The money spent on court proceedings pursuant to the 2016 directive is $220,000.

I want to thank the Minister for that response. I can think of lots of other ways to spend that $220,000. The NWT is the only place in Canada where admissions to francophone first- language schools is still directly controlled by a Minister; at least, that's my understanding. Does the Minister agree that it is time to review the ministerial directive from 2016?

If the directive is winding us up in court or is putting us into court proceedings, obviously, it can be improved upon, and I'm very live to this issue. I'm from Hay River, where we have a French first-language school, and I've been looking closely at this file. I'm not looking at a formal review right now, but I am personally reviewing it. I am having conversations. I had a conversation this morning, or rather yesterday morning, about this, and I'm having further conversations.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I understand it's not a formal review, but I appreciate his interest in the file. He sat in the House last year, or in the last Assembly. He's from a community that has Ecole Boreale, so I'm glad to hear he's started work on this. Our government needs a better approach to collaboration with the francophone community over implementation of education rights. I'm wondering: how will the Minister ensure this relationship changes as we begin the 19^th Assembly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I'm trying to build the best relationships I can with all the education leaders in the territory. To that end, I phoned the chair of every DEC or regional authority in the territory when I first took office. I've had conversations with all but one of the members of the board of the French schools. Again, yesterday, I reached out to the chair and I'm setting up a meeting so that we can have a discussion, myself and the board, with no one else in the room, no one from the department, no employees of the board, just the elected officials, to figure out how, as reasonable people, we can come to a reasonable solution, because my conversations with everyone on the board have been great. Everyone wants the same thing. Everyone wants quality education for the students, and I'm sure we can come to a solution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, my Members' statement was on the building standards act. In our mandate, we are committed to implementing the 2030 Energy Strategy, something that I am very excited about, Mr. Speaker. Object 5 of the 2030 Energy Strategy is to increase residential, commercial, and government buildings' energy efficiency, by 15 percent. My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure: will the implementation of the action plan for the 2030 Energy Strategy include developing a building standards act such that we can ensure that those buildings meet that 15-percent target?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Meeting this target does not require the development of a building act, so the target will be met through grants and rebates that we are provided under the 2030 Energy Strategy. These will include the support for larger-scale building energy efficiency using the greenhouse gas grant program for building with industry, with almost $8 million in grants available over the four years. We are going to support community-building energy efficiency through the greenhouse gas grant program for governments, with over $7 million in grants available. We're going to support residents, businesses, and communities through Arctic Energy Alliance, and we have more than doubled their budget over the past two years. The Government of the Northwest Territories, the Housing Corporation, we all support the achievement of this target by ensuring that all new government buildings exceed the national energy code for buildings. In addition, we have $3.8 million per year for energy retrofits in the existing government buildings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is a great list of programs, and I'm happy we're going to meet that target regardless of whether we have a building standards act. I am very happy to see our GNWT best building practices followed. They are great practices. The reality on the ground is, if you are in a community, you can build whatever you want because no one comes and inspects it and no one enforces any of the building codes. Given this reality on the ground, is the Minister of Infrastructure willing to work with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and begin the work to develop a building standards act?

I commit to the Member that I would definitely look into whether or not a building act is needed here. I do want to remind the Member that, at times, Northerners and northern engineers and geoscientists are involved with creating the federal standards. There have recently been four building standards that were released. There is the guideline for foundations, geotechnical investigations and foundations and permafrost-rich soils. There is a land farm one that has come out recently. I do want to state that the national codes or standards do have northern input.

I recognize what the Member is saying, that the enforcement and inspection aspects of living in the North don't seem to be adequately addressed. I definitely commit to the Member to looking into that. We can definitely continue to start talking about this, but I don't want to commit that the government will be actually developing this act going forward.

I recognize, perhaps, the Minister can't commit to developing a piece of legislation right now, but to pretend like this hasn't been happening for years; I've read a statement today from my predecessor's predecessor in 2011 requesting this. The department has the information. This involves the Housing Corporation. It involves the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, and the expertise lies in Infrastructure. What I am looking for from the Minister of Infrastructure is to reach out to all the relevant parties, all the professionals, and get back to the committee with a plan on how we are going to get this done.

I don't think I pretended anything, but we can have a conversation about that outside of this. One of the things we've been hearing a lot is, A, we have no money; and, B, we need to reduce the red tape. Should we go forward with the buildings act, we would then have another layer of regulation that we would need to adhere to, when we already would still be forced to adhere to Canada codes. As well, there is a cost that would come with developing this act that we potentially don't have the funds for. I do commit to the Member to start the discussion with the departments that he's mentioned and see where this can go, and I would also then include the architects' association, as well as the engineering and geoscience associations, and other interested stakeholders for their input on whether or not that an act would definitely be required. I do acknowledge, though, again, that there are issues with building inspection and whether or not things are being built to code.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister acknowledges that there are problems with the building inspection. However, I think the argument that this would create further red tape, when there is simply no enforcement or inspection occurring, is not a valid argument, Mr. Speaker. It's a free-for-all right now, as soon as you leave Yellowknife, in regard to building standards. We have a number of codes and guidelines, some are enforceable, some are not, but at the end of the day, there is no one there to enforce this at a territorial level. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of Infrastructure is: in implementing the energy strategy, and working with those departments, can we leave here at the end of four years enforcing those standards?

As an engineer, a professional engineer, I take an oath to protect public safety. That may be something that's not as out there as the doctors, who take their oath to protect people, but, yes, I am very concerned to hear that buildings are being built to a substandard level, and I will commit to the Member to doing the best that I can do in the next four years. As we've all been saying, this a very, very large ship to change course on, so I'm not sure exactly how much I will be able to change. However, I commit to doing everything in my department as safely as a I can, and I will carry your concerns forward to my department. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Hopefully, the Minister of Infrastructure is not all tuckered out yet.

---Laughter

My questions are related to my Member's statement on the trucking industry and the safety on our highways. Can the Minister tell me how the department regulates the trucking industry? Specifically, when they are on our highways, keeping in mind the safety of the travelling public? Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Infrastructure.

I thank the Minister for all that information. I'm not sure if they are specific to the trucking industry; that's the industry that I'm discussing today. I mentioned the dangers of flying mud, rocks, and snow coming out of the trucks when you pass them. I've driven on the highway for quite a number of years, since 2008, when I had to work out of Hay River, going back and forth to Fort Providence. I've experienced a lot of that. Now, my time coming up to Yellowknife for the sittings. There's lots of, you know, flying mud, rocks; the mud covers your windshield totally. The snow is very, very bad. It's scary to get out there. Can the department engage the trucking industry to come up with new technology for the tire mud flaps so nothing flies out to oncoming traffic, which is posing serious risk to the travelling public?

I'm not sure if my department would be engaged to provide feedback to the trucking industry. However, we could definitely look into some ways and see if there is an opportunity, or a forum that maybe we need to become a member of, in order to be providing that. I did want to say, with respect to the mud and the rocks, and such, we are trying to implement, as much as we can, chipseal programs on roads that are not currently paved. Chipseal is basically a type of asphalt or pavement. We are looking to reduce the number of gravel roads that we have; however, again, very expensive. We also have a lot of issues to do with melting permafrost that makes having paved roads a lot more difficult to maintain and keep in an adequate manner. I commit to the Member that perhaps we need to do some education, as well, ensuring that trucking companies are ensuring that their truckers do have the appropriate flaps, et cetera.

I just wanted to ask, just to clarify the point before: you had referenced the fact that this wasn't about the trucking industry specifically. The mandatory commercial truck driver training that we're working on nationally is for the trucking industry.

Like I mentioned in my Member's statement, we're seeing an increase in truck traffic. You know, when I was coming up here last weekend, on the Sunday, I met up with six trucks on the road, and they were following very close to each other. It's a good thing it wasn't snowing; I probably would have hit one of them. That's what's happening. It's just a big increase with truck traffic on the highways, and we're not really regulating them. We don't see highway patrols out there. They're just running down the highway, you know, wanting to splash mud all over you in the summers, and whatnot. It still happens with the chipseal stuff. I'm just wondering if the department can meet with the suppliers, businesses, and mining executives to determine their needs and stockpiles in trying to decrease the amount of truck traffic on our highways?