Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I apologize to our amazing interpreters and I try and move slow today.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I presented the AOC response to the 2024-2025 GNWT budget. These are the items that we generally agreed up and support, and I am proud of the work committee done and the work the committee put in to create this document, Mr. Speaker. But make no mistake, there are areas that I am concerned about that are specific to my region and that may not have been in that document, and I want to present those today, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, several years ago, between 2011 and 2017 to be more precise, we missed the boat on a major gas development opportunity. We had an Indigenous-led pipeline group that were forced to sit helplessly as the regulatory regime slowly choked the life out of what could have been a monumental game changing project for our territory. Of course, I am speaking about the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Project led by the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. Maybe we could have been a have-territory. Communities along that pipeline route missed incredible business opportunities, employment opportunities, and tourism opportunities. The Mackenzie Valley Highway may have opened, underway, if not completed by now, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, as robust industry, as we know, could have provided a huge benefit to our underfunded NGOs. Anyone who has worked or volunteered for any of our many NGOs can attest to the fact that when industry is thriving, they are better equipped to support and provide that important funding source.
Mr. Speaker, in April of 2021, the Government of the Northwest Territories completed a report entitled Mackenzie Delta Liquified Natural Gas, or MDLNG, Project. In this report, it studied the up to 19 trillion cubic metres of natural gas in the Mackenzie Delta that could be developed for export that would provide economic benefits to the Inuvialuit settlement region, NWT, and Canada. In short, the MDLNG Report stated that project is technically feasible. Natural gas production facilities and associated pipelines have been operating safely in Arctic climates such as Alaska and Russia for over forty years, Mr. Speaker. Russia has shipped LNG in Arctic waters since 2017 using LNG and condensate icebreaking carriers. The icebreaking carrier technology proposed in this pre-feasibility study is based on Russia's operating experience. Mr. Speaker, these are the kind of projects that change the direction of a territory, but I have heard very little about this report since, and I am hopeful that will change in this Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, we have budgeted $26 million for renewable energy initiatives, and I support that, its important work. I understand that there is a need to move to cleaner energy solutions. But as a territory, are we prepared to rely solely on wind, sun, battery, and other forms of cleaner energy? We have many communities, Mr. Speaker, that are currently 100 percent reliant on diesel. And logistically and cost wise, would developing our own cleaner-burning natural gas not make more sense, Mr. Speaker? Imagine how many social, health, and housing programs we could fund if we were able to take full advantage of our natural resource development. Mr. Speaker, yet we remain resource rich and cash poor.
As for program development, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak once again to the issue of drugs and drug addiction. Our communities are being devastated, and my community of lnuvik has an ongoing drug and addiction crisis. It's destroying families, our workforce, and our future. I am glad to see in the Justice portion of the budget they were increasing our policing and giving more tools to our law enforcement. It's a great start. But, Mr. Speaker, we must also focus on helping our residents get healthy again. Simply sending people out for treatment is not enough. We must have aftercare facilities in our regions so that when people complete that portion of their healing journey, they have the support they need when they return. A fully funded aftercare program in Inuvik is a must, Mr. Speaker, to serve the Beaufort Delta region.
Mr. Speaker, this Premier and government appear to be taking working with our Indigenous government partners seriously, and for my community that's great and that will be a welcome change, Mr. Speaker. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and Gwich'in Tribal Council are once again leading the way in my region. They are not just developing homes, but subdivisions. They are setting up wellness facilities to assist those dealing with trauma, they're building community infrastructure to protect our most vulnerable, and driving the economy with gas projects that will create employment and curtail the high costs of living. They are doing this with or without GNWT, Mr. Speaker, and we need to ensure we are shoulder to shoulder on all projects where we can contribute and increase the scope of these projects and find agreed redundancies where possible, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier this week in my Member's statement the need to think outside the box regarding our MTS barging operation. Logistically, is it time to look at locating a significant portion of our MTS operations in a more northern region of our territory? Mr. Speaker, the base of operations in Inuvik or Tuk could service upriver to Fort Good Hope and of course the communities in the Beaufort Delta region. We can't anticipate the issues with water levels going away anytime soon so we must be proactive in ensuring we are prepared. As I also stated earlier this week, Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that as part of this review, an analysis will be completed on the merits of privatizing this essential service.
Mr. Speaker, Inuvik has a world class satellite receiving station. The Inuvik Satellite Station facility has had millions of dollars poured into it with still more to come. We have antennas up there, Mr. Speaker, from the French space agency, the Swedish space agency, the German space agency, and of course NRCAN - our own Canadian space agency. And there's a significant amount of work going on up there, and Mr. Speaker, I like to call it a hidden gem in our territory. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, the redundancy in our fibre line will be a key component of continued growth of this sector. A full redundancy line, Mr. Speaker, that ensures any issues with the infrastructure interruptions can be mitigated.
The Inuvik runway expansion may be just the tip of the iceberg, Mr. Speaker, for potential defense spending in our region, and we must be prepared. Regrettably, Mr. Speaker, our government does not seem to be equipped to have a strategy on defense, space, and new technology. Again, I hope to see that change in this Assembly.
Our economy must be key, Mr. Speaker. My fear is with no meaningful economic growth in any sector other than government, much of our talent will leave or has already left. We must streamline our regulatory regime so that international business does not look at us as a place with too much regulatory burden that require too much time and the costs that come with that time, Mr. Speaker. Any economic plans that we produce must be much less about statistical overviews and more about strategic roadmaps to prosperity. We must attract investment in our natural resources and work with our Indigenous partners in that effort to create these roadmaps together.
Mr. Speaker, imagine all the wellness and housing projects we could fund together, the jobs we could create for our residents, the influx of others wanting to move to our amazing territory to work in these industries, bringing with them spouses and partners that may be nurses or teachers and doctors, early child care workers, and many other professionals that we so desperately need, Mr. Speaker. Imagine, Mr. Speaker, what we could do if we were not resource rich and cash poor.
Mr. Speaker, we are going to sit here over the next couple of weeks and we are going to fight and we're gonna squabble over the few pennies that we have to work with. We're eventually going to pass this budget, and then we will continue to sit here and we'll fight and we'll ask Ministers to direct money to our ridings, and we will ask for supplements to get those items in the budget for our ridings and then come budget time in the fall, we're going to ask them why they brought those supplements forward. And we've seen it all before, Mr. Speaker. Some people in this House have experienced it before, Mr. Speaker. It's a cycle, and we must find a way - each government, previous government to this one, the previous government to that one, have done same thing. We have to dig deep. We dig deep to think outside the box and do things differently.
It's not easy, Mr. Speaker, but I do have faith in this group. I have faith in the group on this side of the House and I have faith in our Cabinet Members as well, Mr. Speaker, that by the end of this government we could have a new path, a path to prosperity that will restore hope in our residents and maximize the potential we all know this amazing territory has. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
