Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to recognize two pages that are selected from my riding, Sambaa K'e, Charles Tetcho School, the two students that were working as pages during this week. The two pages are Jada Lamalice and Atanda Kotchea and Norma Jumbo is the chaperone. So I thank them and welcome them to the Legislative Assembly. Thank you.

Masi. Item 5, recognition of visitors in gallery. If we missed those, anyone in the gallery, welcome to the Assembly. It's always nice to have a great audience in the gallery. Masi. Item 6, acknowledgments. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the passing of my great friend and mentor Ruth Spence. Mrs. Spence was a force to be reckoned with from the time she arrived in Yellowknife. She was the first Executive Director of the YWCA in Yellowknife. She built the Y from a 12-bed home for single women to the 84 apartments at Northern United Place. Mrs. Spence served several terms on the Yellowknife City Council, was chair of the Stanton Territorial Hospital, and the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. She was honoured with one of the first Orders of the NWT last year. She lived the famous saying of another great Canadian woman, Agnes MacPhail: "Never apologize, never explain, just get the thing done and let them howl."

Masi. Our condolences to the family as well from the House. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Masi. Minister of Transportation.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I have had a number of discussions with the department on the Community Access Road Program, mostly around funding applications and where certain applications are at, but I have never had the discussion about increasing funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Member statement, there are more applications than there is budget in the program. Although there has been discussion but none on increases as the Minister indicated, has the Minister had any sort of discussions with his colleagues at Cabinet and specifically the Minister of Finance to increase this budget for the community access road program?

No, I have not had this discussion with my Cabinet colleagues or the Finance Minister. The discussions we have had are how do we live within the fiscal means that we have based on revenues that we have and expenditures. That is the only discussions I have had around money.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is obvious from this answer, but I will ask the Minister anyway, if the Minister recognizes the positive impacts of community-based spending in the NWT for the entire NWT?

Of course we recognize the positive impacts that this money has in the communities. This fund actually increases seasonal employment in many communities in the Northwest Territories as well as helps with project management and helps these communities look at some of these projects moving forward. We do recognize the positive impacts they have and that is some of the reasons why we are going through our fiscal policies we are promoting for this next fiscal budget so we can have money to invest in some of these small community initiatives.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

The Minister hasn’t had discussions with colleague Members or the department. However, I would like to ask the Minister if he can commit to taking a serious look at increasing community access road program through forced growth if necessary or a new initiative or any other method that the Minister may have in his repertoire?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can commit to having a look at how we can increase this, but as I said, looking at our fiscal situation that we are in, light of the next budget cycle year, we can have a look at how we do it. It doesn’t meet the definition of forced growth, so I can’t use that to increase it. But it would take all 19 Members of the Assembly to help straighten out our fiscal situation where we can, like I say, put money into small communities in this type of initiative.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for recognizing me here. We heard in the news that the federal government has put the Mackenzie Valley project on the backburner. Can the Minister please explain why we have to hear about this in the news and not through the normal process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department drafted a letter to inform the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure of the federal government’s decision to temporarily suspend the Mackenzie Valley Highway funding proposal. Unfortunately, the correspondence was delayed to Committee. I appreciate the importance of keeping Members informed on decisions around the federal infrastructure funding and have taken steps to ensure decisions are communicated in a timely manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess we are going to have to work on our mail service here in the Legislative Assembly so that we can actually get these documents on time instead of through the news. Can the Minister confirm if the federal government has not put this just on hold or the backburner and when did he find out if it has been put there?

The federal government has informed us that the review of the Mackenzie Valley Highway project proposal under the new Building Canada Fund national infrastructure component has been temporarily suspended until the federal government makes a decision on phase two of the capital infrastructure money, their long-term plan. Phase two planning fund is expected to be announced early next year in communicating the temporary suspension of the Mackenzie Valley Highway project. The federal government indicated the desire to align such project with the Minister of Infrastructure and communities’ mandate, which includes strategic projects such as transportation corridors, ports, borders, gateways, etc. The Mackenzie Valley Highway project, as the House knows, is a key strategic transportation corridor, and we have reminded Minister Sohi of the importance of this project as well as other priority transportation corridors in Northwest Territories.

I thank the Minister for his answer. I am thankful he is actually promoting this. Can the Minister please say what type of promotion, besides just talking to him? Has there been a business study that they have presented to him or anything like that?

One of the priority actions outlined in the mandate of the Assembly is to capture opportunities to invest in transportation and infrastructure by working to secure funding to advance the Mackenzie Valley highway, the all-weather road to Whati, and to improve access to the Slave geological province. I can assure the House and Members that I am taking every opportunity to encourage and invest – investment in the key of these three corridors. I personally met with Minister Sohi in the federal department to talk about this as well as Minister Garneau to reiterate the importance of the corridors to Northerners and the Mackenzie Valley Highway Project and the need for federal investment. My communications with Minister Sohi have focused on the need for phase two funding under the long-term federal infrastructure plan to address the infrastructure deficit in the North and, in particular, the need to advance the three priority corridors including the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We have also submitted to Minister Garneau in support of implementation recommendations to the North made in the CTA report panel, which we always talk about every time we have a chance to meet federal Ministers. I will continue to bring this to the federal Ministers in promoting the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho to the Minister for his answer. Will the Minister please commit to provide us on this side a quarterly or bi-annual report on the status of this project so we don’t lose it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.