Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've told the commander of the RCMP that my door is always open. He's welcome to reach out to me at any time, and I am happy to discuss any matter that is of importance to him. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I have another set of questions for the Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
So there's been much discussion after the recent power outage, speculation about what could have prevented it, but we need to avoid knee-jerk responses without understanding the specific source of the problem and whether it represents a systemic problem or just a freak accident. It seems that last week's outage was not a problem of insufficient generation capacity within the grid or a lack of backup power but a problem that must have prevented even backup power from reaching the grid. So will the Minister ensure that the power corporation conducts an investigation into what specifically went wrong to cause the recent power outage that lasted four to five hours and makes the results public? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains, or the NTPC.
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 be more than happy to provide that here. The documents are fairly detailed and lengthy so perhaps by link if not by physical means. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that is good to know, and I am eager to review the stats and trends produced by the power corporation on regular supply site failures.
How will the Minister ensure that capital improvements being made within the power system are prioritized based on careful analysis of these trends around problems and interruptions over time rather than hasty responses to the most recent event or catastrophe that we've experienced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, with respect to specific outages, there is this process I've already described. It is formally done but with respect to capital planning, there is a capital planning process that does take place within NTPC in terms of the staff who are involved with outage investigation and reviews but also involved in terms of wanting to deliver upon their mandate as an organization. Anything that is over 5 million, which for a lot of more major investments, certainly would be. That also gets reviewed by the public utilities board. And, of course, I will just highlight and keep in mind that the NTPC board has fairly recently seen its full shift to a hybrid board after some years, so there's a solid matrix of experience there. So we have the level that happens at NTPC, the level of review that happens at the PUB, and then, of course, to the extent that strategic infrastructure's involved, we have our capital planning process as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's been -- well, the crime reduction unit in the RCMP that this Assembly put in place has now finally -- or is now fully implemented and off to work. We know that one of our biggest challenges here is the flow of illicit drugs into the Northwest Territories from the south. Can the Minister of Justice tell us how this -- how the crime reduction unit is making a difference in fighting the drug trade. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the crime reduction unit is an integral part in investigating organized crime within the Northwest Territories as well as they have worked together with other jurisdictions across Canada. You know, this unit has, as you can see by the many actions that have taken place across the Northwest Territories, have certainly provided support to officers and community investigations to put a very small dent in the drug trade and certainly have helped to disrupt that trade as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I believe the largest ever drug seizure, 4.7 kilograms of cocaine and over $360,000 of cash was seized. So just want to commend the crime reduction unit and the RCMP for doing that.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister just said it's a small dent. How can we enhance this unit and our efforts to combat drug traffickers? We need to do more than a small dent. We need to take the fight directly to them and make sure we make the biggest impact with our limited resources. So is the Minister working on that? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly agree with that statement. I think it's important that we make a big dent in the drug trade, and I think that right now the RCMP have focused on a campaign to attract more Members to the Northwest Territories, I think with some success. When I spoke of this item last time I stood up in the House and talked about staffing, we were at a 30 percent vacancy rate. That number is now 18 percent. So that's a move in the right direction. You know, in my conversations with the commanding officer, they're focused on the recruitment and encouraging people to come to the Northwest Territories. And I think a big part of this is that we continue that communication with the citizens of the Northwest Territories to support the work of the RCMP and to support all of our communities in ensuring that that information that's required to disrupt this drug trade is getting to the people that need to have it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The youth aspect of the drug trade is very concerning. We heard stories about it last night. Although this is not really in the Minister's mandate, it is definitely related to the drug trade and definitely related to the RCMP. So can the Minister work with the RCMP to do more youth outreach and education to ensure the risks of the drug trade are well understood by young people and they are making more positive choices. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly very engaged in that area. I think that that's really important. In recent conversation with the commanding officer, you know, he was telling me about the level of engagement that the Members are having within the communities all across the territory, including the city of Yellowknife, to try and get involved in activities with the youth, whether that's through sports or other devices, and ensuring that we're getting that message out, you know, through the schools and through our activities as being part and a really integral member of the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I now call Committee of the Whole to order. I am going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, your committee would like to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates, the Departments of Infrastructure, Municipal and Community Affairs, and the Department of Justice, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay. We'll take a 20-minute break. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates. We will now resume consideration of the Department of Infrastructure on the strategic infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chain's key activities. Does the Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains wish to bring witnesses into the house?
Yes, please, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay, thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers.
Would the Minister please introduce her witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, I have Kim Wickens, assistant deputy minister for energy, strategic infrastructure, and supply chains. And on my right, Miranda Bass, the director of corporate services.
Okay, thank you. Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains, beginning on page 279, with information item on pages 281 to 283. There's questions, I am going to go to the Member from Frame Lake from where we left off yesterday. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to first speak to the Mackenzie Valley Highway environmental assessment and planning.
I note that in 2025-2026, we spent $11 million. This year, we're spending $3.5 million. Can the department give us an idea of the total amount the department has spent over the term of this environmental assessment that has been spent to date.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
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.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member to Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate that information from the Minister. And that certainly is a pretty significant amount of money for an environmental assessment. And I just note when you go on the review board's website, they have a very handy tracker on their new website that tells you how an EA is proceeding and gives you a breakout of time that is on the developer, so in this case the GNWT, time that is on the board, and time that is with the Minister. Now, the project hasn't been approved yet, so it hasn't gone to the Minister.
I would just note that the board time for that EA is currently sitting at about one year, 11.75 months. The amount of time sitting on the developer, the GNWT, is 120 months, so 10 years. And so we've spent just over $35 million on an EA that is not finished. I am just curious to understand why this process has drawn out for as long as it has and been as expensive as it has for an EA that hasn't concluded yet. I just can't help but note that the timeline that we're looking at here is extremely long for an EA. I am curious to know a bit more of an explanation behind that. Thank you.
Okay, thank you for your question. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would also like to know why it has taken perhaps some of the time that it has. I can give you only some of the history. Obviously, I've had the opportunity to work on this project only in a focused way in the last couple of years since assuming this role, and particularly in the last year.
My quick assessment on the history would be going back to roughly 2013-2014 when this was first initiated in a formal environmental assessment capacity, or in a more concerted capacity. I think the project's been generally spoken about even longer than that, but it was originally scoped out at that time and then some funding was received as an entire route all the way to Inuvik. It was then scoped down to being only as far as Norman Wells and some additional work done to do that before putting a formal proposal into the board back, again, I believe sort of in the roughly 2014-2015 stage. The project moved forward a little bit to its assessment. Proposals were made to start with bridge work, particularly Great Bear River Bridge, as being, I think -- I think, i was not here, but I think notionally as a capacity building in anticipation of a future road, and money was received for that project. Then COVID came along in 2020 after that money was received but no project was finalized. While -- meanwhile, the rest of the road was sitting in its EA stages. There had been, I will suggest, perhaps some incomplete engagement with some of the communities along the route, in particular the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation who are at the very outset of the route, and that relationship back then remained rather tenuous. And then, as I said, we were at COVID years. There was a couple of years where communities really quite actively did not want anyone in their community. And that just about leads up to 2023-2024, when I had the opportunity to come into this role. And at that time, we had just finally filed the DAR, or were about to do so when I began this role that I am in. So the history to -- up to the last two years was long. Things were not moving very quickly. And as I say, I mean, I -- from when I've been in this position now, we filed the DAR. We filed an amended DAR to suggest that there's an optimized way to construct this. We have been in the communities. We were in the communities just this week looking to get our community readiness working groups ready now, not only at the end, and to optimize the construction schedule as well as to bring back phase two, which was originally part of the project, and to be very active in terms of soliciting the potential funding for it. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't want to dwell too long on the past on this one. I just want to note that I hope we are learning some lessons here. I think that the EA process is a process that proceeds much more efficiently when a developer has the good sense of what their project is and has a solid project description and is ready to proceed to EA. So I would just note maybe we can learn from this lesson that dragging out an EA is an expensive process, and it eats up a lot of resources for everybody involved. And so I hope we're learning from that.
So to that end, I would just ask the Minister what are the next steps in this timeline, and how soon do they anticipate being able to satisfy all the conditions of the EA and to bring this project to a conclusion at least insofar as the review stage of it is. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, I share my colleague's view on this. There's a lot of lessons to be learned, and we can't build projects in pieces. It's not effective. And this is a message for the federal government as well. When we're given small -- really what are small amounts of money to do simple, small parts, but without knowing whether or not the whole of the project is ever viable, you are building something that is massive in tiny pieces. It's not effective, and it's not efficient.
Next steps, Mr. Chair, as I said, we had members of strategic infrastructure in all Sahtu communities this week. They are there to deliver and to ensure that we are moving forward with our community readiness so that when we get to board hearings, which we expect to be -- and sorry, maybe I should back up. Sorry, Mr. Chair.
So Pehdzeh Ki First Nation and us have signed a work plan to ensure that we have a final defined route that is a hybrid route, drawing on their knowledge of the region as well as on information and research studies that have been done over years. That is expected to come up with a finalized route here in the next couple of months, such that a DAR addendum can be filed by July. And with that, my expectation is that public hearings can begin this fall. We are in the communities in advance of that so that everyone's ready for those public hearings. My hope is people don't have to wait to the public hearing to ask questions. They can be asking questions now and when we get through that process, the process will hopefully go smoothly and efficiently. Hoping on a decision as early as possible thereafter upon the completion of those public hearings.
And then with that in hand, Mr. Chair, there are, of course, still some regulatory pieces in terms of our land availability, land access, water licenses, but hopefully we are looking to what we can do to do some of that work simultaneously so that we are more ready to proceed come next year, come 2027.
And meanwhile, Mr. Chair, as I said, phase two has reignited, and we are already discussing the phase two project with both SSI and the Gwich'in on whose lands this would traverse. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I appreciate that update from the Minister, and we'll just let my comments stand on how we're using EAs. But certainly I don't think EAs are a good place to figure out what your project is going to be. I think EAs are a good place to bring a project that is fully thought through so that you can proceed through that process in a timely manner. And I just want to put that little plug in there for my friends in the regulatory system, that projects that do come forward in that manner tend to proceed through the system quite quickly.
On that note, I wanted to move to the Slave Geological Province Access Corridor. I know we spent $6.8 million on this last year. We're spending $5.2. Can the Minister help us understand what is entailed in that spending. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the state of this project is one where it had a fair bit done in terms of one proposed route. There's of course -- I shouldn't say of course, there are multiple -- there has been multiple work done on different routes ultimately over time on this project as well. We were ready to move forward with one particular route but have dialed that back a little bit in order to actually have what will hopefully be a better -- and going to the earlier comment, a better project description at the end of the day that is supported by the traditional landholders and the landholders in terms of the Tlicho government who are landowners where very likely some portion, or a large portion of this route, may well traverse. So with that, we are now working as -- in a working group fashion with those two groups to determine a final routing. Obviously, out of other groups and land users also for the region who will need to be consulted on that final route but want to have that ready to go by this summer with the public hearings to follow thereafter and hopefully a report of environmental assessment in the 2027 year. And that's -- so that, that'll be the next step, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to -- oh, time is up on that one. I am going to go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One moment, please. Thank you.
As my colleague from Yellowknife North noted earlier today in oral questions, we did have the pleasure of having the executive director of Arctic Energy Alliance present before us today in economic development and environment. He kindly pointed out to committee that several items have been cut in this budget, including community energy planning and the low income program to adjust energy poverty -- maybe not program but I guess grants, contributions and transfers. So the funding has ceased to continue. Can the Minister provide a substantiation as to why? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I believe it was all three of those programs were unfortunately cut as a result of the sunset and conclusion of funding that we had been receiving from the federal government, a fairly substantive amount coming from the federal government now with the signing of the new low carbon economy fund. That should -- that now is, in fact, more than what it was previously, at least for the next some period of time, a short period of time. We do expect to be able to bring back a significant amount and more than cover the losses in funding. But whether or not or what specific programs that funding would be directed to, I would suggest we do want to just get through the process of putting out the new climate change and energy strategy to ensure that this new or renewed funding goes to the best possible uses. Thank you.
