Wally Schumann

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, February 11, 2019, I will move that Bill 34, Mineral Resource Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm not sure exactly what the Member is asking. We did the federal announcement. Prior to the federal announcement, I gave the Indigenous governments a heads-up. In fact, I even flew to Edmonton to meet with two of them and have discussions about them supporting this project and how we want to work on this thing going forward. There seems to be a lot of goodwill in the room on this project, and that is why we are moving forward on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If this does prove out to be a situation that needs to be addressed, depending on what the cost is, I suspect that this is something that we can possibly look at doing from within, but I will not commit to doing that until I get the exact details. I'm sure, if it is a situation where we need to address it to keep the road open for the residents of the Northwest Territories, we will have a serious look at doing it.

I don't think there is a need for us to go back to the 1960s. I can see where this line of questioning might be going, but, you know, back in the day when they built the Taltson project, that was a federal initiative. They were in charge of land and resources in the Northwest Territories at that time. We have since just passed devolution and we are moving forward with our legislation to address these things, but I don't think there is a need for us with our Indigenous partners moving this project forward to go back to the 1960s.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My recollection on the kilometre 4 windbreak was that, in discussions with the Gwich'in Tribal Council, they asked us to take this down, but I would have to follow up with the department if there have been in any more discussions with the GTC and see if they want us to replace this, or what the procedure is going to be moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories made a mandate commitment during this Legislative Assembly to continue to develop and advance initiatives to displace diesel generation in the Northwest Territories, including advancing the Taltson Hydroelectricity Expansion project.

With the Department of Infrastructure at the helm, the Government of the Northwest Territories has continued to work with the federal and Indigenous governments, provinces, territories, and Northwest Territories residents to promote a cleaner, more reliable energy supply in rural and remote communities...

I believe that the department has not talked to Saskatchewan lately, as we have changed our refocus on joining the North/South Slave grids at the present application.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think, depending on where they are in their cycle, if they are very close to starting up, our analysis unit does some forecasting for royalty revenue for the following year's budget.

Marine Transportation Services is proceeding with the scrap metal cleanup through a cost avoidance plan, and to date we have had proceeds from that sale of $600,000.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the deckhand for asking the question. To address the concerns of both hazardous materials as well as a review of the highest and best use of assets, including decommissioning barges, tugs, and other equipment the Marine Transportation Services identified to clean up scrap metal mostly located in Hay River at this point. That work has already commenced. There was an RFP out in July, and it started in late 2018, and we suspect that that will be completed by the fall of 2019.