Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 11, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the low-income program to address energy poverty, that does continue to have the same $200,000 amount that is -- was in place since 2023-2024. That has not changed. The other programs, to the extent that there were federal funds available, I mean, Mr. Chair, you know, I -- I can only say, as I said to the other Member, I was surprised given what seemed to be the current federal government's interest in this space that this received such a drastic reallocation of funding. I say reallocation because as I understand it, the money that went to the low carbon economy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do conduct daily inspections on the highway network. You know, exactly where staff might be on any one given day, I don't want to be overcommitting. I would acknowledge that we don't necessarily have enough staff to be on every stretch of highway all the way from the border throughout the Beaufort Delta region, but there are staff out on those highways on a regular basis. So I believe I have suggested before we can try to keep Members better up to date in terms of where we're trying to be, and I'll try to see if I can get a specific schedule to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, there certainly has been several years of challenge in this space. There's, you know, obviously when the water levels are low, not only does it impact on the revenue that we would normally bring in but we then also wind up incurring the higher costs to ensure resupply still is completed. So a bit of a double hit in that respect.

Some of the things, though, that are happening in this space, Mr. Chair, there has been a governance review completed, and I know we've had the opportunity, as mentioned, to be in front of committee on this. It's examining what kind...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the challenge with SNAP students specifically -- which is an area that is, you know, has an opportunity for growth -- is that these students are under casual contracts which means that they can't be -- that they have to be rehired after a period of time. But I think there has been some recent movement on that. I'll perhaps suggest I'll turn to the deputy to speak to that a bit further, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have certainly raised this both with Minister Guilbeault and Minister Wilkinson. It is quite frustrating as I understand that the federal government reallocated the money that previously was under this fund to areas that were not beneficial to the Northwest Territories, certainly not in ingrowth equal amounts, for example with respect to diverting it to heat pump initiatives that while we will certainly continue to investigate the ability and the applicability of heat pumps to the Northwest Territories, there are regions for which the current technology is not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do maintain a watch on all our highways, and members of the public can access that through the Drive NWT website. It is now being kept up to date almost immediately or instantly. So certainly do want to point people to that as a resource.

With respect to Highway No. 8, I have -- my latest update for the highway in its entirety is that it was in a fair state. We do have a grader out doing some ice blading from Tsiigehtchic to Rengleng River. And, again, Mr. Speaker, certainly do appreciate getting updates from folks who are driving. Again, we -- in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there's, I know, some movement in this space with respect to a capital plan coming out of the airport in -- well, I think in just the next couple of months or next few months anyways. I'm not sure. Perhaps Mr. Loutitt may have -- or deputy minister Loutitt might have more details on whether or not or to what extent that includes the revolving fund. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there certainly is a cost benefit analysis that does form part of the business case for any large project, and that would want to take into consideration O and M costs which, in turn, would reflect higher costs depending upon the source of energy or the volatility of the energy source. So Mr. Speaker -- or sorry, Mr. Chair, the short answer is I would think we would -- the answer's going to be yes, but maybe not on every single item or every single smaller project, but on larger projects it will be. Where I think this might -- the rub of the question, though, is on...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the summer student call I believe has gone out already and very happy to have the chance to encourage potential summer students, who may be eligible, to reach out to the department. It's a bit of a two-part process where obviously departments create these summer student positions and can then go to the Department of Finance and access the bank of names of persons who have contacted and put themselves forward. But to the extent that a student may have an area of interest, an area of expertise, an area of training, an apprentice, if they were talking to the folks in the...