Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'm not going to get to ask the four separate Ministers all my questions. Questions and answers are going a little long today, so I will keep this brief. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation: what has been done to date to address the housing issues of the evacuees of the Hay River high-rise? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In response to the fire, the NWT Housing Corporation has developed a multi-stage plan to support residents that were impacted. That's done right across all departments. We knew it was something that needed to be addressed right away. All departments worked together to see how we can make an impact. On that note, I'm going to commend the Member in recognizing that the community did step up and that the fire department was onsite right away, and that nobody was harmed in any way as well, and they were all out safely.

Our latest update, the NWT Housing Corporation has housed seven individuals in an apartment complex. We've also housed four families in three-bedroom houses temporarily released from the federal government, and we have also renovated six units at the KFN, which are ready for occupation, and are in the process of renovating 10 or more which will be ready for occupation soon.

Mr. Speaker, just further to that, we will continue to update both the Hay River MLAs on what we are doing as the NWT Housing Corporation, and what we are doing as a government, working together, collaboratively, to address the situation.

I appreciate the update. That's basically the same update that I received back in April at the community meeting. There are still these 18 people who are homeless, essentially with unstable housing, and there are 26 who are temporarily housed. They could be the ones in the leased units from the federal government. Going forward, what's the plan? The Minister said there was a plan. Can you please elaborate on that, and tell us what he's going to do to make sure these people have stable housing?

Before the fire at the high-rise, we did meet with private industry. We met with the Town of Hay River to look at addressing some of the issues that are coming out of the community. As the Member knows, the available and suitable land is at a premium in Hay River, and we are trying to work with the municipality to address that, and we are going to continue to work with them in terms of developing a plan. We know that there are a lot of things that are coming down the pipe in terms of economic-wise. It was very unfortunate that the high-rise situation happened, and we'll continue to work with our stakeholders to look at addressing the housing needs in Hay River. As I mentioned, we will keep the Hay River MLAs up to date. We will continue to speak with our stakeholders, industry, as well as leadership in Hay River.

As I stated, 18 people are homeless. I know for a fact one of those is an infant. There could be other children, as well. I can't go back to Hay River and tell them that there have been talks. I need to tell them that there's a plan to put them in a home, and to give them somewhere safe. What can the Minister tell me that's happening to put these people in actual homes? I need a plan. When is there going to be a place on the ground that they can go and live?

A couple of things. Through the NWT Housing Corporation, we didn't have any housing clients in the high-rise. That's where we're doing the collaborative approach, working with all the departments to address the issue. At the same time, we are working with private industry. We're trying to work with the Municipality of Hay River. As you've heard in this House before, we do have the co-investment fund that we were able to carve out and put applications in. Those are some of the long-term solutions that we're looking at. It's not only the high-rise that is affected. We also had that senior planning study that I've mentioned in this House before that we are looking at a couple of municipalities, and Hay River is one of them that we need to address, and we'll continue to work to find a short-term and a long-term solution. I think, in the short term, we have addressed some of the families. Not all of them, but we do have to work together to find solutions.

Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister said there were no housing clients in the high-rise. Income assistance was paying the rent for about a third of the residents of the high-rise, which means that those people, for the most part, were on the housing waitlist. It's not like Housing doesn't have clients in there. They have people waiting to get into housing, so this is an issue. What can I tell them is going to happen in the very near term? What is the plan to house them in the very near term? I know there are long-term solutions. I know all about the rental issues in Hay River. What is the plan to get them in a house immediately? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned, we do know that there is a concern. Not a concern, but the available and suitable land and the lots that are available to construct new buildings is a concern, and we are working on that. What I'd say is that the government was working to try to address this, even before the fire began. Even before the fire had started, and the issue that we see ourselves before now, we were already in discussions with the Municipality of Hay River. I appreciate the fact that the K'atlodeeche First Nation has stepped up, and the work that we have done with the K'atlodeeche First Nations, as well. We are working on it, and it is one of the communities that we want to continue to find a solution, whether it's public housing or market housing needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Finance will rise and respond to the Member's questions. The GNWT has met with the federal government on Nutrition North Canada on both the ministerial and official levels on numerous occasions. Most recently, officials have been engaged in discussions around work to make the program more efficient and transparent. The NWT representative for the Nutrition North Advisory Board on this program is a nutritionist from the Beaufort Delta who is well-placed to provide perspective on the needs of Northerners.

It's good to see that the different levels of government are working on this together. My second question is: what strategies are we working on to address food insecurity in Nunakput, and can we regulate healthy-food prices the way we do with liquor and cannabis?

There are many initiatives across the GNWT that help address food insecurity. A few of these include, obviously, income assistance to those who require it and are eligible, including funds for food. This is part of a variety of programs that help offset the cost of living, like public housing and the cost of living credit. Through the northern wellness funding, many communities are delivering school-based meal programs, elders' lunches, meals on wheels, hosting collective kitchens for young families, and providing good-food boxes for families in need. Nutrition North Canada's nutrition education initiative builds skills and knowledge on healthy eating and making wise food choices from the stores and traditional food sources. Nutrition education is a collaborative effort between elders, CHR, dieticians, and other community workers.

I appreciate the response. Can the Minister report if the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway has reduced the prices of food in the community? Also, since the cost of petroleum products and the cost of transportation has risen in the Northwest Territories, I am wondering if the department is monitoring the cost of food in remote communities.

The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway was a great project and was well-received. Being up in the Beau-Del at times, being on the highway, I see the number of people who are on it, the number of people who are going to Inuvik, actually, to do a lot of their shopping, and I am sure it has reduced their cost of living because they are picking up things in Inuvik. As far as the overall cost of living in the community itself, I do not have that information at my fingertips. However, I will commit to the Member that we will compile some information and share it with the Members. It's important to remember, though, that there are many factors that impact prices in the communities. I do say that, having seen the number of people who are coming in and taking advantage of the ability to leave the community at any time to go shopping in Inuvik, I think it's helped lower the cost of living, but, again, I have made a commitment to do some research and get some information back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure, also responsible for the energy file. It seems like a lot of politicians these days are promising to put their efforts and money into revitalizing the fossil fuel sector. Meanwhile, a news report yesterday indicates that green business is actually outgrowing the rest of the economy, attracting billions of dollars in investment. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister: what steps will the government take to grow a new, sustainable sector of the economy by exploiting the growing number of businesses and entrepreneurs bringing green, renewable energy technology to the table? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are already taking significant steps to leverage new federal funding, everyone in this House knows that, to support these new initiatives that we are laying out. We are making unprecedented investments to support energy initiatives across the Northwest Territories. This year, we will invest over $60 million in projects and initiatives intended to support secure, reliable, and sustainable energy in the Northwest Territories. All of this investment, we know, will support economic growth, particularly to the businesses and entrepreneurs around this green, renewable energy table. Also, key to all this, in discussions we had in the House today to our long-term economics sustainability in the Northwest Territories, is to bring clean and affordable energy to industry in the Northwest Territories, and that would be the Taltson energy project. As you see in many of our new projects that we lay out across the Northwest Territories through infrastructure, we have steadily increased our solar panels and our biomass.

Thank you to the Minister for reminding us of the considerable investment that is going to be being made in the North, and I really truly hope that it does get in the hands of entrepreneurs and small businesses. I have asked this before, and so I will ask it again: will the Minister commit the government to study the energy microgrid concept that has been similar to what SSi Energy is proposing in Fort Providence? It seems like it would be a very sound and great solution for small communities.

I would love to update the House on this particular question. We have met with SSi Micro and, actually, our staff have gone to the community of Fort Providence to understand the system that SSi actually has in place right now and to discuss the potential for integration of a microgrid into the technologies into the system. We are interested in learning a lot more about what SSi has to offer, about their proposal and the potential of their graphite battery, specifically what they have proposed to use as an energy recovery and disbursement system in their system. We will continue to work with them and see if this is a situation that SSi is proposing that could be worked in Fort Providence but maybe in other communities across the system.