Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, continuing on with my Member's statement on the condition of the Dempster Highway, again specifically from Rengleng River to Inuvik. I know, Mr. Speaker, that the Minister is aware of this. I know I'm not the only one that's received letters and emails and texts from constituents and from businesses on this. So now that the Minister's had a little break and was able to take a breather, I'll ask the Minister of Infrastructure what plan do they have going forward to ensure that this section of highway doesn't continue to deteriorate and gets resurfaced to be able to handle the seasons, spring and fall? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, this is definitely an area of concern. It's been brought up many times, obviously. This is one that's definitely been a hot radar topic area. So they've done a lot of work on it. But, obviously, during this time of year when it's raining as bad as it is, it shows that it's getting a little slushy and mucky. So the department has reached out to the contractor to do some work on it. Obviously, we can easily -- we can obviously easily say it's going to go away as soon as it freezes and the snow fills everything in. But you're right, when the spring comes around, we're going to be obviously looking at some more issues with that. So I will work with the department to see what solutions we can have to be prepared for the spring and the summer and see what our options are there. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, and if you look at the sections that were redone on the Inuvik-Tuk Highway, certainly some of the sections that were redone on the Dempster Highway to enable -- again, resurfacing work that enabled that road to be able to withstand the rains that we get every spring and every fall so we don't have those conditions, so we don't have transport trucks coming in and almost sliding off the road, so we don't have this spine-rattling, shock-busting road that we get for that section coming into Inuvik that, you know, will create an hour-and-15-minute drive and now it's taking two and a half hours for residents to get in there.

So will the Minister commit to looking at the work that's been done on those other sections to mirror that with this section coming into Inuvik from Rengleng River? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So with that section there, I assume part of the issue is with the material going away, falling off the sides or whatever it may be, so it makes it all muddy this time of year. So I'll commit to working with the Member and getting to the department to finding out what a solution is going forward to make sure that if we don't fix it right away or fix it initially that we can build on it by putting layers of gravel on it and fixing it over the next few -- while. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think I almost got a commitment out of the Minister on that one, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, the issue is the amount -- I mean, and I've spoken to contractors. When you're putting a putting a small amount of crushed gravel, when it's one-quarter inch crush, you're doing it at a time of year where it's not appropriate. You're doing it in September; you should be doing it in June. You should get to working on this thing in June and maybe even looking when the ferry service is out, so you have less traffic to get out and build that road up. And that's the issue. And the only thing that will solve it is to resurface that section of the road, similar to what they've done on the ITH and what they've done on other highways. What I'm looking for is a commitment -- and I realize this is resources -- a commitment to actually once and for all resurface, upgrade that section of road, so we don't have those issues going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member, and I agree with his concerns. Again, I will work with the Member to work with the department and see what we can do to find a path forward to make sure that it's corrected and repaired properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member for Range Lake.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, I definitely value the work of the SPCA. Not everything that happens in the territory is government-supported, nor should it be. There are some things where the community, where people have to step up. I'm happy to make a donation. I'll commit to making a $500 donation to the SPCA here. I encourage other Members to do it. There are some things that we as citizens of the territory need to come together and support. There's other things only government can really support. So while I'd like to be able to stand up here and say every NGO gets money because they all do valuable work, the fact is that we have a certain amount of funds, and we have to ensure that we're distributing those where they're going to make the largest impact to the people of the territory. So the SPCA, again, a wonderful organization. I value the work that they do. The government values the work that they do. But the Government of the Northwest Territories can't be everything to everybody all the time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Premier for the donation. I donated earlier today, and I would challenge every Member of this House to provide a contribution as well. But it shouldn't be up to members of this House or the members of the -- or the citizens of the Northwest Territories to fund veterinary care in small communities and regional centres, places where the SPCA spends a lot of their resources doing spay and neuter programming, emergency medical care, all those kind of things.

Why are those not considered critical territorial services? Because if we don't -- I mean if the Premier knows about stray dogs in a community, he knows they can be a danger to public safety. And if we're not spaying and neutering dogs, that's the kind of thing that happens. So can the Premier explain to me, because I don't understand, why this is not considered a critical service when it directly relates to public safety and the welfare of communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think I explained earlier what we're talking about when we talk about critical services. However, I do take the Member's points. You know, from time to time you hear about the impact of stray dogs in communities. It comes and goes. Sometimes it's worse than others. But what I'll do is I will have a conversation with the Minister of MACA, I'll have a conversation with the department, and see what type of work is happening in this area and what types of supports are possible, if any. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Premier transmit that to the SPCA as well, that that commitment's been made, that that work will be ongoing and the SPCA will be involved in those discussions so they are not left waiting to see where this work is going? And thank you to the commitment. I think that's progress. But I think the SPCA needs to be a partner for this discussion just as they were during the evacuation. They were a partner back then; they can be a partner today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I've committed to work with the Minister of MACA, have a conversation with him, talk to EIA about what is possible, and so I will ensure that I do that. If it moves beyond that, I'm happy to work with the SPCA as well. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'll be continuing on with more questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

So in its response, rejecting a recommendation to set up a dedicated stand-alone emergency management agency, the government has claimed that the current structure is very strong because it operates independently from day-to-day departmental bureaucracy, it's shielded from political interference, and it facilitates timely decisions based on the best available information. And yet the after-action review actually found that the current structure has led to political interference and delays in decision-making, confusion about responsibilities, lack of clarity about objectives, and resource constraints.

So my question: If the GNWT will not consider setting up a stand-alone emergency management agency, does the Minister have concerns about the current reporting structure where the incident command system reports ultimately to the MACA Minister since this can create danger of political interference or delays? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to be clear, the after-action review brought out the issues that happened during that time. From that time forward, the government has taken steps to correct some of those and has been working since that time. The after-action review brought out a lot of the concerns that even I had. So to say that that's happening right now is not exactly correct. So some of the things that have been brought out may have been corrected before this after-action review has been released, some of which is what the Member is speaking about right now.

So the EMO organizations throughout the Northwest Territories use an ICS system, so the Incident Command System. That does not report to the Minister. What this structure does, it allows all your trained personnel to get together to make educated, you know, responses for that type of emergency, because every emergency is different.

What happens then is the recommendation may be put forward to the Minister for something like a territorial state of emergency. So it's only a recommendation that ultimately goes to the Minister. Decisions are made by trained personnel using the ICS system. And this is a common system throughout Canada.

So, you know, in the past where there may have been some political interference, that happening now is highly unlikely due to the amount of training that we've been doing. ICS training has been done at every level of the government, including us as bureaucrats. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So it sounds, though, that the Minister is saying that recommendations are being made by the incident command, but decisions are ultimately made by the Minister. Has the Minister already examined -- or perhaps changes have already been made that he can explain -- but how the lines of command during a state of emergency can be shortened and restructured to be more independent of the Minister's office? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The current structure already separates from the political side. The decisions are all made within the ICS system, and when it comes down to a Minister making a decision, it's through the legislation on what type of decision that may be. So sometimes it's signing off on an emergency evacuation order that a local state of emergency that has been declared. So it's not the Minister making the decision; it's following the recommendations of the trained staff. So basically the Minister's role is limited to making statutory declarations if a local state of emergency or something like that has been made. The Minister is not responsible for making decisions for the evacuation -- or for the emergency. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.