Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure about her recent trip to the US Embassy. Can the Minister tell us the purpose of this meeting and who else was there? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Mr. Speaker, on May the 4th, I attended a meeting hosted by the US Commercial Service of the Embassy of the United States of America. I was joined by two officials from the Department of Infrastructure and one official from the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, who was already in Ottawa. The purpose of the meeting was a briefing by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association on the development of a road and a port in western Nunavut. While I don't recall seeing the final attendee list, in attendance there were representatives from the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, the government of Nunavut including the Premier, the Deputy Premier, and the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation, MP Lori Idlout from Nunavut was also there, Senator Dennis Patterson from Nunavut, along with officials from a variety of Government of Canada departments, as well as the representatives from the US Embassy, US Coast Guard, as well as Price Waterhouse Coopers Limited Canada, Jacobs Engineering limited. Mr. Speaker, these are the list of attendees that I recall being at the meeting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Wow, that sounds like quite the meeting. These large boondoggle infrastructure projects with dubious northern benefits come and go but take away from what should be serious efforts to diversify our economy. So can the Minister tell us what the interest of the United States is in hosting such a meeting and was there any discussion of alternatives to large infrastructure development? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, this meeting was a briefing by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association specific to the development of a road and port in western Nunavut. The concept of a deep water port and allseason road project in western Nunavut, it's not new, has potential to help transform the economy from the North as well as connect to the national transportation system through Yellowknife, also help bridge the current infrastructure gap here in the Arctic. Such infrastructure, Mr. Speaker, would help advance interests of both Canada and the US, including the domestic supply of critical metals, Arctic sovereignty, Arctic security. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Of course, these projects also have the potential to destroy the Bathurst caribou herd. So I'm well on record as opposing any large infrastructure that will have irreversible effects on the Bathurst caribou herd, especially at a time when the numbers are critically low and without a balanced management response, and that's precisely where we are, Mr. Speaker, because there's been no efforts towards permanent protection of key habitat.
So can the Minister tell us whether there was any discussion of the impacts to caribou or other environmental matters during this recent meeting? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the presentations that was put on by KIA and the Nunavut representatives was more of a high overview of some of the local, regional, national, international, benefits of such a project like this. While there's no clear recognition on the importance of caribou in the environment and doing things right I'm sorry, there was a clear and let me just take that back, Mr. Speaker.
There was very clear recognition on the importance of caribou and the environment and doing things right. But this meeting didn't go into any of the level of detail regarding more of the impacts on caribou. It was more of the specific engineering and environmental considerations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, people on our side tend to be more concerned with caribou because where the people on this side of the boundary are the ones that actually tend to use them more often. But I mentioned in my statement that I love Cabin Radio because it so often scoops any effort by our Cabinet to communicate with the public and Regular MLAs, and this meeting at the US Embassy is just one more example. So can the Minister explain why there was no communication with Regular MLAs about this event before or after this meeting? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I note that my attendance at this meeting was through the publicly by the press secretary through our weekly ministerial activities notice. That's where I provided notice, Mr. Speaker, that I will be attending this meeting. The government has established the advancement of the Slave Geological Province Corridor project as one of our three major strategic initiatives in our mandate, as there are potential linkages to these Slave Geological Province Corridor Project, and any potential for an allseason road and a deep water port in the western Nunavut. So attendance at the meeting at a political level in this regard is nothing out of the ordinary, Mr. Speaker, within the scope of my mandate as the Minister of Infrastructure. That said, I hear a distinct interest from the Member on this meeting in particular. Mr. Speaker, I'd be happy to share a copy of the presentation, any of the materials that we have, to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
