Wally Schumann

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 122-18(3): Procurement Policies and Impacts on Non-Governmental Organizations." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't have that level of detail in front of me. I know that the stuff that we identified under marine priorities comes to about $55 million for our ask. When I said that this pot of money that they are talking about right now for $94 million, I don't know what we are going to get funded. I can get the breakout, what it would be looking to restore the harbour in Hay River for the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are pursuing federal funding through the Ocean Protection Plan. For Members of this House, that is a different pot of money from the bilaterals that we have signed. The federal government has set aside $1.5 billion for the nation for five years moving forward from 2017-2018 on this. Our Department of Infrastructure has been in conversations with different federal agencies because this pot of money has more than one federal minister in charge of it. It has Transport Canada. It has Canadian Coast Guard. I believe the Minister of Environment is also involved in that.

It...

My hope is to have the port of Hay River at least started on the dredging. We have to secure funding. We will have to see what the appetite of the federal government is to help partner with us to do this. We know it is a priority for us now that we own MTS. Federal dollars are invested in some of the marine stuff in Hay River; the Canadian Coast Guard also has an investment in it. We are pursuing these dollars as best we can. Yes, I certainly hope we can be able to say we are going to at least start looking after the restoration of the harbour in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I have said, we are in discussions. I believe that the federal government wants to sign off on some of this money moving forward. They have five different programs, I believe, under this with 57 different initiatives for all of Canada.

For the one that they announced in last August for the Northern three territories, I guess that would be us, Nunavut, Nunavik, is the Safety Equipment and Basic Marine Infrastructure program. That is the one we are in discussions with the federal government on this right now. Under this initiative, they want to look at doing something with 30 Northern...

As I said, our energy strategy moving forward talks about all the types of future innovative and different technologies that are coming down the pipe. At this point, I don't think I want to put our resources into putting a paper into something that is probably quite a distance out, but we will continue to monitor it going forward, and if some more information that crosses my desk that I think is going to be relevant to the conversation of how we do the energy mix to lower our greenhouse gas emissions for the Northwest Territories, at that time I will look at bringing that out. Thank you, Mr...

I believe anything that pertains to nuclear energy in this country has to follow the jurisdiction of the federal government. As I have said, though, we are paying close attention to how this is rolling out. I have had a few documents that actually crossed my desk that people have sent me about it. As innovation comes along and technology changes, I am sure that is no different than the impacts of climate change. This is something that is coming. It is something that I think not just the Northwest Territories are going to have to have a look at as an energy needs as the future comes, but it is...

I agree, the contractors have a lot of experience in that region building these ice roads. It's been the same contractors off and on for a number of years, but at the end of the day, I'm the Minister whose head is on the line here if something happens. Safety is our number one priority. We will continue to monitor the situation going forward. I can talk to the department if there are any issues arising right now on that section of highway in the Northwest Territories. As I've said, I know that a number of our ice roads have challenges right now, and as you can see by the weather outside, it's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope the Member is not talking about this winter. I think the Mackenzie Delta has been warmer than years. I will have to check into the significant change from 25 millimetre to the 35 millimetre for operation of the ice roads, but I do know, and I have said it in this House a number of times, safety is our number one priority for residents of the Northwest Territories.

We have guidelines for safe construction of ice roads in the Northwest Territories and I will endeavour to have a look into why the change took place from 25 to 35 millimetres. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm not aware of any large industrial components that are interested in doing this. As I have stated, I don't believe the technology is there yet. This is something that we are just keeping an eye on moving forward and how we can have it implemented in the future once it becomes a reliable source of energy.