Mr. Speaker, could the Minister tell us if funding allocations from the territorial budget are divided based on population size on a per capita basis? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, similarly to what I said with respect to this not being parceled out bit by bit or to one community over another depending perhaps on where a Minister's from or where they might like to go, that is simply not how the budget here gets allocated. And it is not done on a per capita basis. Again, it's done on each department looking at where the areas of need are, what are the areas where we need to spend more.

So again, I gave an example earlier, Mr. Speaker, with respect to ECE and schools. Same issue with respect to healthcare. I mean, the medical travel costs for certain communities on a per capita basis would not serve those communities. If folks who need to leave from certain of the most distant communities of the Northwest Territories wouldn't be able to get medical travel if we did this on a per capita basis, and that is not how the Government of the Northwest Territories functions, Mr. Speaker. We want to ensure that, again, every resident has the best possible chance based on the need, based on the limited resources we have. And so each department brings forward to FMB what their needs are, what they see areas of particular concern are, and we're trying to allocate the money as best we can across all regions, across all departments, for all the residents in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if budget allocations among the communities are based on the need of the community or are those based on political decisions by the Cabinet? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we're coming full circle to where I started, Mr. Speaker. So each department, again, has a set budget that allows them to perform the basic functions, programs, and services that they have to undertake. When there's an ask made and for example, Mr. Speaker, I undertake budget dialogue. It's something I've done for two years in a row now, and that's done in the summer to give time for the departments to react to what we might hear in that process. Community governments attend, individual NGOs, nonprofit sector attend, business chambers attend, and individual members of the public also attend, Mr. Speaker. And every single one of them is bringing forward a different ask, a different need, identifying a different area where there's pressure points. And when they've done that, Mr. Speaker, and again as I've said, each department that delivers those programs and services can go back and say, have we met those needs; are there new needs that we didn't know about or that we weren't focusing on? And we can do that to bring through the business planning cycle in the summer which builds upon and gets us to where we are now, which is the main estimates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure about the Great Bear River Bridge.

The quarry permit for the bridge states that there could be up to 600,000 cubic meters of granular material hauled. Given an end dump generously hauls 20 cubic meters, that's 30,000 loads going across the bridge and such. So can the Minister -- or sorry, going across the roads.

Can the Minister speak to what is the plan for that hauling? Will it be going through the town on the municipal roads? Who will pay for the wear and tear on the roads? And how will safety be addressed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for infrastructure.

Quanainni. Details associated with the implementation of the project will be developed once the project is procured. The method of procurement is yet to be determined. I can say that considerations of saving existing community infrastructure and consideration of the environment are paramount as we go forward on a lot of these -- on these infrastructure projects. Quanainni.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I do appreciate that we're still fairly early in the process, but I don't think it hurts to start looking at these ideas or these issues now to ensure they get captured. So my next question is about the ice road.

Similar to my first question, the amount of traffic on that winter road because all the material will have to be hauled during the wintertime across the Mackenzie, I'm concerned that that's going to create greater degradation of the road faster than it would with a lighter more less commercial traffic.

So I'm wondering has an ice engineering company been contracted already to provide an ice control plan for this work? Will there be extra monitoring during the hauling? And what would the costs be somewhat around that and has that already been incorporated into the budget? Thank you.

Quanainni. Consideration of traffic on the winter roads, proper monitoring, will all be considered once we get to the procurement stage. And I thank the Member for her suggestions on third party professional consultation. I do want to add, Mr. Oqakti, that procurement and construction are anticipated to take place in the summer of 2023, and the bridge opened for traffic on January 2027 if all things go in line with the project and timelines. Quanainni.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there's sometimes a bit of a disconnect to communications here because while the department is often chugging ahead with their project, I'm not sure that that's filtering down into the community level. And as I mentioned in my statement, there is worry about money lapsing and issues not being addressed as well as community improvement not being captured.

So my next question is can the Minister commit to creating a community impact advisory group with local community leadership that includes regular in-person meetings, say bimonthly, in order to hear their concerns and properly consult? I think that the community is always best situated to know what will work for them and what won't, and as well too, they always know where all the quirks and the skeletons are. So I think engaging them quickly and having a regular ongoing conversation and being proactive would be helpful in this case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Quanainni. Several rounds of community engagement sessions, traditional knowledge studies, pre-engineering, and award of the engineering services contract have been completed, and these continue -- have been completed, and these continue with the next schedule for Tulita in the coming days. A meeting with the community of Tulita is scheduled for tomorrow. You know, it is logical to be able to involve the community in all these consultations. So that's what we're attempting -- that's what we're doing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that now that we're moving into the next fiscal year that you know, things will -- there will be new things starting to happen this summer. I'm assuming, and I know actually, that this meeting tomorrow would be a virtual meeting between the Minister and the town and so I guess I would like to re-ask, will the Minister commit to visiting the community of Tulita to speak with leadership about the Great Bear River Bridge within the next three months? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Quanainni. You know, right now we are planning bilateral meetings in the next couple months. The community is fully engaged. I have met with them in the past and, you know, talked about discussing some of the procurement process going forward. I just want to say that the GNWT, Department of Infrastructure, is starting these discussions early. I already mentioned in the timelines that we're not set to start until next summer. But I feel like it's important that we continue community engagement, reach out to the leaders, and to be able to have that discussion so they know what's happening with these projects. Quanainni.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure.

Small scale hydro projects for three Tlicho communities would allow them to meet their energy needs, offset diesel for electricity, and could displace home heating oil while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of living.

Is the Minister aware of these, any hydro studies, and can she tell us whether the cost of these mini hydro projects as comparable to the proposed Whati transmission line? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Quanainni. We are aware, and we have been involved in several pre-feasibility studies of mini hydro projects in the Tlicho region. We are actively working the Tlicho government and the community government of -- community of Gameti to advance the Whati transmission line and the Gameti mini hydro projects.

Our initial estimate, used to inform the 2030 Energy Strategy, for the Whati transmission line is about 350 per lifetime GHG reductions as compared to the 750 or more lifetime GHG reduction for something like Gameti mini hydro.

Gameti is the most promising of the potential mini hydro projects in the region. Oqakti, it is important to note that these are projections and will be subject to change as these projects advance. Quanainni.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I didn't really get an answer so I might have to try it as a written question.

But it's my understanding of the costs of some of these mini hydro projects should go down specifically to all-season road now providing easier transportation. Can the Minister tell us whether there's been a comprehensive evaluation of energy options for the Tlicho communities, including mini hydro transmission lines from various sources and, perhaps most importantly, looking at value for money in terms of greenhouse gas reductions. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Quanainni. Actions under the 2030 Energy Strategy are assessed against the main goal of having reliable, affordable, sustainable energy systems here in the Northwest Territories. This means that we must consider more than just GHG emissions, but we consider things like cost of energy, keeping the lights on, keeping people warm during the winter, economic development, as well as community support and community security. We are following the 2030 Energy Strategy which was developed through an extensive public engagement and informed by many years of feasibility studies to help us compare options.

The -- you know, I respectfully disagree with the Member that we're not evaluating things seriously. I encourage the Member to be able to look at and review our energy initiatives report which outlines all the excellent work that the government is undertaking to meet our goals, including $38 million invested in this area in 2020-2021. I also encourage the Member to share his thoughts as we continue with public engagement in the next three-year energy action plan, which is currently underway. You know, it's feedback from these engagement sessions that really be able to give us directions and actions over the next three years. Quanainni.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course she well knows that I don't support the doomed 2030 Energy Strategy. It's not going to meet its targets no matter what the Minister says. She knows that. But we may be able to reduce or eliminate all three -- all the diesel for three Tlicho communities for the same cost as building a transmission line to just one. Given that there hasn't been this evaluation of options that I've mentioned, why is the Minister proceeding with a transmission line to Whati only? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Quanainni. We are not proceeding with the transmission line alone. We are working in partnership with the Tlicho government, the community government of Whati, to be able to advance the transmission line and the community of Gameti on the mini hydro.

It's important, Mr. Speaker, to note that the transmission line is entirely on Tlicho lands. There are projects that our Indigenous partners want to advance, and we are -- and we agree in this regard. We look forward to moving these important projects forward in partnership. We're also working with Northlands Utilities to support feasibility work to better understand the better energy options for the community of Wekweeti. Thank you.