The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for ENR.

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with regret, I have to inform the House, no, we didn't hear anything. I didn't hear anything. We didn't even get notified by any level of the Alberta government and we had to actually find out through, I guess you would call it the telephone system where somebody provides something else and then they cut to our staff and then this is how we found out. So, unfortunately, no, we did not find out the way we were supposed to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me if any of the Indigenous governments and partners were aware of this spill? Has he been in contact with any of them to find out if they were aware of it prior, because there was media releases out there and, you know, for some reason we didn't pick up on those. Thank you.

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning after becoming aware of this spill, ENR compiled a "what we know" information sheet, and it is being sent to all Indigenous and community governments, partners, in the area. We are currently communicating with Indigenous governments in the town of Fort Smith to enhance monitoring of the water in the Slave River to track any potential impacts of upstream incidents. This is a precaution as we do not expect to see any changes based on the monitoring that is occurring in Alberta. We will continue to work closely with our Indigenous governments and communities.

Mr. Speaker, like I said, we received the information from an Indigenous government through the system there. So we are working with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a spill like this could have a devastating effect on -- again, on the water, aquatic life, mammals, vegetation and that. So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me what impact his department thinks that may have on the residents, water, aquatic life, animals and that, and vegetation as well? Thank you.

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to make it clear there is no evidence for concern about the water quality at this time. Enhanced testing of water, drinking water in Fort Chip, where the water is typically drawn from the Lake Athabasca show no evidence of contamination. There is no denying that the truth of Indigenous governance, community leaders, and our government has been affected by the failure to provide direct notification. So we are working with it down in Fort Smith as well to keep the monitoring of this, and we will provide information if we have concerns moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue, I guess, arose partly because of Imperial probably wasn't doing their job by informing people but the other thing is that the Alberta government failed. I'm not sure if it's because it's a Conservative government and not some -- another one, but anyways. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me what are the next steps this government will take on this matter? More importantly, what steps will they take and what discussions will they have, if any, with the Alberta government? Thank you.

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right. Residents rightly want to know their government has taken steps to ensure they're safe. To this end, we continue to work with Indigenous governments and the Town of Fort Smith to enhance water monitoring in Slave River. We also communicated with the Alberta government officials to better understand the nature of the spill and the potential for impact and plans for cleanup. Recognizing this is an unacceptable breach of our bilateral water management agreement with the Alberta government, we will be activating the agreement dispute resolution provision. We will be working to ensure the terms of our agreement are honoured by the Alberta government. And most importantly, we will continue to work with our Indigenous governments and communities and keep them informed.

Mr. Speaker, I've been trying to reach out to the Alberta Minister as well. I will be reaching out with a letter to both the Alberta government, the minister, as well the federal minister. This is unacceptable. We need to be informed, and that's what those transboundary agreements are about.

So, again, I apologize to the residents of the Northwest Territories that there was a failure with this system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to -- I'm pretty sure that M18 project, I think we gave $2 million a few years ago. So if I was -- I correct myself if -- out of my Member's statement.

Mr. Speaker, what work is the department doing to bring down the cost of fuel and electricity in the Nunakput communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure is working to get more fuel storage into the communities. We've applied for funding through the DMAP, which is the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, program. So we're expecting to be able to expand our fuel storage capacity in Sachs Harbour, in Ulukhaktok, Paulatuk, and Tuktoyaktuk. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.