Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that this is a pretty major undertaking to lay out this type of investment, but more importantly to stimulate our economy at this time. I think it’s important, especially for the region I represent, with the downturn of what we are seeing in the oil and gas sector and no real outlook on where we are going with the pipeline, I think we have to realize the importance of this type of funding. In that comment, I would like to make mention that we not lose sight of initiatives that other communities have had and the challenges communities are facing to just deal with the infrastructure capacity that they have, but more important the capacity they are going to need to offset the high costs going forward regarding community infrastructure. I think we have to focus on trying to find ways to work with those communities, help them with their capacity challenges regardless of if it’s project management, technical support, more importantly finding ways to reduce the cost of O and M for those communities and especially using those infrastructure dollars to look at ways that we can reduce those costs by way of biomass, residual heat, ways of reducing the operational costs of all outdated facilities, especially capital transfers that took place to communities. A lot of these facilities are well up there in age, 25 to 35 years old, and they will have to be replaced or major retrofits done to improve the operational costs of those facilities. For example, water treatment plants and public facilities such as garages, warehouses that communities manage under the transfer arrangements with this government.
Again, I think it’s important that we continue these type of investments, but not lose sight that there are communities out there that haven’t concluded their assessments by way of their infrastructure needs and looking at the energy. Those are studies that have to be completed under the access to the gas tax.
Again, I think it’s important also for this government to realize that there have been motions passed in this Legislature for such things as community access roads to gravel sources, the challenges we face in small communities of not having access to gravel and the effect it has on community development.
I think it’s important that we as a government and a Legislature look to find ways to work with those
communities, but more importantly to take advantage of these capital investments and ensure those capital investments are there for the communities that have challenges to their community infrastructure and having access to a gravel source that can provide them with the building materials they’re going to need to shore up a lot of these buildings. In light of climate change and the effects we’re seeing of coastal erosion, permafrost melting, and the effects it has on public infrastructure, whether it’s building infrastructure, highway infrastructure, or airports, I think it’s something that we cannot lose sight of. We’re not immune. If anything, we’re the most impacted by what’s happening in our environment.
I think it’s important that we do whatever we can to fulfill those commitments we made in the 16th Assembly to connect communities, to improving community infrastructure, and to commitments we’ve made by motions in this House and carry out those commitments through capital investment.
I’ll just make reference to the Aklavik road access project. The community is working on that and trying to get some movement on it. They’ve done a plan in regard to looking at ways of taking it to the second phase, which will look at the engineering design and geotechnical work that has been done, not realizing that if this federal infrastructure runs out in the next two years they may not have access to these resources. I want to get some assurances from this government that there will be dollars available to communities to complete these projects and, more importantly, for those communities that still haven’t come forward with their capital infrastructure needs because of lack of resources or lack of capacity in our communities to take it on. Communities are struggling dealing with just the basics of programs and services dealing with infrastructure challenges from personnel, whether it’s SAOs, financial officers, and now we’re asking them to take on the technical responsibility of developing plans to bring forward and identify the infrastructure that they’re going to need. I believe that challenge still has to be with the Department of Public Works and Services, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, and with communities to ensure we assist all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories.
I’d like to ask the Minister regarding this budget if he can give me some assurances that those communities will not lose out on this type of activity going forward and that they are not left behind because they have to do more planning or require more technical information to come up with their capital investment.