Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. On October 31st, I asked the Minister of Finance about the charging station for electrical vehicles coming to Behchoko in 2024. Who are these charging stations for? Is the government more concerned with seeing electrical vehicles on the road along Highway No. 3 over hydro lines connecting Highway No. 3 homes and cabins to the grid? Tlicho residents do not drive electric vehicles because many of us are still using diesel to power our homes. Thank you.

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm not sure if I heard a question in there. But I will respond to the Member's comments in saying that, yes, the Minister of Finance did talk about the budget and the electrical vehicles. This is part of our 2030 Energy Strategy, Madam Speaker. These are some of the projects that we need to start doing now to be able to meet targets, meet federal targets. So, I mean, yes, the electrical vehicles will be situated in Behchoko, and our hope is that it would be used for anybody that needs to connect to the corridor to Alberta. So those are our plans right now. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Yeah, I did ask who are these charging stations for, but I'll go on to next questions.

The Minister previously told the House in June her department would finalize the routing corridor for the Whati Transmission Line by fall 2022. Did the department meet this target? Thank you.

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, that was our hope. We did look at some of the options on the routing. We're trying to connect the Whati to the North Slave hydro system, to go along the existing winter road roughly about the east -- to the west side to be able to connect to our current hydro facility directly. So I can get back to the Member in terms of timeline for when we will have it done. Thanks.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

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

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. The Minister said the Department of Infrastructure would collaborate with the Tlicho government on the routing corridor. Can the Minister explain in detail what input the Tlicho government have on the project and how they participated? Thank you.

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, how much time do we have? Because we've been doing a lot of -- having a lot of conversation and if she wants me to go in detail, I can. It'll take some time but I won't. Actually, I will speak a little more about some of the meetings we had the Tlicho government to be able to discuss this project, including the Tlicho government's suggested use of a progressive design build approach. We also -- which consisted with the GNWT, Tlicho government, Infrastructure cooperation agreement. So we have that agreement in place so that we can work with the Tlicho government and, you know, be able to determine who should lead the different aspects of this project, and I think that's important to involve Tlicho government in this. They provided the GNWT with the proposal to initiate some of the technical refresh study to identify an acceptable routing corridor for the project, also update the cost estimate as I mentioned. So the GNWT and Tlicho are working together in a partnership to do this study, which started in May. And fall is not over. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

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

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Housing NWT.

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you to the Member for her question. And just commenting on this specific file, we have seen a lot of situations like this occur throughout the Northwest Territories. We are currently under a policy review. We are looking at establishing and working with the renewal document that we have completed this year. Throughout the success of Housing NWT, we are concentrated on putting units on the ground, working with people productively, and looking for positive outcomes. We have a number of programs that are suitable for each of the residents of the Northwest Territories, and Housing NWT does work diligently with each of the clients throughout the Northwest Territories. We do support our local housing authorities in them establishing work on our behalf. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Madam Speaker, defeating a person who is trying to make things right is not okay. My constituent is correcting herself and is trying to better her life. Rather than working with other departments in an integrated case management approach to support this person, the housing Minister is choosing instead to shut the door on her and have her to be homeless. Is the Minister okay with that? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I want to correct that - Housing is not here to completely say "no" to each of our clients and we do find problematic situations with our tenants. We are here to work with them fairly throughout the Northwest Territories. I have identified a number of programming that is available to the individual, and we are there to support each of our tenants fairly throughout the Northwest Territories and through a collaboration with the Indigenous governments as well. We look forward to successes in each of our communities. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Madam Speaker, since the Minister is also the Minister of Homelessness, the unfairness of another constituent case is not okay either. Defending staff who make wrong decisions is not okay. My constituent who lost his house to a tornado has to crawl onto an airplane every time he flies because of his mobility issues. This is a man who worked 35 years for the Government of the Northwest Territories and trusted the system to be fair with him but was failed. Is the Minister okay with that? Thank you, Madam Speaker.