of interest to all the provinces and territories. We have met with Minister Morneau, the federal Finance Minister, where we raised and discussed infrastructure funding. I did talk to the Prime Minister about social infrastructure, green infrastructure, and also the Building Canada Fund. He has indicated that he recognizes the importance of those infrastructure funds. I indicated to him that as a small territory, obviously, our preference is base plus funding as opposed to per capita funding as has been reported in some of the media reports.
He indicated that he understood the situation. The Minister of Finance, when pressed, indicated that they wouldn't be finalizing or rolling out their infrastructure program until June or July. Certainly, as a government, we are working very hard to reconfirm our Building Canada projects that we submitted before the election.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister indicated that they would be moving to a faster approval process for Building Canada Fund, as the Premier just mentioned. When will this faster process occur? Because what I am seeing is even from what has been approved by the last government, the bundles that I questioned the transportation minister on before, seems to be slowed down from what the original intent of those bundles were. Does the Premier have any indication of when the faster approval process will occur? Thank you.
We have reached out to the federal government, both through our Minister with lead responsibility for Infrastructure and also Minister of Transportation. We have had some mixed signals, but we are taking steps to reconfirm our bundles. Bundle number two, as the Member knows, was submitted before the federal election. We are reconfirming very soon bundle number two, which is in the neighbourhood of $100 million, but the Prime Minister himself has indicated that there is still $185 million allocated for the Northwest Territories that he has said would be going out.
We have had the Member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories also following up on infrastructure to clear up some of these mixed messages. We have been talking to the federal Minister responsible for infrastructure, so we are taking steps to make sure the money starts flowing as soon as possible, and also to reconfirm what our assets are.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
