Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would also assume that that scoping has been done, but I don't know. So let me take that away, and I will make a commitment to get back to the Member with a public response on that.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to table the following document: 20212022 Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories Annual Report. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair, I am also very familiar with the pullout at Big Hill Lake, and so I do know what is being, you know, referenced here. That was, as I understand, quite a safety issue. I can't speak for the Department of Infrastructure and whether or when they would decide to put a pullout elsewhere on the Ingraham Trail. I can only confirm I will take this away and discuss with colleagues and I'm mentioning the Department of Infrastructure but Lands also obviously is quite involved given that there may have to be a land usage and land planning issue depending on the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, that is something that would involve probably not just one or two departments, probably multiple departments. So, you know, I can certainly commit to having a more detailed conversation about that prospect with all relevant colleagues over here and, you know, just noting that it was clear in our conversations when we had this meeting last week, there are some particular infrastructure requirements that are different for a dirigible than what there might to accommodate a regular or more traditional airplane. You know, but that's again, that in and of...

Mr. Chair, let me turn that to the deputy minister, please.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I don't know that my thoughts are necessarily the ones that matter the most. I am not going to be the expert in the area but I was fortunate to be joined at this meeting, staff, technical staff from the Department of Infrastructure, technical staff from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and it certainly was an interesting opportunity to learn about all of the tremendous possibility that could exist within the use of airships in the North or other remote sites.

So, you know, as far as the viability, I think there is a probably a number...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I did not plan to be speaking to the Mineral Resources Act regulations development. But perhaps in the interest of getting some information, I will turn it to the deputy minister, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, I mean, as I said, certainly that's the point of bringing the matter here is for us all as an Assembly to have an opportunity to discuss how to spend the public dollars we are responsible for as a collective. And certainly, you know, some budgets could be adjusted, and maybe there is, you know, money made I know there's going to be probably requests to increase some areas. I would just sort of keep in mind, or urge people to keep in mind, that if we are increasing the overall plan, then we are again adding dollars into the plan that we know we will not...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, this is the proposed capital budget. So that's it's before the House now for discussion, and, you know, that's exactly the point here. It's not approved before it's approved by this House. So, you know, that's precisely the discussions we are to be having over the next short while. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, this isn't just, to be clear, a function of the circumstances of the labour market shortages that all of Canada and the world are experiencing today. This is reflective of, you know, the last ten years that we saw that, you know, the average spend in the last ten years year over year is around $250 million per year. So it's not new that we simply don't have the capacity in the North alone to be getting out to have much more than that spent in any particular given year. So it's not entirely a function of current labour market shortages. It is a function...