Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. One question which I've always had about Taltson and no one has really been able to explain it to me is: we want to expand our power, but we have some of the most expensive power in Canada. Part of that goal is to then connect maybe to Alberta, maybe to Saskatchewan, and sell that power, but their power is far cheaper than ours. Why has the plan never been to just simply connect to one of those southern jurisdictions and instead of expanding our very expensive and aged infrastructure just get into a power purchasing agreement and buy much cheaper power? There is...

Okay. Well, that's that, I guess. My next question is rather specific: this is the section of the GNWT that does all of our leasing. It controls our building infrastructure. It also is the section of the budget that retrofits our programs. I think we own three large towers in downtown Yellowknife. We rent the other three. We are by far the biggest landlord in Yellowknife. We give all of this money to Northview. We don't dip it. I have a lot of problems with that area, but I only have about 10 seconds left. Can the Department of Infrastructure look into a district heating system for all of the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Understandably, we throw everything in this section from loaders to our technological service centre to power lines, but I'm looking at page 49, the third line down. We have renewable solutions for off-grid diesel. It's federal money, it's estimated to be completed in 2026-2027, so a long way off. How much money is that, and is it renewable diesel? Is that what this money is for? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is just getting to my lack of not really understanding the Fiscal Responsibility Policy and the way things are going. I struggle that we amortize certain assets, and we make sure that we are kind of calculating what the needs assessment is. I get that. It's giant, and it's going to get out of whack. I am wondering if there is a way that the Department of Infrastructure can work with the Department of Finance such that we have a policy where we don't have $11 million in this first priority that comes before us and we're not funding it. To me, it just seems like we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am not sure how much I can get into Power Corporation questions here, but this is ultimately where the Power Corporation's infrastructure finds its way into the budget. In the South Slave right now, we produce that surplus of power. We essentially just spill power over the dam every year because we have no one to sell it to. Alberta is never going to buy it; neither is Saskatchewan. Our power is too expensive. Arguably, some of the mines probably will not even buy it, assuming diesel remains competitive. Some of the people who are buying it are commercial heaters...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps I could just understand: could I get a sense of what is in deferred maintenance? I understand it's all of our assets. Does it include roads or bridges? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Presently, ENR has a wildlife veterinarian. They do lots of great work. It's essential work to making sure the population and health of our wildlife is there. I now learn that public health has a bit of a role in zoonotics and MACA seemingly has some of a role but seems to deny it consistently. My question for the Minister of health is: is it possible to work with those departments, see if there are some gaps here, and possibly create a funding pool to address them?

Today is actually an appropriate day to talk about zoonotics as the first dog in Canada tested positive for COVID-19 today, so there is a bit of an overlap. One of my main concerns in this area and one of the great works that the NWT SPCA does is making sure dogs are vaccinated for rabies and making sure rabies does not then transfer to the human population. Presently, that is not being done in all of the communities. Can the Minister of health put together a plan to make sure we are having rabies vaccines in all of our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Committee's discussion with the IPC turned to the subject of "open government." The purpose of open government is to make information the government holds easily available to the public. A person would not need to make a special request for information. This makes government more accessible and accountable. It could also reduce ATIPP requests.

The IPC noted the benefits of government building access and privacy into programs, policies, and legislation as they are developed. This process is called "access by design" or "proactive disclosure." It helps ensure that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin today, I'd like to thank the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh for raising the idea of Detah providing fire services for the Ingraham Trail. I'll note that this is actually from Detah to the junction as opposed to the Yellowknife North Fire Hall to the junction is actually a few kilometers shorter, so it could result in a quicker response time. Also, the risk profile of a fire occurring in the Detah and the Ingraham Trail at the same time is much lower than a fire occurring in Yellowknife and the Ingraham Trail. I hope the Minister can get all those parties...