Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can -- maybe this is in the weeds but I -- or, you know, somewhere and perhaps we can update it, I'm sure there's some sort of DIIMS work plan. Can someone just tell me when the license for the software for DIIMS goes to? One of my great fears is that we're going to get everyone on and then every once in a while we get these notices from Microsoft or someone saying oh, we're not renewing this software, and we're going to have to restart with a whole new information management system. Are we confident that when we're done all this that we have a license for this software for -- well, at least a decade or something? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, at this time we're not getting notifications as to this situation. Perhaps -- I hope we don't because, I mean, it does take a lot of time to get -- to get everybody on board with this. And, you know, if we get everyone on board and then we get notification, that's a lot of work and a lot of time, a lot of money that's being put into getting everybody on board. So, you know, my hope is that this doesn't happen. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any further questions on programs and services from Members? Seeing none. Infrastructure, programs and services, operations expenditure summary, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, $17,836,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Minister, did you need to switch your witnesses?

Sergeant-at-arms, please switch the witnesses. Minister, will you please introduce your witness.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Connie to my right is still here but to my left I have my assistant deputy minister Gary Brennan for regional operations. Thank you.

Welcome, Mr. Brennan. All right. So Members, regional operations, beginning on page 274 with information items on page 275. Questions. Seeing -- oh, just about. Member for Thebacha.

So, Madam Chair, she thought I was not going to ask any questions. I just have a very short question. One of them is filling the vacancies, the job vacancies at highways and the airports.

You know, I know it's a -- it's a real concern for me how long it takes to fill a vacancy. And these are -- like, I'm just -- as an example, are the heavy duty mechanic positions at the airport in Fort Smith and at the highways, I want to make sure that they're filled as soon as possible because those are very vital infrastructure that we -- or personnel that we need to ensure that safety and everything continues as usual. And I know both positions are open and they're not -- you know, we lost one person who looked after two of them, and it was a major problem but he went with a different division in government. And so I'm just concerned about the vacancies in positions. I wonder if I can have the Minister answer that question. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it's always our intent to have, when we have vacancies to get them filled for several reasons, because it puts extra stress on some of the other staff that's having to do the job. And so, I mean, it is something that we're looking at. I do want to give Mr. Brennan an opportunity to just speak specifically about what's going on in the Member's area. Thanks.

Thank you. Mr. Brennan.

Thank you. Member for Thebacha.

No, I don't have any other questions, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Are there any other questions from Members under regional operations? Member for Monfwi.

Yes. This winter road, 6.2. So I just wanted to ask how many roads does it cover?

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. So the -- you know, the Member's speaking more specifically, I believe, around the Tlicho road system. So the winter road includes a winter road from Highway No. 9, which is the new Tlicho Highway to Gameti, which is about 151 kilometres, and then you're going to over to Wekweeti which is about 243 kilometres. Also, we have the one to Aklavik which is about 129 kilometres. So yes, we do -- I don't have any more further details other than those are the three I could just speak to on the top of my mind.

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. No, I was just asking in general, not just Tlicho specific. You know, I was just asking in general. But I know that winter road to Gameti was opened late and same thing with Wekweeti, it's going to be opened late. And I know there's a lot of people that are concerned about the climate change. And, you know, because of that that ice road, they're opening late and it's going to be, you know, like a short season for the ice road. So I'm just wondering now that it's -- because a lot of people are saying, you know, like, especially the elders, they -- you know, even to Wekweeti, there's big lakes that you have to go on. And same thing with Gameti too, you know, there's at least three big lakes. So they are very concerned. So they were asking that, you know, maybe to change the route from -- you know, to go more on land. So I'm just wondering if there was -- if there was any study done from the department to possibly change the route for next year? And like I said before, with one of the mine closing, we're going to have a lot of people with class 1 and class 3, and then they're going to be looking for employment. So I'm just wondering if there's any study done to possibly change the route for the winter road?

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I do want to go back to the Member's previous question. We have about 2,438 kilometres of all-season highways; about 1,227 are paved; we have about 1,211 that are gravel here in the territories. We have 1,435 kilometres of public winter and ice roads that connects all our communities overall in general.

Now I'm going to answer the Member's question more specifically about Gameti.

Yes, the road was opened to light traffic to only about 10,000 kilograms on February 27th, which is quite late. Madam Chair, we've been seeing a lot of our communities connecting, you know, wanting to get goods into the communities and we just -- it's a matter of safety. We have to ensure that our roads are safe for people to travel on. I just -- I can't say that enough. And until the roads are safe in profile, only at that time we're able to ensure that we get the right traffic loads on the road. So that is -- that is what we're trying to work on now. Thanks, Madam Chair.