Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions this time are for the Minister of Infrastructure.
Does this government plan to move ahead with applications around the Slave Geological Province Road that could trigger an environmental assessment even while a regional study is underway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first and foremost we are working very closely with Indigenous governments on any routing decisions that might someday be made in the future, including the Tlicho government who did trigger the request for the regional strategic environmental assessment. At this point, we're at a stage going out this summer to do some field work analysis, some early field work analysis but, again, Mr. Speaker, I do want to emphasize no final decisions on routing are going to be made without Indigenous consultation, and the GNWT does continue to participate in the regional strategic environmental assessment. We had certainly hoped that had that moved a little faster that they'd be in a position to actually take that information and contribute. Don't have a lot of control over how fast the federal government can get that going. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So does the Minister have a sense, then, on how fast this government plans to move on the Slave Geological Province Road?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do, as of December, have a type A land use permit that was issued to us, and with that's just going as far as going up to Lockhart Lake. Now with that, it is hoped that we could spend this summer beginning some field work assessments, and again ultimately had been hoping that more would be happening with the regional strategic environmental assessment. I can say, Mr. Speaker, we have funding right now, federal funding, that goes until 2028. So that puts a bit of a time crunch on us to advance what has been often spoke of as one of the critical infrastructure projects for the Northwest Territories and one about which the Tlicho government has been very vocal to me in asking how fast and when we can get this moving. So ideally, Mr. Speaker, we are finding a path forward by which the work on in the Slave Geologic Region can contribute to or be contributed to by what's happening with the strategic environmental assessment but the timing of that is somewhat out of our hands. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister of Infrastructure understand that triggering a separate environmental assessment could cause a lot of duplications with what would already be underway with the regional study? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, it's certainly again it's certainly, I think, our hope, my hope, you know shared hope on this end, that that's not going to be the case. As I indicated, we had been initially hoping that the strategic the regional strategic environmental assessment would get moving a little faster than it has. Had that been the case, the timing of that work would well would have contributed well to the timing that we were expecting in advance of the 2028 end of funding for us. So, again, it's been a couple of years. We've had a lot of progress over on the RSEA front despite interests. So if that is the case, we may be in a situation where the work we do contributes to the strategic environmental assessment as opposed to the other way around. There's no lack of understanding that there will certainly be areas of overlap in terms of what needs to get studied and what should be studied. And so knowing that it would hopefully mean that the two contribute one to the other. Thank you.
Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister indicate any levers that we have to influence or control the timing of the regional environmental assessment to ensure that it proceeds at an appropriate pace? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories does participate. We are a participant in the process. I happen to have been in obviously in the past government, and so saw as that work was getting underway and was present at bilateral discussions with the Tlicho government when the two projects were discussed and where the desire to move forward with both was discussed. So as a partner, we can certainly engage with the others involved and see if there's a way to ensure as partners, as one participant, but just to ensure that everyone knows that there's these two parts going on. I believe that that's true. I will follow up certainly with my department, with my colleagues, to make sure that that remains true on our side and that other parties are alive to the different timelines as they go forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
