Katrina Nokleby

Yes, I commit to keeping the Member informed, and I am sure the Member will let me know if I am not. Thank you.

Without having been the Minister in 2018, I am not sure what the cause has been for the delay. I agree wholeheartedly with the Member that the safety and well-being of the people of Sachs Harbour is of critical importance. I commit to looking into it after we get out of session today, that we are currently in now, looking into whether or not the situation with the medevacs has been impeded. It is my understanding that we are working with my colleagues at Health and Social Services to ensure that we do have that reply and the medevac services maintained. It's my understanding we may be using a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document: "Annual Report to the Legislative Assembly under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act 2019." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For the 2020 fiscal year, the department will provide additional freight payments for the remote locations to support the strategic goals outlined in the strategy for revitalizing the Great Slave Lake commercial fishery of 10 cents per pound for zones 2 and 3 and 20 cents per pound for zones 4 and 5, which, in turn, will increase cash liquidity to fishers for seasonal start-up activities. The regional office has been having conference calls with the fishers every two weeks. Discussions have been held to provide updates on the status of FFMC, the status of ITI programs, and new safety programs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do have a copy of the advisory panel documents, the report, and I will review. It is an exciting time, especially if this does evolve into being a harvester-led-and-owned entity. We are very excited for this project to move forward, and there is no anticipation that we would not; we're just trying to figure out how that's going to go. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, we are in the feasibility stage of the project, so our focus remains on examining the potential commercial structures, signing an MOU with our Indigenous partners, and working closely with the Canadian infrastructure bank to build a preliminary business case for this project. Technical work is focused on transmission-line routing options and costs. Strong Indigenous partnerships are imperative to the success of this project. I recently met with the YKDFN leadership to hear their thoughts on how they would like to be involved in this project. I look forward to meeting with other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Taltson energy expansion project does remain a priority of not only Infrastructure but of the 19th Legislative Assembly as decided upon by all of us in October last year. The GNWT has been successful in obtaining $18 million in grant funding from Canada and continues to pursue the advancement of the project in terms of examining options for the commercial structure, defining our Indigenous partnerships, and completing technical design and environmental baseline work in order to prepare for a regulatory application.

There are a number of sub-programs described in the SEED policy that fall under that entrepreneur support category, and there is no specific pot of funding associated with each. Generally, we have $4 million fund that supports economic development in our communities.

This council will be one of three that will be used by Cabinet and all of the government in order to be better informed by the stakeholders as was part of our 19th Legislative Assembly mandate and commitment priorities. We will be working towards making more evidence-based decisions by looking at or getting the feedback from the councils and their inputs, their recommendations. There will be reports provided that will be sent to the executive council and also shared as part of the co-committee that we will be having with the Regular MLAs and ourselves on economic recovery. The plan is to use...

I don't believe I said that I have done everything I can do. I will say, though, that I am doing the best that I can to my ability. I have several areas of business and industry where I need to advocate for everyone. I am only one person, and I do acknowledge that there are things that we could be doing better. I believe I already answered the question as to why we went with loans instead of grants with the BDIC. However, I do commit to coming back to the Member with a more fulsome answer on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.