Mr. Speaker, following up on my statement here earlier today, my questions are to the Minister of Finance. I feel we have discussed this situation at length and are now comfortable to address for Norman Wells' high, high cost of living and fuel.
My first question: Will the Minister of Finance agree to cover the air fuel transportation costs to Norman Wells? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, I do want to acknowledge we've had a lot of conversations, and I'm grateful for the MLA from the Sahtu. He is in our ears all the time, and it brings the reality of the people on the ground to what can sometimes seem far away when you're not in the moment of it, brought that voice to Ottawa last week as well. And I'm grateful that he was there to do that.
Mr. Speaker, the fuel resupply to the Sahtu is through Imperial Oil. The fuel services division supplies the other Sahtu communities. So figuring out exactly whether we use public dollars to subsidize Imperial Oil's delivery of fuel is a tricky question. Am I to pay the contractor on the ground or Imperial Oil? Or how exactly are we to determine what they are doing and ensuring that there is no profits being made off of that if we're using public dollars. So I have committed to the Member, and I'm going to continue to say that here, we need to find some solutions. The potential impacts to residents, to the government, to services, to this community are too great to not find a solution. I just don't have that solution here today beyond some of the programs that have already been put out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to our Minister for that reply. With her legal background, I'm quite somewhat comfortable on the word "commitment".
My second question to the Minister of Finance also is will the Minister support a codeveloped draft agreement to pay vendors in sponsorship with the town of Norman Wells? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate creative solutions. So I certainly can say as I, you know, indicated or implied in my last response, the Member for the Sahtu, myself, and other Members of Cabinet met with federal officials last week in Ottawa to address this very issue. Multiple departments were represented from the federal government, putting to them that we're going to need some supports that given this crisis, the impact that it's having across government, given the impacts of low water across government on a number of fronts, we are stretched. But we've put this to a large number of those departments. They are actively working to it. They've responded already today with some information to acknowledge and summarize where they're at, and we've also had some conversations with Imperial Oil. As I've said, this is their resupply. They did not get all their fuel in over the winter road. Obviously, it's a bit unexpected to have no barges go in, but certainly fuel services was able to get all of our fuel in. So I'm looking for exactly the kind of solution the Member's mentioning, something that we can, you know, look to the private sector and ask them what they're prepared to contribute to this community that they've been in for 40 years and also recognizing that government does play a role in terms of filling gaps but noting that it's public dollars, and we want to be making sure that we're using those public dollars effectively and to support the community and the residents there. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that response. Here I'm feeling more and more satisfied and comfortable however I can't really say that for the many people out there in the community.
My third question to the same Minister is the Minister exhausting all possibilities for a cost shared model with the Government of Canada and Imperial Oil themself? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And that certainly flows well. I'd like to say that we are -- I'm cognizant of us saying we're working on something and us committing to finding a solution doesn't fill the fuel tank of anyone in the Sahtu this week. I'm conscious of that, Mr. Speaker. I believe we are. As I've said, I've spoken with Imperial Oil myself and Minister Cleveland just this morning. We've spoken with Members in the federal public service. A variety of departments are involved. We have follow-ups happening at our department levels. So I do believe that we are pushing this issue. It came upon a little faster than perhaps we were expecting in terms of the timing of when Imperial has decided to start to fly in fuel, which is resulting in the higher costs. So we need to action this quickly. I appreciate the Member's diligence on this. I do want to, again, reiterate that we recognize that something's going to have to be done and we want to work with the Member and the communities to find some solutions. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question to the Minister here, and I feel this is a very large, multimillion-dollar situation, and I don't feel comfortable in asking four questions on behalf of the Sahtu, but I'm going to ask my last one with some extra reserves for tomorrow. Will the Minister agree that this is a crisis emergency situation? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, if the residents of the Sahtu are facing fuel bills that result in them being unable to fill their fuel tanks even as they're working full-time, that is going to be a crisis. It's going to be a crisis the minute somebody can't fill their fuel bills, something like their house fuel is up -- or freezes up. They're literally people are unable to stay in their homes. So, yes, I mean, in that sense, Mr. Speaker, it absolutely is a crisis. It's how we respond, how quickly we can respond, and doing so in a way that actually allows people to continue to live, work, reside, be in the Sahtu. Mr. Speaker, we need to find some short-term capacity solutions to make sure that the programs that we have already, seniors home heating subsidies, income assistance programs, the relief program for barges for the barge resupplies that have been put in place, that those are working. Let's see if they can work even better. Let's see what's going to come of that as these fuel prices are coming in. And if they're not, well, Mr. Speaker, then it's a crisis for that community and the government's role here is to make sure that we can be there to support them. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
