Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Rambo may very well be the most famous dog in this House.
Mr. Speaker, last year the projected cost of the Giant Mine cleanup jumped from 1 to $4.38 billion. While this project is being overseen by the federal government, the GNWT is still a coproponent. It is still in our back yard and it still carries with it high expectations for NWT benefit retention.
Remediating the mine involves things like building a water treatment plant, filling pits, taking down buildings, and containing arsenic dust underground. Accomplishing this will put high demand on industries like waste disposal, construction, mining services, scientific services, transportation logistics, accommodation and food services, and medical services; industries that, to some extent, exist here in the NWT already. But today the demand on these industries is already high so for large contracts, local companies need time to prepare.
The Giant Mine Remediation Project reports that Northerners work roughly 45 percent of the total labour hours worked and Indigenous employees work 21 percent. This is shy of 55 to 70 percent for targeted work hours for Northerners and the 25 to 30 percent for Indigenous workers.
Mr. Speaker, these targets aren't high enough, but we aren't even meeting them to begin with. This project needs ambitious goals, paired with proactive benefit retention and this doesn't require big dollar investments maybe just a little more effort and certainty.
The oversight board estimates the remediation project will spend around $240 million annually in the next 15 years. That's a huge investment into our economy, and northern businesses need information to be ready to bid on this work. Currently, the project's annual budgets provide an idea of work categories and timing, but this information isn't detailed enough to determine the size, scale, and scope of work potentially being tendered. This month is a great example.
Right now, the federal government is accepting bids on a water treatment plant that was originally intended to be tendered next year. Once the bid came out, it became clear the size and scope of the project was much larger than expected by some proponents. The uncertainty in details and change in timing means local proponents may not be able to prepare and participate.
Building the capacity for benefit retention needs certainty and that certainty comes from information sharing between governments and the industry that it ultimately wants to participate.
Mr. Speaker, we only get one shot at benefit retention from Giant Mine remediation. We can't afford to fail. We need jobs, we need apprenticeships, and as a mineralrich territory we need to grow our remediation economy but the key to this is information. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
