This is page numbers 4861 - 4892 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 In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4887

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Committee, please turn to page 35 for Management Board Secretariat, with information items on page 36, Finance Management Board Secretariat, infrastructure investments, $12,738,000. 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

Page 4887

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this item deals with the extension of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link from the Inuvik to Tuk Highway. And given the conversations that we've had during the length of this Assembly in regards to broadband internet and its far-reaching impact on Northerners from, you know, the border right up to the Arctic Ocean and back again, I'm wondering where there is no money showing under the P3s or additional projects mentioned here. And I mean, this has a huge impact on education when we're talking about northern distance learning or when we're talking about the community learning centres in our small NWT communities. It has been an impact on public health and people's ability to access information as we saw during the height of the pandemic where, you know, information was changing minute to minute. And even, you know, daily or monthly activities like somebody being able to request a new healthcare card or update their vehicle registration. A lot of these things happen online now. And without people having access to broadband internet, it's just not possible for them to really access these government services. So I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to why we're not seeing more capital investment in broadband internet here. Thank you.

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

Page 4887

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

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

Page 4887

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so the Member is correct that this is the portion remaining for the Mackenzie Valley fibre line to take it all the way up to Tuktoyaktuk. But the next major phase of bringing all communities up to a standard of having available to them of 50/10 service standard, right now the CRTC which, somewhat uniquely in Canada, regulates the provider here in the Northwest Territories has set it up such that Northwestel, by virtue of that regulatory arrangement, is undertaking the work to bring all communities up to a service standard of 50/10. I believe that 2025 is the year by which all communities will be at that standard, if not sooner. But I'll leave it as an overpromise if that need be. There is also the project to Whati that the GNWT was involved early stages in assisting to get that moving, but it is a Tlicho government project.

And so with that, Madam Chair, there's not an area where there has been an identified need that falls within the GNWT's area of responsibility or exclusive responsibility to invest additional capital expenses. Thank you.

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

Page 4887

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

Page 4887

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So just so that I can make sure I'm on the same page as the Minister, so the work to update all communities to be on the 50/10 is work being done by Northwestel with 100 percent funding dollars then not from the GNWT, is that correct? Thank you.

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

Page 4887

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

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

Page 4887

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Chair. That is correct.

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

Page 4887

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

Page 4888

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the other piece, then, that I'm going to inquire specifically about is internet redundancy within Yellowknife. This is something we've heard quite a bit about from the Chamber of Commerce here in Yellowknife throughout the length of our term, and I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to this project here as well. Thank you.

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

Page 4888

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

Page 4888

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I certainly am live to the redundancy. It's redundancy that matters, if I may, not only for Yellowknife but would bring potentially redundancy to South Slave communities and would certainly assist in protecting all of the government's infrastructure which impacts, of course, all of the Northwest Territories in a territorial or regional sense. So just to underscore that I'm certainly alive to it, and in the communications that the GNWT and Department of Finance is responsible for in responding to CRTC, who are supposed to be undertaking a review of services in the North, we certainly took a, I think, very strong position that they need to be looking at how to fund redundancy projects and to, frankly, fund redundancy projects. We've taken that position before under the Universal Broadband Fund and were not successful. I am hoping that with the CRTC's process underway right now that it will not fall on deaf ears, that redundancy here is more than just better service; it really is providing an essential level of service given that we are otherwise on really one fibre line and satellite-reliant.

So again, while it was good news in my first response that we're going to be at a 50/10, I'm -- all of that does get tempered with the fact that we are reliant on services that are either one line or on a satellite. So that is where that one is at, Madam Chair.

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

Page 4888

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

Page 4888

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The other piece that I don't see in here that I know has been something that we've spoken about during all of the main estimates during every year of this Assembly, and it relates to public safety but ultimately comes down to the Department of Finance, is the expansion of cell service across the territory. And I believe that we have even heard from one of our fellow Members here, had a Member's statement, in relation to this over the course of this sitting. And I mean, there are different regions in the territory where when you're on the highway, you are an hour plus away from being able to gain cell service again and call for help if you need it and so I'm wondering why this piece is again not on -- or found, sorry, in the capital acquisition plan. Thank you

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

Page 4888

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

Page 4888

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, earlier today I began to sort of go over some of the information that is available through the Government of Canada. They had put out maps that show cellular coverage across highways across all of Canada, back in 2018. So there may have been some improvements but certainly not dramatic ones, that there's over 1,200 kilometres of highways that have no cellular coverage; 115,000 kilometres of roads in Canada that have no cellular coverage which, you know, that's not a good news story by any way and by any means, but just to say that it's not a problem that the Government of the Northwest Territories can solve alone. The federal government has been called on to support that, and the Universal Broadband Fund was available for that but that's, you know, a fund that had a defined scope and a defined budget to a certain degree. It's not going to solve all of these hundreds of thousands of kilometres of roads with no coverage, including ours. It would still be looking at what then the costs would be to the government.

For example, as I was discussing earlier today an estimate came back for just the stretch of road between here and the community of Behchoko, just that one hour's worth of driving would be upwards of $500,000 a year in O and M costs. So, Madam Chair, if this is going to be a priority of this Assembly, then that will have to be visited perhaps coming into the next Assembly because it certainly was not one of the priorities that we were mandated to and, as such, did not get priority funding under the capital plan. Thank you

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

Page 4888

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you are there any further questions under the Management Board Secretariat?

Seeing none, Finance Management Board Secretariat, infrastructure investments, $12,738,000. Does committee agree?

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

Page 4888

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

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

Page 4888

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Members. Please return now to the department summary found on page 32, Finance, 2023-2024 Capital Estimates, $16,118,000. Member for Kam Lake.

Committee Motion 318-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Finance - Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

October 27th, 2022

Page 4889

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Madam Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Finance at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you the motion is in order. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? Motion is carried.

---Carried

Thank you, committee. Is the committee prepared to move on to the next item?

Some Hon. Members

Agreed

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, committee, and thank you to the Minister. And sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.

Committee, we've agreed to consider Committee Report 34-19(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2020-2021 Annual Report of the Ombud. I will go to the chair on the Standing Committee on Government Operations for any opening remarks. Member for Yellowknife North.