With the way the structure of the council is working, it is to have the representatives be fed up through the organizations that we have contacted, so the idea being that those organizations will do the work themselves, and then their representative will bring it forward. Through that manner, members of those organizations will input on things within the council. I would imagine, as anything else, I have always expressed that my department is open to any sorts of feedback or comments or conversations, so I would still commit that again. If there are people who have concerns about the council, they are very welcome to reach out to us and have that conversation, and we will go forward that way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since receiving the letter from Fort Smith leadership in June of 2019, the former Minister of the Department of Infrastructure and I have both provided multiple responses that explained why the decision was made to proceed with the project.

Transport Canada sets the standards by which airports are designed and operated. Airport owners and operators, such as the GNWT, apply those standards and construct and operate airports to meet current and future operational and regulatory needs. The GNWT reviews airport infrastructure on a regular basis to identify current and future needs and, Mr. Speaker, it was identified that the lighting at the Fort Smith airport was in need of replacement. As a result, the GNWT secured funding from the Government of Canada for the installation of the new LED airport lighting. Since the lighting replacement project would have required digging up sections of the runway, the GNWT decided to review the runway width requirements at the Fort Smith airport at the same time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Why does the Department of Infrastructure continue to proceed with the airport infrastructure changes despite the community's leadership opposing them?

Construction on the project began in May of 2019. Subsequent to that, Northwestern Air Lease, the local air carrier, and the town and local bands raised concerns to the Minister of Infrastructure and in the media. Additional information was provided to these groups to confirm that the concerns they raised were taken into consideration during the planning of the project, and to reaffirm that the level of service at the Fort Smith airport has remained the same. The project proceeded because it addressed the current and future operational needs of the airport.

Will the Minister admit that the community stakeholders and leadership of Fort Smith were not properly consulted, if at all, about these changes to the Fort Smith airport?

Public engagement is a critical part of the way our government does business. It ensures that the GNWT is visible, accessible, and answerable to the people it serves. In this case, while we engaged with industry and regulatory entities regarding the airport work in Fort Smith to ensure that the runway would continue to be safe and meet federal regulations and maintain a consistent level of service, we did not ensure that the community of Fort Smith understood the project's purpose and benefits before we completed the work. We understand that airport maintenance and improvements are especially important in Northwest Territories communities like Fort Smith, where residents and industry depend on safe, secure, accessible, and reliable air travel.

Our approach to public engagement continues to evolve. I think you've all heard me speak here, even just yesterday, about the need for my department to do better when it comes to engagement, so, in the future, we will work with the community of Fort Smith to ensure that its residents are informed prior to the work being completed, and not after.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister admit that errors were made during the infrastructure changes to the Fort Smith airport? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, there were no errors made during the changes to the Fort Smith runway. What I will acknowledge, though, is that it does sound like the engagement was not done properly, or to the liking of the Member and her community, therefore I do commit that the Department of Infrastructure will do better. We recognize that residents and community leaders in Fort Smith are concerned with the recent changes to the runway and the community, so we commit to having a conversation to explain why the runway narrowing happened. The improvements to the runway will position the department to effectively and efficiently maintain an important piece of infrastructure, while reducing operating and maintenance costs. Narrowing the width of the runway did not change the level of service in the airport. What it did do was allow us to access federal funding to maintain it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. As I mentioned in my statement, enforcement of the Chief Public Health Officer's orders in downtown apartment buildings isn't happening or, if it is happening, it's not making a difference to the people who routinely report to me about the orders being ignored. The gap in enforcement is important because it could put us all at risk of the community spread of COVID when it recurs. My question for the Minister is: what responsibility does the enforcement task force have for ensuring that orders are followed, specifically in apartment buildings? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Compliance and Enforcement Branch is actually there to enforce the orders of the Chief Public Health Officer. A lot of that is, like the Member said, around public education. Some are verbal warnings. Some are written warnings. The last would be a fine. That is the purpose of the Compliance and Enforcement Branch. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That wasn't really the question that I asked. Apartment buildings are kind of a complex environment because there's the tenant, there's the landlord, in some cases there is the Yellowknife Housing Authority, and by-law is not eligible to be there. RCMP can be there. What I'm trying to clarify is whether the enforcement task force members have the authority and the resources to enter apartment buildings to ensure compliance.

The big difference is that the public health officers who are doing the compliance and the enforcement are not RCMP officers. They come with a different set of skills. All along, we've said that, if there were huge parties and people were breaking orders, disturbances and stuff, we would not put our public health officers at risk within that. That is the job of the RCMP. I do think that sometimes our public is getting confused. They tend to phone us. What I have to say is that we have almost, I believe it was, 800 inquiries or calls in to Protect NWT. Every single one of them gets followed up. However, we will not put those officers at risk. If there are people partying in apartment buildings, there are laws. If they're disturbing, it is not to call the Protect NWT; at that point, it's to call the RCMP. I think that's the confusion. If tenants are having complaints about repeated parties, like I have heard in the statement, then it is the landlord who has to be notified of that.

Well, Minister, as you see, there are a lot of gaps in this because, when tenants call the RCMP, they are told that it's not up to the RCMP to enforce the Chief Public Health Officer's orders to not gather in apartment buildings. I appreciate that the peace officers don't feel equipped to go into the apartment buildings if there is a big party going on, but it just seems to be no one's problem to put an end to this. I'm trying to say, look, this is really a significant problem. In the end, what can you do, as the Minister, to coordinate the response in the apartment buildings? I can tell you, from living across the street from one of them, this will be ground zero for the community spread. It's like a train station. Now we have a chance to figure out how to deal with that, so how can we make these gaps disappear, Minister?

I hear the Member's concerns, and I have the same concerns about people. We have been doing as much as we can to try to make the public aware that we are not in a bubble; we are at risk, and it takes every individual to do this. What I worry about is that we are trying to deal with an issue that has been long-standing. It's the partying, it's the drug dealers, it's the people who aren't being good neighbours in apartment buildings, and we're trying to deal with all of that with COVID-19.

I'm not sure if that's the answer, if we even have the capacity to do that. What I will commit to, because that was the question, was what I can do about it. I will actually meet with my colleague who is responsible for the RCMP. We'll talk about how it is. I think there might be confusion. If people call in to the RCMP and say, "I want you to enforce an order," absolutely, that's not the RCMP's job. If people phone in and say, "There's a big party going on next door and they're yelling and screaming and drinking and it's after 11 o'clock," that is the RCMP's job. It might be a communications thing. That, I will look into with the Minister. We will talk about that. It's also about working with landlords. It's about time that we actually talk to landlords as well.

I will commit to, not during this session because we're busy, but when session is over and we can get back to normal business, then, I will commit to meeting with the landlords in our bigger centres that have longstanding issues and see if we can actually talk to them about the risk that they're putting residents to as well.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is on the right path here. My specific ask is that there be a meeting between the COVID enforcement task force, and the RCMP, and the landlords, and the Yellowknife Housing Authority, which, in some cases, is the landlord, and Northview, in the other case; and to bring these people together to talk about exercising better control over the apartment buildings so that they don't become a ground zero for community spread of COVID-19. I think it's really important to have the parties at the table and to discuss how this kind of enforcement can be made more effective. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The reason we have seven Members on Cabinet is because there is value in having many voices. I do appreciate. My first question was, "Can we do this?" and it was, "Yes, we can meet." Then, a wise Minister said to me, "That's why we have a committee of Cabinet for COVID-19, our social issues committee." What we will do, then, is bring that to our COVID-19, our committee, to address that issue, but we will be talking about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.