Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I may need to come back. Oh, let's see here, Mr. Chair, we may -- oh well, so there is -- yes, there's $40 million allotted entire and $35.9 million in prior years, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

That was what was budgeted for 2026-2027 in the capital plan, Mr. Chair. It wouldn't necessarily -- it wouldn't be the total cost of the project. The total cost of the project to run a transmission line from Taltson's facility all the way to Fort Providence would be well, well beyond that.

Yes, please, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there's still work happening on that line. It is at this point -- I am sorry, Mr. Chair, I don't have it in my -- sorry, in my list in terms of the budget for the coming year. We do have potentially some federal funds available to it. So it's not -- it's a capital project. But, Mr. Chair, where we're at on that is we do need to have some further conversations with Naka Power. So Naka Power are the distribution agency or distribution company within Kakisa and Fort Providence. NTPC generates the power out at the Taltson facility, and the vision is to connect to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. I am happy to say that that work happens as a matter of routine and is made public as a matter of routine. So the Northwest Territories Power Corporation does root cause analysis on all outages and the public utilities board, in fact, has jurisdiction to then review outages. So there's a couple of layers whereby these kinds of reviews do take place, statistics are made available. For example, there was, you know -- when the last GRA work was done, there's reviews that are put out start -- goodness -- charts and statistics are provided. And, Mr. Speaker, I'd...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Expanding reservoirs in terms of new flooding, I would say no, that's not been put forward, which isn't to say that there's not additional hydro capacity. So, for example on the Taltson, there is significant additional hydro capacity but also, I think, a real reluctance given the impacts of flooding on the land and the impacts therefore to people's communities and ways of life. There is some look at what the Lac La Martre reservoir would be in its current state. Again, not -- to just be clear so that there's no mistake from the public, if there are folks paying attention...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my first point of call would be to Arctic Energy Alliance who I know have struggled somewhat in the last couple years when we all saw a reduction in a fairly significant program from the federal government that's now been renewed for the next four years with even a little more than what we had before. So there is going to be more funding available through Arctic Energy Alliance. Whether it will necessarily suit the needs of communities in the way the Member's suggesting, I am not sure. I would suggest perhaps this is an occasion where I'd like to be able to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So a few examples, Mr. Chair, in addition to -- and I know people say there shouldn't be any more planning, we've done enough planning. The reality is a lot of the planning is quite out of date and/or was talked about but actually non-existent. So a plug again, Mr. Chair, for the long list of policy directions that were offered and issued out to the public utilities board which still involve strategic infrastructure and energy as well as Northwest Territories Power Corporation to go out and do that work, in particular with respect to integrated systems planning and the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So planned work for 2026-2027 includes advancing to the regulatory phase which would include being ready for the beginning or the initiation of an environmental assessment process, also continuing, and I hope concluding, commercial partnership discussions amongst the Indigenous partners of this MOU group. And, Mr. Chair, also importantly, advancing -- and I think maybe not concluding but advancing to a real state of readiness, the discussions and work to deal with the legacy impacts for the existing hydro facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the big reason that there is a pilot running in the community of Fort Simpson is, in fact, to confirm whether or not the fairly significant infrastructure costs associated with this particular battery optimization system will be offset by savings in diesel fuel. If that is the case and if that can therefore offset those costs, then we may well see that this is an opportunity for us in other communities. Thank you.