Debates of May 26, 2025 (day 59)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Minister tell me how many times in -- maybe not the history of the House but in, say, the history of the last Assembly, including this one -- or the last two Assemblies, including this one, have we gone to supps for funding the, I assume, partially dredging but also the Hay River harbour restoration as a whole. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member of Great Slave. Minister of Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't know if I have that number exactly. This certainly -- I mean, it's this -- this has been a long-term and longstanding problem back in -- I want to say 2012, thereabouts. It used to be something that was led by the Canadian Coast Guard. They have walked away from being the lead on this and that has left the GNWT picking up this -- the need for maintaining the harbour. The harbour restoration, really the term restoration speaks to the fact that there -- it's pretty, you know, standard and expected, really, to have to maintain the harbour and to do some maintenance of the waterways. So as that was not happening led by the federal government, again, we got to a situation where restoration needed to take place. So it's now been a fairly long-term strategy. We started with GNWT in the fall of 2022, looking at the build-up and the extent of the buildup and coming up with a plan. I don't want to overly vilify the federal government; they certainly have supported some portion of the funding that has been required over the last few years. So phase 1 was completed, and the challenge became that when that work was completed and when it was clear as to what would be required for phase 2, which is to actually deal with the material that has been removed, that wasn't all completed at the time that the budget cycle was in, so it was known that there would have to be a supp that would come through in this particular case. So, yeah, again, as for the total number of times if there's been a supp specifically, I can't say, but just to reiterate that this certainly -- it's a longstanding challenge and that this particular project has been underway since 2022. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. And Member of Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So would the Minister characterize the overages as all being similar since 2022 as the reason to why we would be coming back to the supps? Thank you.

Thank you, Member of Great Slave. Minister of Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there was some increase here -- well, there was a couple of reasons. For one all but, as I said, this started in 2022 with the planning, but 2023 and the wildfire season that we experienced that summer certainly hindered significant progress on this first phase, of which first phase was to do, really, the mechanical dredging to reopen and reestablish a safe passageway for barges and for boats and barge traffic. So when that was delayed that certainly, you know, any time that there's work that gets delayed one year to next, that impacts and impedes on the budget for the associated work. And the fact that the water levels have been as low as they are has also impacted the ability to simply get equipment out to where it needs to be and to determine the amount of dredging that would be appropriate. So those two things definitely did hinder the opportunity -- or definitely hindered the work. So there certainly is, you know, a potential for ongoing need. I, again, can't necessarily speak to what may be coming. It certainly seems that the environmental changes we are experiencing in the North continue only to grow and to magnify. But, Mr. Chair, I will just note we were trying to come up with a number as to how many supps this has come through. We were thinking this is about the third since this project got underway. But, again, I'm not -- I can't say that with certainty, but that would be a preliminary estimate. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you for the Minister for that. And I would say that continuing that sort of angle on this conversation that this is an excellent example of how climate change is really starting to impact our infrastructure costs beyond, say, permafrost thawing, slumping, all the rest of that.

So I was wondering if the Minister and her staff are sort of collecting that data writ large on infrastructure projects, in particular, that are facing these overages due to climate change impacts. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Member of Great Slave. Minister of Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that is something I'm going to have to take away. I mean, I know with confidence that there is broad monitoring that happens in terms of -- you know, for example, the finance management board where there is a provision that looks at climate change considerations of all projects and all supplementary appropriations, all budgetary proposals.

In terms of analyzing across every department, ECC and others -- so ECC would be the lead for that section but as far as analyzing when there's increases specifically associated to climate change, again, I -- again, it's being monitored. Is it being put in one place? Mr. Chair, that's an excellent question, and I'd like to take it away and will commit to get back to the House with a more complete answer as it is something that I agree with the Member, we are seeing it more and more and the impacts, as the Mr. Chair is well aware, of low water and other kind of changes are having a significant cost impact on us. So I will come back to the House with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And more of a brief comment, I certainly hope that the Minister does bring it back to us; however, I think it's also a great dataset to wrap up when she's asking for money for nation building infrastructure projects. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member of Great Slave for that comment. Any further questions?

Seeing none, Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, asset management, not previously authorized, $1,800,000. Does committee agree?

Speaker: SOME HON. MEMBERS

Agreed.

Thank you, committee. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, energy and strategic initiatives, not previously authorized, $776,000. Are there any questions?

Seeing none, Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, energy and strategic initiatives, not previously authorized, $76,000. Does committee agree?

Speaker: SOME HON. MEMBERS

Agreed.

Thank you, committee. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $1,876,000. Are there any questions?

Seeing none, Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $1,876,000. Does committee agree?

Speaker: SOME HON. MEMBERS

Agreed.

Thank you, committee. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Denny Rodgers

Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move the chair rise and report progress.

Thank you to the Member from Boot Lake. There's a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carried.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress. Mahsi.

Report of Committee of the Whole