Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the business case is being developed to articulate things like the strategic rationale for the project, demonstrates both economic and social impacts to the Northwest Territories, determine the method by which the project is implemented to ensure optimal value for money. This is still work underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, I understand what a business case is, Mr. Speaker. I understand you need one in order to justify spending billions of dollars. I didn't quite get an answer there of whether -- so I'll try again. Has the business case been developed and if so, can we release it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the business case was shared with the Indigenous groups. Until we get further feedback from our working group and our steering group, whether we provide it to the public that's still yet to be determined. So right now, it is with the Indigenous groups. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, this Cabinet repeatedly, in every single capital budget, including those asking for money for Taltson expansion. We spent tens of millions of dollars already, and we will continue to spend it, and yet they refuse to share the business case with us. Additionally, the Minister refuses to tell us how much the project actually is going to cost. The last cost estimate we have is from 2014. It included a transmission line to the diamond mines. I understand we are no longer doing that.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister give us an estimate of how much the Taltson project is going to cost. I honestly don't know whether it's two and a half billion dollars or $1 billion, Mr. Speaker. That is the order of magnitude I am unsure of the cost of this project. Can we have an estimate of how much this is going to cost us? Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yeah, Mr. Speaker, I just find it completely unreasonable we're having this debate with no sense of how much this project is going to cost. It's clear this will be the largest infrastructure project this territory has ever built. It's a 60-megawatt expansion. Currently, between Blue Fish, Snare, and existing Taltson, we have about 50 megawatts of hydro. So we are more than doubling the amount of power we need to sell in this territory. That is a giant project. It is a multibillion-dollar project; I feel confident saying that. Unlike nothing we have ever done. So can we answer some basic questions. Who are we selling this 60 megawatts of power to? That is tens, if not hundreds of millions of more dollars of power we need to sell. We essentially have to double our rate base. That is a lot of mines that need to exist, Mr. Speaker. So can the Minister try and explain to me who we are selling this power to? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll say it again. Our working group and steering group are working with Indigenous partners to look at the alignment. You know, we still haven't decided on what phase we're going to work on. And I just want the Member to know it's a big picture thinking. It's thinking about the future. You know, leveraging federal funding so that we could make life better for Northwest Territories residents. 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 ITI. It's been a while since I asked her about anything to do with mining so I thought it would be a good opportunity to do so.

Given that a lot of what we've been talking about has been around the wildfires, can the Minister please give us an update on how wildfire evacuation and fighting has impacted our mining sector. And I guess particularly I'm interested to know how Pine Point is doing considering they are in the South Slave area that was quite impacted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the wildfires certainly this season did have an impact on the industry.

With respect to Pine Point, Mr. Speaker, I imagine, quite fortunately, they're -- I understand their property was not affected by the wildfires notwithstanding how close they may have come. But one of -- there was one gold property actually much closer towards Yellowknife that did see some damage to some of their properties. But other than that, those are the only damaged properties. The impacts really were more in terms of the timing. There were some slowdowns of -- some of the operating mines were loaning out their equipment and their staff. Some of the exploration projects were loaning out -- and perhaps loaning is not the right word but giving access to their helicopters. So work that they would have otherwise planned for the summer season did see some delays. That said, Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to say that Pine Point folks are back on the site. The lithium folks here are back on their sites. They were evacuated. And at this point -- and we also didn't miss the September 11th valuation date for diamonds, which is a pretty significant event here in the fall and which would have had pretty significant timing issues. So things are now back up and running.

My last comment on -- in terms of the wildfire impacts, $500,000, I understand, was provide to the United Way by the operating diamond mines. So quite a lot happened, but a lot of it actually ultimately is good news. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And that's really encouraging to hear. I'm not surprised to hear about the donation from the diamond mines. They always have been stepping up when needed, including during COVID and providing cleaning supplies and such to NGOs.

Just a little bit further, and I'm not sure if the Minister has this information, but have any of the mines expressed that there would be delays to their projects given the wildfire season? I'm glad to hear that equipment that was here was utilized. I actually -- if you run into former Member Wally Schumann ask him about the anthrax guy showing up with his chopper at the 60th parallel during his evacuation. So definitely impacting a lot of our workers are scientists, so. Does the Minister know if there will be any delays to any of the project timelines that were proposed prior to the wildfire season? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd, right now, be probably most concerned about the exploration projects but as I said, at this point folks are back on their sites. They are back up and running and hopefully going to make the most of the time that we still have this fall season. So we are -- I know that the department is actively looking to get back in touch and to be fully briefed directly from the proponents as to where they're at. But at this point, I don't have any information of delays. There was some concerns about some of the resupplies for the CN rail lines but, again, that also appears to be resolved or on its way to being resolved this fall. And with that, we should see, again, while there was certainly some anxious days, I'm sure, for many projects, it does appear that they are proceeding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad to hear that. I was a bit concerned about impacts on supply chain, especially since we've already been reeling after COVID with that sector not being super stable as well as materials being shorthanded. I guess another way that I think that we -- you know, I'm hoping our mineral industry can be supported is that we've been long awaiting the federal government's sort of plan for what they're going to do around the critical mineral strategy, and I know that the Northwest Territories and other territories are key to the federal government's strategy. So I'm just wondering -- I know there was money allocated in -- billions of dollars, I believe, in the 2023 Budget. So I'm just wondering can the Minister speak to -- is that money actually materializing here in the territory any time soon? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the federal, provincial, territorial Ministers for energy and mines were scheduled and, indeed, did meet during the time of the evacuation. I was evacuated but I was able to attend the meeting virtually and with respect to the critical minerals and the mining side of this file, and continue to raise with colleagues federally, as to when we're going to see more progress on this file. It was a good opportunity to meet. I can say we are fortunately now part of the second round of provinces and territories that are doing work called regional energy and resource tables. And that is meant to be the driver that will help determine where and how we can see some of the funds that were announced coming into the territories. But we pressed them again on the fact that, really, the Northwest Territories does need the opportunity to compete at a level that is equivalent to the rest of Canada and we have higher costs. We're going to need some energy availability and sustainable solutions, and we're going to need something that levels the playing field, whether it's a north of 60 mineral exploration credit or otherwise. So all of those conversations were actively had, as I said, really just within the last month. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that there was a recent meeting. I think it's really key right now given where we're at sort of economically in our rebuild. I guess the question I'd want to ask, then, is -- oh, gosh, now I'm losing my train of thought.

With the Minister meeting with her colleagues and such, and given that as we watched the safety issue with our communities not having roads and the acute infrastructure deficit, has the conversation shifted at all for a recognition that our mining sector is also going to be supported if we look at the infrastructure needs that our territory has? So I guess what I'm trying to say is is there now a greater recognition federally that the lack of roads really, while impacting our safety, is really impacting mining. And is that a way that the Minister can kind of push for us to fix that infrastructure deficit. I feel like it's a good thrust that we now have more than one reason why we need roads. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there's been a long uncertainty about which would take priority, whether it's the roads that bring the resupply or whether it would be access to greener and more sustainable energy solutions, which is really an area that is particularly for critical minerals but for the mineral -- the large diamond mines that make public commitments as well as to how they're going to move forward, whether, again, which of those two they take first. I'm sure they'd probably be happy to take both. You know, with respect to roads, Mr. Speaker, I know two -- at least two of the diamond mines -- I know -- I believe De Beers and I think at least one other were flying chartered food into some of their IBA partner communities. So they are well aware of how difficult it is to be disconnected from a road system. I think that angle that the Member's getting is always the angle that we present not only for the mineral resource industry, it's really for all of the industries in the Northwest Territories. Our economy relies on transportation corridors just as others do. It relies on energy access as others do. And the minute we can get to a place where we are on par with the rest of Canada, then we'll be far more competitive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Mr. Speaker, the issue that I brought up in my Member's statement is not a new issue. It was actually addressed to the Minister of Finance and her team while she was up in Inuvik. So my questions for the Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corp who was in charge of this contract, for the wind project in Inuvik, that the contractors who built the road for the wind turbine project have outstanding amounts that need to be paid. Can the Minister advise us and the businesses in my riding and region when they can expect to be paid for the work that they completed? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NT Energy has bonding in place for the project to protect the financial loss and protect subcontractors if they're not paid accordingly to the contract terms for their labour and materials they provide. NT Energy provided subcontractors with information on how to access the labour and materials bond, but some subcontractors have been unable to access it due to the terms of their contract with the primary contractor. NT Energy cannot compensate the subcontractors for unpaid work as it's not a party to this contract. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.