Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, back in April, the Legislative Assembly played host to youth from across the Northwest Territories for our annual Youth Parliament, something I look forward to every year as we get to hear voices from youth and to hear what they feel is important to the next generation.

The following words in my Member's statement today are those that were written and read in this Legislature by Kagen Ball who represented Yellowknife South as the Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about plans for the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, my apologies. I think I just wasn't fast enough getting my hand up. Mr. Chair, just a very brief comment. Certainly, I know I'll just say for my own departments, I did find the comments today very helpful and wanted to encourage, you know, a couple of examples, again, drawing only really from my own departments, but it was just to say when I have my other hat on and not as Member for Yellowknife South, but it is a sincere hope that the business plans can be used in the main estimates reviews that we're about to go through. Having fouryear business plans was something new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is exactly one of the questions that is part of this review, is what kinds of different governance models we might have for MTS. Not that long ago, MTS was privately owned, and it went into receivership. And when it went into receivership, all of the communities that depend on the resupply were put at risk and at that point is when the government decided to step in. From that point forward, I'm not sure it has ever turned a profit. So if somebody out there wants to take it off our hands, that might be very good news. My concern becomes resupply, to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the review itself at this point, which is quite close to being completed, doesn't consider, to my knowledge, whether or not to split the operations up, but really, rather, to look at what the different types of models there might be for the operations as a whole. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: 20242025 Corporate Plan for the Northwest Territories Hydro Corporation and Northwest Territories Power Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process of the review did send out an invitation, I believe at the end of last year, to communities who rely on MTS so that they had the opportunity to participate. I don't have details in front of me confirming which communities did or did not. I know that some did, but I don't know that all responded to that inquiry to participate. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I had an expectation, given the Member's statement, that this was going to come up today and so I've already been engaging with the department about what the latest is, which is why I've assured that we'll be participating on a national level. But I can also say that in these short time since the Member's statement, I have actually had residents reach out to me and point out that, in their view, having an Escooter might be more safe to be able to be on bike lanes and to be able to use Escooters on the bike lane roadway as compared to relying on large...

Mr. Speaker, with this first budget of the 20th Legislative Assembly, we are changing how we deliver on priorities in a way that is realistic, responsible, and always with an eye on being financially ready for whatever the future might bring.

In February, we released a fiscal strategy for this government to help restore longterm stability in our budgets. This first budget is step one in the drive for fiscal improvement. What’s new in 20242025 are a series of simple but measurable changes to ensure solid fiscal fundamentals today, while we help the Northwest Territories build for the future...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the air barge offers that are out there. Again, it is a private company that is offering those services. So where and how exactly that might fit into a government communication, I want to be just a bit cautious on. That said, I know the MLA's office and my office worked together this past winter when we were adjusting the winter road season as well as when we were adjusting to fly fuel into some communities when there were some shortages owing to last year's challenges. So both of those occasions, those types of pathways actually worked very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and firstly, absolutely happy to provide a more detailed inventory not on the floor of the House. I've already committed that our officials from the Department of Infrastructure would be reaching out to regional leadership, regional SAOs to have sort of technical conversation and at then looking forward to having a chance directly to speak with leadership and with the MLA.

At this point, the information we have is that there actually is only a small amount of cargo at the MTS shipping yard, no doubt owing to communications we've put out earlier about, you know...