Kevin O'Reilly

To Whati.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I have some questions about the Tlicho All-Season Road. I was in the last Assembly, and I am sorry to say that this is the first time that I've ever heard that the highway doesn't actually go to the community. It comes as more than a bit of a surprise. I am furiously trying to look at the environmental review board website, and I do see a map here showing the Tlicho All-Season Road going up to a point that is outside the community boundary. Is there actually a road, then, that is going to go from the end? Is there a road already in place from the end of the Tlicho All...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, no aspect of government service delivery is free of the shadow of COVID, particularly health service delivery. We know midwifery consultation in the South Slave and Deh Cho is on hold, pending COVID. Can the Minister briefly summarize what impacts COVID has had on midwifery implementation and when we will finally have a full, territorial midwifery program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes. I really want to encourage the Minister, maybe working with her colleague the Minister of Finance to do that kind of macro-economic analysis of what we could actually get for $450 million, the cost to build this road. We don't have the $450 million to build it, and I think that's probably on the low side. Would we create more jobs? Would we create greater well-being for the Northwest Territories if we invested in that money into childcare or housing rather than building a road? That's a fundamental question here that I hope that my colleagues on the other side are...

I want to thank the Minister for that. I look forward to seeing that document. The update that was supplied to me in August said, "Territorial leadership positions will undertake policy and guideline development and will develop data collection and reporting mechanisms consistent with the approved monitoring and evaluation framework." It's hard to believe that we've been running a program for more than five years without data reporting, collection, monitoring, or evaluation. Can the Minister tell us when the required policy and guideline development is going to be completed?

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm not sure that the Minister actually understood my question. Of course, regulatory applications are the first step to an environmental assessment, but any party, including GNWT -- I shouldn't say, "any party" -- a limited number of parties can actually trigger or, once the applications are filed, ask that an environmental assessment be conducted. One of those parties is this government. Is this party going to trigger an environmental assessment for this project? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Here's a familiar topic for my Member's statements: midwifery. This is the 13th time I've raised it as an MLA. I certainly won't try to summarize the delays and excuses that still leave us far short of the much-promised territorial Midwifery Program, but I will try to nail down where we are today and hopefully learn how this essential service will finally be delivered to all Northwest Territories families.

Work on creating a full midwifery program began in 2013. Progress was slow and lead up to a 2017 Northwest Territories midwifery stakeholder engagement, which...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'd like to pick up where my colleague from Yellowknife North left off. The Mackenzie Valley Highway has been in environmental assessment now for over seven years. Seven years. It was submitted to environmental assessment by GNWT Department of Transportation back in February of 2013. What I'm worried is that the same thing is about to happen with the Slave Geological Province Road. I've heard a lot of fuzziness around what this project really is; whether it includes hydro; is it really part of a bigger project that's going to spill over into Nunavut? It's extremely fuzzy...

Yes. Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess we are putting up the 75-cent dollars, hoping that somebody else is going to come along and match it with 25-cent dollars? Is that what this is about? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Just so I am clear, is there actual money in this set of capital estimates for the Frank Channel Bridge right now? Thanks, Madam Chair.