Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, you know, with climate change being so real up here in the North, you know, it's affecting us way more than it is across Canada, we are seeing things that are just -- things we've never seen before. I mean, one example is the -- you know, one of our barges were not able to make it into our one community as a result of climate change. And so, I mean, there are a number of factors. You know, we do -- we do think about things like that when we're looking at our budgets because, you know, it's really hard to predict what's going to happen anywhere in the territories. And, you know, finding extra money for this is always a struggle. And if I can ask Mr. Brennan if he wants to add anything further to the Member's question. Thank you.
Debates of March 8th, 2023
This is page numbers 5763 - 5826 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
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Brennan
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think just adding a little bit more to what the Minister said, staffing wise on highway operations, I don't think we have any concerns. We have the North Slave and South Slave operate their own forces, and we're always able to find qualified individuals to do that work. And in the Deh Cho and the Beaufort Delta, have contracted service and we have -- you know, we have plenty of good talent in those regions as well. In terms of cost increases, we're seeing the same inflationary pressures that we see across the board. The price of asphalt, oil, as the Minister noted earlier, is impacting the amount of chip seal done. It's also impacting the amount of maintenance that we can do. Cost of aggregate is going up, same as everything else. So, yeah, we are starting to see those impacts, and we'll go through the business planning process to seek increases for budgets as we need to. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Two things there, just because the Minister opened the door. If you send the barge in earlier in the season, you aren't going to run into problems trying to send it in in October. So I won't get into that with you today. However, is -- so given what the ADM said, is this three -- or under $3 million increase here, is that actually anticipated inflationary pressures, forced growth per se, or is it going to be something where we would have to come back? Is this sort of a real actual one or does it have that contingency built in already? Thank you.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if I could ask the Member to clarify which line that she's referring to. Under our highway operations, we have three different areas, item 6, 7, and 8. So I want to be able to provide an answer if I know specifically what line the Member's speaking to.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Minister, we don't have that much detail in our budget. So we just have highway operations. So Minister.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, well, in that case I'm just going to pick one of my lines. The 1.35 -- $1.3 million is amortization increase for some of the GNWT assets. We have about 364 for mobile equipment fuel forced growth. We also have about $589,000 for regional highway operation for the dust control under forced growth. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you. And if you want to send that list, you can give it to us. Member for Great Slave.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Thank you, Madam Chair. This Minister's great for always, like, triggering other questions for me. So my next one sort of is around that dust control. I do know that one of the things we did here about the Whati road was that it was quite dusty. And I do appreciate that the department did appear to respond fairly quickly after our visit and get some dust control measures on the road. That being said, I again wonder if we're going to be seeing over time an increased need for dust control and other measures. So where does it become a point where, I guess -- or is it being looked at when doing the dust control no longer seems to be worthwhile, and then we would be looking at, like, chip sealing? Around Whati, are we looking for that -- around this specific road, are we waiting to see if the mine goes ahead before we make those types of decisions? What would sort of trigger the chip sealing of a road like that? Thank you.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I will turn it over to Gary in case I trigger any further questions here. It'll just be yes, no answers, and that -- that's the case. Mr. Brennan.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Brennan
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So for the Whati road, that there is actually a road that was a P3 project. So we current -- have a current agreement with the contractor to maintain the road in its current state for 25 years. So there's no plans to chip seal that road for the life of that agreement. Currently no plans. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Thank you, Madam Chair. So within that P3 agreement, though, is there the opportunity should there be a required upgrade to the road given the advancement of any of the mining activity in the area? Is there flexibility within the agreement to allow for road upgrades and sort of how does that work given that there is a third party entity here. Thank you.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm going to say yes, only if we revise the agreement. So, I mean, there is opportunity going forward to look at the agreement, and if it is required, that is something we can look at. Thank you.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5791
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I'm good. I'll let the Minister off the hook for the rest of the minute and a half. Thanks.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Are there any more questions under regional operations? Member for Hay River South.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Rocky Simpson Hay River South
Thank you, Madam Chair. Hopefully this is the right place to ask this, but. My medical for my driver's license expires next month. I'm just wondering if I can get an extension? No.
Actually, I want to talk about -- and I'm hoping it's the right place -- is the EVL books for log books.
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
That would be in programs and services. programs and services. Programs and services that would have been in. Ask in the House tomorrow. Did you have any questions under regional operations?
Committee Motion 377-19(2): Committee Report 45-19(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Bill 60: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act - Government Response to Recommendations, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
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Rocky Simpson Hay River South
(audio) they are for weights. I know that Deline was probably a little bit behind there, and I'm just wondering if fuel is getting into communities, how the roads are holding up as well up the valley? Thank you.