Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Madam Chair. With the number of schools there that you know, that's within the department and some of the work that I see happening, one of the concerns I always have is barrierfree access in our designs and whether you know, whether all schools, even if they're aged, you know, if they're, you know, being retrofitted to ensure that we have barrierfree access for all children and employees. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to go to the line diesel power plant, Infrastructure, territorial. Can the Minister just, I guess, provide me some insight into, you know, how many plants or, yeah, how many plants we're looking at and communities as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'm pleased to hear it might not be 60; it could be 40. Or will it be more like the windmill up in the Delta?

So anyways, I just want to move on here to Fort Simpson. And I and just looking at that, the relocation of the diesel plant and then the setting up the LNG plant, they're both slated for completion at the same time. I guess I'm trying to figure out is one of those plants going to be a backup and one kind of running main power, or what's going on there? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to get an idea of, I guess, where we are with the Fort Providence transmission line, you know, where we are in the process. We got a target completion, I think, by 20242025. Can the Minister just provide me a quick update on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess, you know, when we look at the traffic corridor, you know, traffic coming in from the south, heavy trucks, we're looking at Highway No. 1, and then if it's barge traffic, it's coming in to Hay River and, you know, we have quite a few corners there, we have no shoulders. So is there anything, I guess, in the works to look at maybe road straightening as well as road widening on either well, I guess from the border all the way into Hay River? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And aligning I guess with the Canadian standards, do we have anything inhouse with respect to standards and design criteria for culverts and drainage in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I heard the Minister once mention we were talking about highways, and she had mentioned that it's kind of our highways are kind of graded on a comfort level, I think, and she said something like four out of ten is what we look at which, I guess, isn't all that great. And when I look at the highway system here in the territories, you know, anything that had pavement on it, we're chip sealing. So I guess I'd like to know from the department is at any point do we look at the or do we compare the chip seal to actually paving and what would be the cost benefit, I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And also looking at the RCMP units, I see they do have a crawl space there and those buildings are in the area where flooding did occur. I'm just wondering what consideration was given, I guess, to mitigate any future damage by flooding in those buildings and if, you know, and if we've got insurance on them, I guess, or if there's insurance on them, does it cover flooding? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my statement, spring breakup is six months away. So it is important this government has a plan in place with measures to mitigate potential flooding for Hay River. Mr. Speaker, has the Minister of ENR considered establishing a group within his department to take on the responsibility for flood and ice management? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I look at the list here and it's fairly extensive, and then I look at Hay River and I see 29 units. And I'm just for retrofits, major retrofits. With the flooding that happened this last spring, I'm just wondering where we are with those retrofits; has flooding impacted the work that's being done? Thank you, Madam Chair.