Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following three documents entitled "Northwest Territories Species At Risk Committee Annual Report 2018-2019"; "Conference of Management Authorities - Species At Risk Annual Report 2018-2019"; and "Public Service Annual Report 2018/2019." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The GNWT has done some high-level estimates regarding the cost of extending the fibre line to Tuktoyaktuk. This project is being considered as part of the Investing in Canada Plan. The GNWT, we are committed to working on a more detail plan related to this project which will ultimately determine the final cost and timing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line is a backbone transport link to GNWT asset. Linking this backbone to the community is what's called the "last mile." This service is provided by the local service provider as GNWT is not in the business of providing local Internet service. Building this backbone significantly improved the telecommunications infrastructure in the Mackenzie Valley, replacing the aging and costly microwave system. It isn't accurate to say that there haven't been improvement or promises made. The only promises I make are to my grandchildren. We have...

The quick answer is yes, when a resident applies, we will work with the client to come up with an affordable monthly payment plan, and, if there are some that have entered into repayment plans already, we would expect them to honour it, and this program would apply to them, as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I noted before, the Property Tax Arrears program is designed to provide a path for residents to address the outstanding arrears. Residents can enter into a repayment plan for the outstanding property taxes, and the interest that has been building up will be forgiven; or, in other words, the resident will not have to pay the interest portion. Residents, we have to be quite clear, have to stay current on their payment plan on future property taxes to stay eligible for the program.

Mr. Speaker, revenue forecasts were developed for the project that were projected to increase over time. Revenue has grown at a pace of around 20 percent a year since the inception of the Mackenzie fibre optic line in 2017, and has met its projected forecast. With the recent approvals related to the Inuvik satellite station, I expect there will be more interest and, coming from small communities such as Inuvik, we see that interest firsthand. Finance continues to work with the federal government on the development of a satellite station facility to further increase revenue. Thank you, Mr...

I would be interested to hear from some of the smaller communities down the valley to see if their services have improved at all. We know of the federal announcement where they have committed a whole bunch of money to improving broadband in northern communities, and I think our service providers up here was able to take advantage of some of that. We own Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line. I think we're responsible for getting it out to pop-out, as it's called in the community, and then their service provider would go from there.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we shouldn't be throwing around promises. I don...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 54, Standard Interest Rates Statutes Amendment Act, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program is providing $1.7 million this year to support 28 monitoring and research projects. Funding recipients include Indigenous governments and organizations, universities, and territorial and federal government departments.

This year, seven new projects are receiving funding over three years to address key cumulative impact monitoring priorities for caribou, water, and fish. Results will provide valuable scientific and traditional knowledge for resource managers, governments, and communities to...

Like I said before, we can have those discussions with the operators, or we can have those discussions with communities. It is something that I believe has been tried before. As I said before, they do always find ways around it. I agree with the Member 100 percent that this is an issue that really has an adverse effect on the people of the Northwest Territories. Always has; always has.

We hope, with some of the changes that we have made, some of the education out there, and people seeing first-hand the effects of alcohol, that they would make a decision to change their lifestyle. There is...