This is page numbers 3035 - 3094 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, really good question. You look at our overall budget, 87 percent of this budget is coming from the federal government. Within that, the total budget is about $260 million of that. You know, we look at the Department of Infrastructure and how we have 75, 25-cent dollars. Of that, we are pretty much tied to paying the 25 percent to that, which equals about $49 million of GNWT money tied to this.

You have to keep in mind, Madam Chair, that you know, with this, we're really limited to what we can do with some of the fed money. We can't be moving it around within our current budget. That -- that's not allowable. So keeping in mind that's where we're at. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, and I do appreciate that, that, you know, the pots of money for the roads are not the same as the pots of money for houses as for energy projects. So I do see that deferential.

Could the Minister maybe give us a little bit more information about the Inuvik Wind? And I notice that it's set to be done in 2023. Is that going to be the final date of the entire project or just this phase? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the overall project I mean is -- is again in the early stages, but I'm happy to say that we did receive the last part of the Wind to Hay River yesterday. So that's really exciting. And we're expecting it to go up the Mackenzie Valley on its way to Inuvik.

But I mean there's so many things that can happen. Like, I don't want to say for sure 2026. But I mean that's kind of the overall the plan, is in terms of getting this wind generation going.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Member for Great Slave.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to just touch a little bit upon what my colleague was talking about with the Whati transmission line and was glad to hear that there is a look at the routing still of that line. A little bit of a comment in this section is just that I would encourage that we look at trying to expand our energy transmission down our highway and then up the Taser so that we can build the infrastructure corridor such that there will be development off of the Taser at some point, and I'm sure those people would like to be hooking into the Snare hydro versus having to be bring in generators.

So just a comment, and I know I've made that before to the Minister. So I won't ask for a response for that.

And then I think just on my last question, could the Minister or the department speak to how many of these funding pots, so the ICIP, the Trade Corridor Fund, etcetera, which I know the Trade Corridor Fund does have, has a climate lens built into the application process.

So for example, I know Frank Channel, even before we were ever getting any money, we already were looking at, or our consultants were looking at the changes to greenhouse gas emission contribution that that bridge would make, and I know the federal government is moving more towards climate lenses on a lot of their funding. So I'm just curious to know if the trade corridor fund is the only one, or do some of the other projects now have that built into the application. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

November 25th, 2021

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Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Member is correct in terms of the number of pots that we have for the feds. And you know, as a government, we apply for many different federal funding, one of the programs that I know for sure has -- is ICIP, has the climate change. They're all major -- all the major projects consider climate lens.

And I'm going to see if Mr. Jenkins can speak a little bit more in detail on the specific ones. Thank you.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Mr. Jenkins.

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Jenkins

Thank you, Madam Chair. So yes, it's an important consideration obviously for Canada when we put our applications forward under ICIP or NTCF. It all has to consider climate obviously. It's a big thing in terms of what they're looking for when they fund those projects. So thank you, Madam Chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I will apologize to the people sitting behind me as I have my back to them. And thank you to my colleagues for all of their questions.

My questions are more in line of maintaining benefit to the people of the Northwest Territories. That being said, there is huge benefit to infrastructure development to the people of the Northwest Territories. And from, you know, a social perspective, people with meaningful employment, it creates so much more opportunity than just, you know -- it's more than just energy is what I'm saying.

Within the Department of Infrastructure, they are responsible for about 76 percent of the total infrastructure budget and have control over making sure that quite a significant amount of that stays in the North, and so I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to the amount of money from this pot here, considering this is the most significant amount of money from the Department of Infrastructure capital estimates, and I'm wondering if they can speak to the percent of money that is staying Northern. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't believe we have that number at this time. Maybe I'll get deputy minister Loutitt, if he wants to add anything further.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Deputy Minister Loutitt.

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Loutitt

Thank you, Madam Chair. While we don't have the number for this year, we do have the numbers that last year we were able to keep -- about $145 million was awarded to BIP registered companies, and in comparison to the year before that, was an increase of $41 million, which is significant. And the department is always looking at opportunities to work with our Indigenous partners and local businesses to keep those economic benefits in the community, in the region, and in the Northwest Territories, so there's little money bleeding out of the Northwest Territories as possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, one of the things that I think is really interesting with data collection is we have an opportunity to see what niches aren't being fulfilled within our industries in the Northwest Territories. And so I'm wondering if infrastructure plays an active role in tracking that and also working with potentially ITI or even the BDIC in order to help fill those niches. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, within the Department of Infrastructure, we have a dashboard. It kind of tracks all of our different projects in terms of where we're at and the timeframe, and it just kind of gives us a big picture of some of our major projects and able to work within the department.

Is there -- I'm going to ask Mr. Jenkins if he wants to add anything further in terms of that -- or deputy minister Loutitt, sorry.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Okay. Deputy minister Loutitt.

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Loutitt

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister's correct, we do use several tools including Smartsheet tracking our projects, our major projects, and looking, making sure they're not at risk, making sure the projects, these are infrastructure projects as well as projects that we're managing on behalf of our client departments.

And these -- this is one of the, I guess, instruments that we use to hopefully reduce the amount of carryovers and to make sure that our projects are not at risk of -- and during -- you know, during, obviously, the last two years, it's been a challenge. So it is -- it's been a great tool to keeping -- keeping track of where we're at with the projects. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what I was wondering is whether or not the Department of Infrastructure works with ITI or BDIC to fill industry niches within the Northwest Territories.

So for example, if we are constantly going out of territory for one specific type of industry or of professional service, if Department of Infrastructure is able to work within other departments of the GNWT to say, Hey, we're missing this niche right here within the Northwest Territories; what can we do to help Northerners get that training so that more dollars can stay in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.