Wally Schumann

One other thing I want to clarify around this letter is that it is posted on the web site. It is a clear, open document. It is available for everybody to read. As far as the Project Assessment Policy goes, that is the Department of Lands' responsibility. It is not my responsibility, and I am not aware of any criticism around the environmental assessment towards our department. I can look into that, but I am not aware of any criticism towards us, and I am going to remind all Members that Lands is the lead on the policy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to clarify something. I think the Member said that I sent the letter. I didn't send the letter; the regional superintendent sent the letter on behalf of the Department of Infrastructure. This was done as a formal correspondence on this file. It was a required course of business through the environmental process, and the letter was sent respecting the firewall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can see if we can pull those numbers together. As all Members know, we are updating all Members on this tomorrow after the rise of the House, and I will see if I can pull together the numbers around those questions at the time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I spoke about the Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik highway last week, we said the road was under substantial completion when we decided to open it in November. I don't have the exact percentage, but I believe it was probably roughly 95 to 96 per cent complete. Based on that and having a look at the situation, as I have stated in this House, about opening the ice road, we took advantage of the situation for the winter months to open this highway. We have had 60 to 70 visitors per day, as I have said in this House, with no issues. The communities of Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik had...

Contractors recently have just been out there welding and levelling the facility to get it stabilized. The Department of Infrastructure is having a look at the engineering requirements around what it is going to take to either replace that, cut off the back half of it, use the front of it, or demolish it.

After that has been completed, we will be reaching out probably within the government departments to see if there is a need for it. If there is no need within the government departments, we will probably be going out to a public call to see if there is a need for it and then have a look at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can update this House that the Department of ITI and NWT Tourism has provided financial support to the City of Yellowknife, and what they are using that money for is to hire a consultant team to determine a long-term model that will work for delivery of tourism visitor information services in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would have to work with my colleagues in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the permitting around the federal situation, because Waters is under the federal jurisdiction. What that permitting would include, I am sure there is a lower threshold, depending on the amount that we would want to dredge. It could be the possibility of a backhoe doing it in the wintertime or something off a barge, but these are the types of questions that I can check with the department and get back to the Member, on what a short-term measure would be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would have to have a discussion with my department and get back to the Member on that.

Let me reassure the House and residents of the Northwest Territories that it is not just the Regular MLA from Hay River pushing this issue. I will tell you that. This has been brought up at a number of federal FPT meetings. It has been brought up one-on-one with the federal Ministers. I continue to push this thing. The bureaucracy pushes back, maybe, a little bit, as I have said in this House, around ocean protection money.

We will continue to pursue the federal money to do the dredging in the Hay River Harbour, as it is a priority, particularly since we are the owner of MTS and the Coast Guard...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have stated before in this House, the Taltson project was one of our pan-Canadian asks around the Climate Change Strategic Framework. This is an important project, we believe, but it is also in the very early stages. I think, once we get a little more information from the federal government, if they are supportive of this project going forward, at that time we will sit down with Indigenous governments and figure out their involvement going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.