Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I can recall from the conversation yesterday that we were starting on this, I don't have all the details. What I do have is that from what was mentioned, we had in the old contract fixed costs that cushioned the price inflation and the volume in the numbers. The new contract had to address the new volumes, inflation, and the contract was based on volumes from ten years ago -- only the contract was based on volumes from ten years ago. So this new contract includes new planes that travel faster, can travel longer distance, less down time for planes and staffing based on staffing configurations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be directed to the Minister responsible for strategic infrastructure, and it's in particular to the Taltson briefing we had the other day.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the briefing, and I certainly am a fan of the overall concept of the project. One of the things mentioned by the witnesses about the fears or concerns that we must protect to make sure we don't mortgage or children and grandchildren, etcetera, and I think he was quite correct in that observation. So my question in particular to the Minister is that when will a business case actually be built in detail to ensure that we have that kind of answer to find out if we can afford this particular initiative before we proceed and hope the customers do come one day. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for infrastructure and energy.
That's me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a very detailed business case. It was developed back, I want to say roughly 2020, 2021. But, Mr. Speaker, the next question -- the second question that was asked as to whether or not we can afford it, the simple fact, Mr. Speaker, is that the GNWT alone cannot afford a project that is into the $3 billion although I might spin it on its head and part of the comment that was being referenced wasn't mine; it was by one of the other Members who attended from another -- as a representative for one of the other governments that's participating, and the concern being about what we're doing for our future generations, Mr. Speaker, it's a question of can we afford not to invest in our energy infrastructure, and I'd suggest, Mr. Speaker, that we cannot. We need to find a path forward. That path forward's going to have to be partnership with other governments. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, just like my colleague from Range Lake had pointed out, exorbitant power fees, my concern and the concern of people is this, simply clearly, we can build it for any price, sure, but can we afford it and what kind of rate riders are going to be on this? So, Mr. Speaker, has that analysis been started, and when can we expect that analysis to be public to find out what the increased costs to the bottom line of Northerners' power bills will be? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, Mr. Speaker, there is a very detailed business case that looks at different types of structures for this project. There's two parts to it. There's the transmission line that connects our north and south hydro grids, and the second part would be utilizing water that's already in the reservoir and that's not currently being used to generate more power. There's the opportunity to bring Indigenous governments into this project, make them owners of the project, figuring out what kind of equity sources they have and what might backstop, what kinds of funds stacks they might have, as well as then on the other side. Mr. Speaker, the simple reality is if we were to build this entirely as a utility, as -- then it was an infrastructure investment go on to ratepayers, that's a rule of the public utilities board, not mine. That is not an option, Mr. Speaker, for all the reasons that we're already talking about. Folks can't afford that. The residents can't afford that. And we're going to need to find a different funding stack. That has been long what's chased this project -- not long but I would suggest has delayed this project, but we do now need to find that funding stack, and I am committed to doing so.
Thank you, Minister responsible for strategic infrastructure and energy. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that. To me, it's about the three Ps. I like the project. I like the partners. I am afraid of the payments, Mr. Speaker. When will there be a clear and transparent business case put before the public so we know what the realities will be and what the offsets if we do get any support from government -- federal government so we can see what the actual payment might be before we have a go/no-go on this particular initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said there was -- there's a very long and detailed business case. It was shared with MLAs earlier this Assembly. And, again, happy to share it confidentially. It was held confidentially in part, Mr. Speaker, because there's other partners involved in the project, and there's considerations that they may have around what -- how they may want to structure their own affairs in this particular instance. As well, Mr. Speaker, the more detailed we get into the costs of something can potentially affect the procurement process that we go out to. If it's well known that something costs $10, you run very much a risk that you get bids of exactly $10, if not more. So, Mr. Speaker, but that's not to say that we aren't going out to the public to make sure people are aware of what the project is, what the costs are, and how it might get paid for, and that, then, can hopefully answer exactly the questions of what will be the -- what will be the payments to be made and to what extent are -- is the GNWT exposing to risk. That is exactly the question that has to be made before this thing goes into procurement. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for strategic infrastructure and energy. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd also like to ask questions for the Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
The Arctic Economic and Security Corridor is a crucial strategic priority of this government and Canada. Obviously, it's in the planning stages. We're not shovel ready at all. The question I have is about the billions of dollars that have been promised in new defence spending in the Northwest Territories. Is any of that contingent on the ASEC corridor? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I presume the billions being referenced are the recent advanced procurement announcement that were out online not too long ago. Mr. Speaker, to my knowledge, those two items are both directed at the airports predominantly, both in Inuvik and in Yellowknife, and are not tied to nor necessarily, you know, dependent upon what may be happening with the Arctic Economic Security Corridor. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That comes as a relief as one will not necessarily impede the other. So when it comes to ASEC, which I will call the corridor for short, how close are we to a routing decision? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that work is very much underway right now, and it's being done in partnership. To date, the partnership formally is an MOU arrangement, working group work arrangement, between the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Tlicho, and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. There was certainly some significant comments and commitments made in our -- on our side as a government knowing that there are other Indigenous governments with interests in this area who will want to ensure they're -- that they are engaged and involved in final routing decisions. And that was reflected when the signing took place at Roundup recently by all three parties. So I was not expecting the question here today. I do think we have some target dates, and I don't want to get them wrong. I believe it is -- it is this year, Mr. Speaker. As to the month, I will need a few minutes to go and look through my notes quickly. But it is well known that we need to move this forward quickly, that a routing decision needs to be made, and then we move -- need to move on to figuring out how this project gets paid for and procured. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Member from Range Lake. Final supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is good news that we'll have a firm date, and I welcome the receipt of that either here or elsewhere.
As it relates to the Grays Bay project on the other end of the corridor, can the Minister give a status update on the Nunavut side of the project as it is crucial, again, to the completion of this, to the best of her ability of course. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. That was pretty close to being a new question, but I will allow it. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, they may sound like different things; the two certainly are linked. The one project does depends on the other. The other -- they each depend on one another, and it is well accepted that the routing on both sides will need to align at the border in order to make this truly a corridor that impacts all of this country. So as a national corridor, it makes sense that it's going to connect.
Mr. Speaker, I have often been asked to speak on the corridor over the last couple of years and when I am, I can say that typically representatives from the West Kitikmeot are also there. So all sides, all parties are frequently meeting together, we're speaking together, we're promoting this project together.
My understanding is that they're in an environmental assessment process for a corridor, not necessarily a final routing, and we're looking to get our final routing done. So I would say that both parties are at a roughly -- roughly the same point in a way. They're just at different points doing it in a slightly different way. But the two do depend on one to the other. And, Mr. Speaker, just to shore the point up, this is a national -- project of national interest. It's in the national major projects office already, and we're committed to seeing it through. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, I raised with the Minister of MACA about how the NWT fire marshal's job is -- one of its responsibilities is to ensure about home -- or building inspections in the communities. I am looking forward to hearing what his plan is about filling the gap that they are not inspecting building plans and buildings in communities outside of their fire responsibility. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, we have done a review of the fire marshal's office, and we have seen concerns of a gap. We are addressing those. We've upped staff with a position in Yellowknife to help take some of that strain off the area. You know, so our goal is here to provide a service for the residents of the Northwest Territories and Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister speak to how long this practice has been ongoing. Thank you.
Try to clarify what practice he's speaking of but, Mr. Speaker, we've had a fire marshal in -- the fire marshal in Yellowknife for many years. However, due to ongoing, you know, legislative priorities, workloads for different types of things at headquarters, you know, the goal was to add some support for doing inspections in the area, along with regional assistant fire marshals throughout the regions. We've added another assistant fire marshal in the area here to assist in the Yellowknife region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's been a well-known secret within the department that the fire marshal does not do building inspections outside of the city of Yellowknife. The City of Yellowknife has its own process. So my question specifically is how long is this practice of refusal to do this because it's a well-known culture secret within the Department of Infrastructure as well as the GNWT, and I want to make sure this problem stops. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The responsibility of the fire marshal's office is to do building inspections as they develop or also occupancy loads or anything like that. So, you know, the City of Yellowknife also has bylaws that they may have in place for their building inspectors or whatever, but the fire marshal's office has the authority and has the legislative authority to do inspections on buildings in the Northwest Territories. And like I said earlier, our fire marshal in Yellowknife is -- you know, has been -- the workload has been quite a bit and ongoing pressures, so we've added the assistant fire marshal position here in Yellowknife to assist with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of housing and homelessness.
We saw the announcement the end of last November that the renovations had been completed on the building that was formally known as Aspen Apartments to the end of establishing transitional housing units for about -- well, 36 -- 36 units. Can the Minister give us an update now; have people moved in, or how many people have moved in if so? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Aspen Apartments was an ongoing renovation for the last couple of years, and we did have the opening. And with that opening, though, we found that there were some electrical that still needed to be done, so we delayed moving clients in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So does the Minister now have an updated timeline on when they expect either the full suite of clients to move in or sort of a phased-in gradual move in of residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the latest update I have from Housing NWT is the apartment building has been shifted over to Yellowknife Housing Authority to move tenants in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So can the Minister explain what will be different about this model of transitional housing to be set up at Aspen Apartments. Is there going to be enhanced supports on site versus some of the other public housing units in Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member again for the question. This is really important work that we're doing with Housing NWT because we're finding that sometimes we need to add the element of supportive care, wraparound supports. We're finding it throughout the North that many people are going into housing, and sometimes they don't have those personal living skills, and it's really important that we help them to be successful in housing because, again, we only have limited housing across the North and many times those relationships are fragile. So supportive living and wraparound supports with Aspen Apartments is a new venture we're doing with Yellowknife Housing Authority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 26-20(1), Report on the Statutory Review of the Legal Aid Act; Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 30-20(1), Report on the Review of the 2024-2025 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner; and, Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 32-20(1), Report on the Review of the 2024-2025 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
