Floyd Roland

There has been quite a number of Assemblies that have shown their support for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, this Assembly being one of them. There have been a number of reports that include infrastructure, highways. I think there are a number of reports out there that have been put forward to the federal government around connections, highways, transportation, airports, ferries, that type of scenario. What we’ve been engaged in was to look at how we can keep a devolution/revenue sharing deal on the table tied to future investments in key infrastructure in the Northwest Territories like the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The opportunity that I took was with the Prime Minister, looking at the devolution and resource revenue sharing talks, where that was as the cap that was identified, and put it forward to the Prime Minister that we come up with an infrastructure deal that could see us in partnership building a project like the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in fact, I’d be pleased to put that information together and set some time up for Members of the Assembly to look at where things are at, and to look at this reengagement process we are now having some discussions on and looking to move forward in that partnership. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The area of discussions right now on resource revenue sharing tied to devolution is one that we’re starting to look at a reengagement strategy with the federal government. There have been a couple of recent meetings that have been held at a staff level that shows that the federal government is interested in coming back to the table. I’ve contacted regional leaders about reengagement, as well, and we’ll be having further discussions on that.

There have been no real negotiations for quite some time and the numbers the Member has used, when you look at what was put on the...

Mr. Speaker, I believe I made a commitment to the Members of this Assembly, through that earlier response, that we will work with Members. It is a coordinated effort from the Government of the Northwest Territories. We will contact Members through standing committees as to the process we will adopt going forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a couple of Ministers or, actually, a number of Ministers working on this file between the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and the Minister of ITI. The response will be a joint one put together. The Ministers will be collaborating as well as seeking input from Members on our response.

Just for the record, the article that the Member has raised in National Post is one where it is an article from a reporter. There is no confirmation, in fact, that the federal government has said anything regarding the pipeline itself and where that project is. There...

Mr. Speaker, the economic analysis of a Mackenzie Valley Highway is something that the Department of Transportation has undertaken and I believe they are prepared to set some time aside with Members to go over that work. Thank you.

We have kept the discussion going at the political level with engagement from the Prime Minister’s office, a commitment to have further discussions around an infrastructure discussion. There has been no formal proposal put in place, but we continue to engage, for example, with the Minister of Transportation and other Ministers around this idea and looking at how we can work with the federal government through the different pots of funding to even come up with, for example, what they have announced up in the Inuvik-Tuk portion of highway work that can be done. Thank you.

I understand that the Honourable Bob McLeod is working on this initiative and is prepared to come forward with projects that he’s been looking at or the involvement that they’ve had. So that is something that we’re tapping into as well. Part of the problem is we’ve been trying to get the details and what would qualify under these programs, and as that detail has become available, we’ve started to put the focus on some of those projects.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Yukon amount the Member has made mention of actually falls in Canada’s Green Infrastructure Fund, is the term that’s been used. There are a number of things that we’ve gotten ready for. We have a number of proposals that are ready to go as we engage in those levels of discussions. The Yukon project was the first to announce this program, is what I understand.

We’ve got quite a number of initiatives that are in the pipe, as we call it, that works with the federal government; a number of departments to get the funding and resources up here in the North. That fund is a...