This is page numbers 4727 - 4770 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.

Topics

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

Page 4752

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you. So it's fair to say if we choose the location of the temporary shelter now, we would be looking to purchase the lot next to it and expand over that, sort of do a lot -- and I see a nodding so I don't bother to go back.

That being said, my question actually was around the geotech for the old visitors centre lot. It does kind of change now that I know that. But is there a potential to use old reports from when they were looking at the geotechnicals because the visitors centre was, you know, sinking or jacking up out of the ground, and I know they did some investigation at the time. So is there a possibility of doing a less intensive geotechnical by doing a bit of a desktop study and incorporating the older geotechnical reports? Thank you.

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

Page 4752

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Minister.

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

Page 4752

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you. I'll ask Mr. Heath to answer that question.

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

Page 4752

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mr. Heath.

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

Page 4752

Heath

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have looked at those reports and went through extensively looking at that. The complication is the foundation system utilized previously was not successful and so the rationale and methodology that was employed in previous reports from previous designs could be determined as slightly vulnerable. The technology around building and in securing foundations in permafrost, as the Member is probably acutely aware, has evolved in the last few years, and if we were to develop on that site we would want to use the most recent and best technology to do it, which would require us to do new geotechnical studies. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Page 4752

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ms. Nokleby.

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

Page 4753

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you. Which would be great news for all my former colleagues there that would love to get that work. But now that I am aware that it would be involving the purchase of the lot next door, I have to caution or just a bit of a comment is that there are two contaminated sites right in that location. Both the Esso -- old Esso location and the old YK Motors, there is no way that the YK Motors site would not be contaminated due to the fact of the presence of the old gas station, which I know that I'm just speaking to the -- what the department already knows but thought it might be worthwhile clarifying. However, that being said, I do prefer the location being over there and not at the 51st Street. And I just would I guess want to make a comment that I don't think that the studies done on the 51st Street lot, out of that $650,000 pot, would actually be necessarily a waste. At some point the GNWT would look to be using that as an asset -- a site for a building of some sort or some sort of development, and therefore, any studies we're doing in our core to, you know, better characterize what the ground conditions are of Yellowknife is not a waste in my opinion. So that is more of a comment. And I don't think I have any further questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Page 4753

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi, Ms. Nokleby. Ms. Cleveland.

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

Page 4753

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I guess, first of all, congratulations to MLA Johnson. If you are a Yellowknifer and you don't know street names, it means you're properly acclimatized to be a Yellowknifer.

My question is for the Minister in regards to -- I just want an idea of why the Department of Health and Social Services is requesting money for a capital project that they don't really have kind of secure handle on what location's going to be used, what design's going to be used, when it will be completed, or what budget they're going to be requesting, given that this does not fall in line now with the new kind of capital budgeting processes outlined by the Finance Minister where, really, they're switching to wanting to be able to only borrow money or use money or put money in the capital plan that is actually going to be used. And so I'm just wondering why the department of health is putting this money in here rather than, first, I guess gaining answers to these questions and then coming back with either during next year's budgeting cycle or with a supplementary appropriation for funds once they have more answers. Thank you.

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

Page 4753

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Minister.

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

Page 4753

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes. There has been some investment in this project already. We thought we had a secure location and a secure budget for it. But much has changed in the last year. And so that's my general thought on that question. But I'll ask the assistant deputy minister if she would like to add some additional information.

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

Page 4753

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Assistant deputy minister.

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

Page 4753

Kakfwi Scott

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is, as the Minister said, it's a plan that we have had in place and on the books. New things have come up as considerations; one of them being the impacts of COVID on supply chain and pricing and things like that. So a budget that we had in place for a project is something that we need to take a look at. And in the meantime, we've had a request to look at an alternate location. We feel we have a responsibility not to dismiss that request out of hand. We need to give it its due diligence and consider it. It is a complicated request, and so it's taking some time and there are lots of variables. But we are going to do that part so that we're not proceeding with a plan without having taken the time to hear that there might be other considerations.

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

Page 4753

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi for that. Ms. Cleveland.

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

Page 4753

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my next question for the Minister is in regards to the request for a tractor for Hay River. And I just want to understand why a health authority would need to purchase a tractor and have one, I guess, of their own rather than potentially hiring a local contractor who owns a tractor to do whatever they're going to do with that tractor. And I'm just wondering if I can get more information on that. Thank you.

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

Page 4753

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi for that. Minister.

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

Page 4753

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you we're replacing the existing tractor rather than adding a new tractor. But I'll ask Mr. Heath if he wants to add anything more.

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

Page 4753

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mr. Heath.

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

Page 4753

Heath

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The description of "tractor" might be a little bit more complex. This is basically a small unit that they use to keep the sidewalks and things clean and they -- it's on like an as-and-when basis. Having a local contractor on the beck and call of every given minute has proven to be complex, and it's been cost efficient, or I would say more service-oriented for them to have their own unit. The existing one is worn out and as the Minister said, we're simply replacing it through our evergreen program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Page 4753

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi for that. Ms. Cleveland.

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

Page 4754

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. No, I appreciate that. I had visions of nursing staff on top of giant front-end loaders, so thank you for that.

My next question, I'm wondering if somebody can help me out here. I just simply don't know what 1300 BGSM or 1600 BGSM stands for. So I'm just wondering if somebody can help me out with that one. Thank you

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

Page 4754

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi. Minister.

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

Page 4754

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, I think that's a size by volume. And Mr. Heath can tell you what that means in something more commonly used like square feet.

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

Page 4754

The Chair

The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mr. Heath.

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

Page 4754

Heath

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Building gross square metres I believe is the acronym. Thank you, Mr. Chair.