Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Infrastructure to my statement earlier. After MTS barge cancellations in 2018 and 2022, the GNWT organized an airlift for affected communities. My first question there, Mr. Speaker, has the Minister looked into this option for the Sahtu region? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from Sahtu. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you it was just under $2 million for the airlift up into the high Arctic communities. The situation was a little bit different in terms of timing, in terms of where we were at in the season, and mitigation measures that we were attempting to put into place. That was the situation where it was quite late in the season, and there was very little ability for anyone to mitigate. Conversely, in this situation, what we have the opportunity to do, myself and Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment, and our teams, is to work directly with the communities identify where, in fact, people were not able to mitigate, where the various businesses were not able to mitigate. I know those meetings have taken place with officials already as of last week to identify where the needs are going to be, who was or was not able to otherwise manage their cargo, given the notices that we were sending out early, and with that information we'll be able to come up with a response that is appropriately dealing with the situation at hand and not necessarily relying only on what would have happened a few years ago, but being responsive to the realities on the ground in the Sahtu. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information. My next question, can the Minister commit her department to organize an airlift at pay-for-service-fee to the Sahtu for 2024 season? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is exactly part of the conversation that's being had with officials, again both in ITI and Infrastructure right now, and the purpose of the conversation is to sort out what businesses, what entities had the opportunity to take on insurance. I know MTS was pushing the importance of having insurance to help support in the event that there was a low water level and a reduction in barge service being unfortunately the situation of having now no barge service. You know, who had that opportunity, who maybe made choices not to take on the opportunity, what impacts are there to residents who might be, you know, once removed from the parties who were, in fact, they were relying on. So sorting some of that out, we want to ensure that if there's going to be subsidies using public dollars, that we're doing that in a way that actually identifies need and that actually is appropriate and equitable to those who, in fact, need it as compared to others who might not need it or who have made choices as a result of the situation. So, again, it's not a no, Mr. Speaker. It's a question of wanting to ensure that we put public dollars in a way that actually supports those who are going to need it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information. Moving on, I'm glad to hear that this Minister is making comments or statements to the previous Minister on Friday that we're taking an all-of-government approach. It really is a collective one to address this issue, and a major one. Can the Minister provide a subsidy to ensure the air cargo rate does not exceed above 60 cents per pound as proposed by the air barge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, I appreciate the Member's being not only a strong advocate but has actually been an important liaison for information and coordination on this issue going back as early as the winter when we were dealing with winter resupply.
Mr. Speaker, there's a few different things going on. For one, Norman Wells does not have the same fuel resources or (audio) sources. They are supplied by the private sector. Whereas, Deline and Tulita are supplied through the fuel services division of the Department of Infrastructure. There's private sector usage, private sector businesses, and then residents who might be relying on them.
So I am conscious, and I know my colleague is as well of the urgency of the matter. We just want to make sure that if we're going to use public dollars that we're doing that in a way that actually responds to the needs of residents and businesses who are unable to mitigate, who don't have any other alternatives, and who, in fact, have the need. I can say there are sufficient fuel levels in the communities that are resupplied by fuel services division that will get through to the winter resupply. And so, again, we want to make sure that if we're using public dollars, we're putting them to the places where they are, in fact, needed now. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Moving on to my last question, the ultimate solution for all this, as we previously mentioned and we all agree, is our all-season road. But in the meantime, we got to stay alive.
My last question here, can the Minister implement a fuel subsidy to mitigate the high costs of diesel and jet fuel in the Sahtu communities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I didn't mean to get ahead of myself, or perhaps ahead of the Member, but there are different fuel service circumstances pertaining to different communities in the Sahtu obviously. Deline and Tulita, as I said, those right now are being supplied through fuel services division of the Department of Infrastructure. Norman Wells is coordinated by the private sector. So Imperial Oil, I can say early on we're wanting to put them on alert and notice that we had some concerns around the water levels. I'm not sure what strategies they may or may not be employing. Obviously, Imperial Oil has fairly significant resources available to it in order to supply their customers whereas fuel services division on this winter resupply did take an effort to ensure we had sufficient supplies to the winter road knowing that we were likely facing a low water season even without the situation we are in now. So if, in fact, the fuel subsidy is what's going to be the best way to support residents and businesses or whether some other sorts of rate subsidy or some other sort of cargo subsidy, that is an active conversation between both our departments and the regional governments and regional businesses. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
