Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we get closer to completion, we are actually still reviewing that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nakimayak.

No further questions right now. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Next, I have Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just looking at operations on page 239, the program detail. I understand my colleague in the Delta's concerns. As you all know, we had a near miss last year where a tanker actually partially did go through the ice on Bear Lake. If it had in fact gone through, it could have created a catastrophe for downstream communities.

I am glad to see the operations as it is covering some extra allowances for the winter roads, whether it is north of Yellowknife. Hopefully, some of those monies might be increased for additional flooding requirement to minimize the risk and ensuring that the heavy traffic destined for Deline does not interfere into high risk factoring in.

As we speak right now, the community of Deline sees on the average of 60 to 70 truckloads of fuel come in for the Power Corporation, community demands, and the home heating fuel. To date, we have not seen one load of fuel go on that road yet or go across the bay to the community, so with this extra funding, I am hoping that some of that would be directed to providing assurances on flooding the bay going across to the community of Deline. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member is well aware, we have sent our staff in there along with the operator. Last year's incident, they met with the community along with our staff to discuss what happened last year and how we can best move forward. We are doing our due diligence. We have met with the operator last year.

We met with the department, as well, to discuss what happened and what we can learn from that moving forward. As far as the resupply of Deline, itself, we tend to do the other communities first to help the contractor build up the ice thickness to what it needs to be to access the community for the fuel trucks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. McNeely, anything further?

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I am glad that it is being addressed and being considered, I would say. Just moving up the ladder to regional projects here, on the same page, is there any money destined for my new office in the Sahtu for regional projects, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, there are two positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Nothing further from Mr. McNeely. Next, I have Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, on the Mackenzie Highway, as all Members are aware, we announced the Canyon Creek project. Hopefully, that is getting kicked off here in the next month or so, with that initiative moving forward, employing a number of people and training them in the Sahtu region. As far as the Mackenzie Valley Highway ask with the federal government, as I have stated in the House, the federal government put that program on pause. We have submitted a business case for that project moving forward, and we are waiting to see what the federal government does, coming in their budget address. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to get a sense in terms of the priorities scale. I understand there are other initiatives, including, as I stated, the Whati road that will be in progress here fairly soon. What priority scale would be the extension of the Mackenzie Valley Highway? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As all Members know, it's in our mandate, all three parties, and the department is chasing all opportunities for all three sections of the highways, the Slave Geological Province, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, and the Whati one. The Whati highway, the federal government has made their commitment and, as I've stated in the House, it's going through its regulatory environmental process, and we will continue to work on that as it gains more traction and we continue to promote both the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Slave Geological Province and focus on the ones that seem to get the federal attention. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli, anything further?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My final question on this is: the Minister stated that the federal government has put the pause on the initiative of the Mackenzie Valley Highway; similarly, has his department put this project on pause, too? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we have not put this project on pause. While the federal government is trying to figure out how they're going to allocate their infrastructure money, we continue to look at other opportunities moving forward, be it the department or CanNor's funding or other opportunities moving this initiative forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.