Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, on the Mackenzie Highway, as all Members are aware, we announced the Canyon Creek project. Hopefully, that is getting kicked off here in the next month or so, with that initiative moving forward, employing a number of people and training them in the Sahtu region.

As far as the Mackenzie Valley Highway ask with the federal government, as I have stated in the House, the federal government put that program on pause. We have submitted a business case for that project moving forward, and we are waiting to see what the federal government does, coming in their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Upon review of the ferry service in the Member's riding, I have been on record that the costs outweigh the benefits when we have had a serious look at this. That is the reason why we are bringing this forward in this budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once we have done our engagement on this, we would have to have a look at what we are doing. Then we would have to look, moving forward, what we were going to do. If we needed any extra money, we would have to probably have that discussion on our side of the House. If there was even money available to do it; it might be too early to tell. We have got to wait until we have finished the initiative. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to clarify, I will share it with the Members as soon as tomorrow even. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member is well aware, we have sent our staff in there along with the operator. Last year's incident, they met with the community along with our staff to discuss what happened last year and how we can best move forward. We are doing our due diligence. We have met with the operator last year.

We met with the department, as well, to discuss what happened and what we can learn from that moving forward. As far as the resupply of Deline, itself, we tend to do the other communities first to help the contractor build up the ice thickness to what it needs to be to access the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I've stated, we have the Energy Strategy that's going around; they're feeding information back to the department, not just on climate change and carbon tax but also Arctic Energy Alliance. We've committed that we want to do a review of Arctic Energy Alliance. As I said, some programs have fulfilled themselves and been quite successful. Things like the condo one that the Member has brought up, it's been actually moved to another line item there where people can still access that. If his particular neighbour is interested in doing something there, there is actually money...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That has made it through Cabinet already. Normally, we would wait until the budget procedure was done and we would bring that to committee, but I can make that commitment to sharing that with the Members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to clarify that it is actually 36 days that cost us $1.8 million. I stand behind, as I have said on a number of initiatives, that we warrant that this initiative being put forward as a costsaving measure is justifiable, and we will stand behind it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there's a number of things going on. We've got the Energy Strategy that's going across the Northwest Territories. As most Members know, we have three communities left, with Hay River, Fort Simpson, and Behchoko to go, that are going to feed into all of this. We're trying to pull a whole bunch of information together.

Actually, I guess another comment on the Energy Strategy: going around to the communities, there's been a bunch of feedback from Aboriginal groups, community organizations, and individuals on this particular program, on Arctic Energy Alliance. We want, at...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is my understanding it is an executive policy for doing that, so it would have to be part of the Executive. Thank you, Mr. Chair.