Mahsi. Can the Minister say what plans or energy initiatives the government has in place with the Tlicho government or get Tlicho communities off diesel power? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Better than I could do, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. This is an area of tremendous importance. First and foremost, Mr. Speaker, any work that we're doing with or for the communities in Monfwi, we're doing in consultation and in involvement with the Tlicho government. They really are leaders here in terms of where they want to see their communities go, and it's my hope that we can just be partners to them to help enable those visions to come true. There's a couple of major things and I think, in fact, the Member already mentioned them. One of them is the transmission line to Whati. This is around a 50 kilometer stretch which will connect the community into the Snare hydro system, and the hope and expectation is that it will be a project that goes to the partnership that built the same -- that built the TASR highway so -- or the Tlicho highway. That is mainly the Tlicho-Kiewit partnership. Beyond that, Mr. Speaker, that will work very well with a hydro project if there is a Lac Le Martre Hydro Project. This was many years now in the making, but we're bringing that back hopefully to life. We're going to see if we can bring that up and move it forward to a stronger feasibility and get that on to the system as well. It adds -- it will add in not only for Whati, it will add into the whole system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Okay. Can the Minister provide a status update on the Whati transmission line?
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Happy to do so. The only -- what we -- the stage we were at, Mr. Speaker, is we're negotiating -- there is, of course, the infrastructure cooperation agreement with the Tlicho government, and so we were working with them to negotiate the final stages of a design contract. That may well even be signed by now, but certainly the last time I had checked in on it, we were at the final stages of that. That will go to design, and then from there, we will be hopefully jointly going to help get some funding to see this project to its completion. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, women and girls are often overlooked and disrespected in terms of the trades. Will the work on the Whati transmission line lead to the creation of new GNWT jobs in the Tlicho region and if this is the case, what sort of positions would be tailored for young Indigenous female apprentices? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have an answer here. What I would like to suggest is that I'm going to commit to get an answer, and a proper answer. I think that's an exceptional question. Typically, when a project comes forward of this magnitude, there will be some analysis done about potential jobs that are created, and it would include an analysis under GDA, plus it would include an analysis of whether or not there's a gender component to it in terms of who gets affected or who may benefit. So in the current cases, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest this is the exact time where I'll commit to bring back to the House further information so that we can, in fact, commit properly to making sure that the community is fully engaged and that every Member and every resident in the Tlicho region can see themselves reflected in this project. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
