Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my left, I have deputy minister Robert Jenkins. And to my right, I have Jessica St. Arnaud, director of finance. Thank you.
Thank you. The committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to detail contained in the table documents; does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. The Department of Environment and Climate Change page is on 25. We'll defer the department totals and review the estimates by activity summary beginning on page 26 with environmental management, monitoring, and climate change, with information items on page 27.
Are there any questions?
Department of Environment and Climate Change, environmental management, monitoring and Climate Change, infrastructure investments, $602,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Next, we have on the wildlife forest management on page 29 with information items on page 30 and 31. Are there any questions? I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Minister please speak to substantiation of the weather network upgrades, please? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. So the territorial forest management division has a territorial weather network that comprises of stations that are located in locations all across the Northwest Territories. It used to be primarily focused on fire. A number of years ago, there was a decision to expand the network to have a more climate focus, and these are additional investments to expand the network toward a bigger plan to meet overall -- to have around 100 stations totally to expand the synoptic coverage across the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So is it my understanding, then, that it's more for the forest management, wildfire folks to understand and predict, like, something like lightning strikes, or is it used for more widely within the department? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the network originally was designed primarily around forest fire detection and formulated around that. Over the last number of years, it has expanded to include other departments. There's some detection units with infrastructure that monitors highway conditions. There's some with ITI. And as I said, it's more of an overall climate focus. So we've actually developed an algorithm that is used to pick the best location for the next site to enhance the coverage across the whole Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That sounds really cool. I will be sure to ask the Minister more questions about that at a later date.
Mr. Chair, can the Minister please provide a substantiation and a reasoning as to why we are constructing a new Gordon Lake patrol facility? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Gordon Lake facility that currently exists is in very, very poor state of repair and not inhabitable at this point. This has been on the project capital plan for quite a number of years, and it is a key location for caribou monitoring and patrols up the winter road. So this is to replace that existing facility. In the meantime, we're looking to either use one of our other existing facilities from the fire program or to rent something for this upcoming season of the winter road. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I assume that the current solution, while you are working on the construction of this new one, it will be modular and brought up? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
That's correct, Mr. Chair. The interim facility will be modular, as well as the future facility will also be a modular unit that's able to be moved in on skids and won't require an actual built foundation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Minister for taking me along the winter road back in 2024. It was a really eye-opening experience. It showed how we work really carefully with Indigenous governments and other partners to monitor that road. So I'm happy to see this here.
Could the Minister please just tell me how much the new construction is slated to cost? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is a project that's going to be tendered in the not too distant future, and it would provide information that we wouldn't necessarily release to the public. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Fair enough. Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions.
Okay. Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question I have is, we know that the 2023 Wildfire After-Action Review noted that more effective fire behaviour modeling software is needed. Is the department planning for wildfire modeling software upgrades to support the new fire centre's new coordination centre? Will that form part of the capital plan in future years, or is it part of the plan right now, or can the Minister give us some updates on that?
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the software development upgrades are an ongoing process. That type of software and how it interacts across the country is an ongoing evolution, if you will, and there is work already underway towards updating that software and will be incorporated into the new fire centre once it's built as part of our standard procedures. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you. And I wanted to similarly ask some questions about the Gordon Lake patrol station. So I'm just looking at the most recent mobile core Bathurst caribou management zone, and the patrol station is on there. It looks from the map that the patrol station is not on the main winter road route. I could be wrong about that. But is there talk of relocating the station to the winter road, or am I just simply mistaken?
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, ECC has been operating the Gordon Lake facility for over a decade, and this location is ideal as it is in the lower end of the caribou mobile zone and south of most of the wildlife harvesting activity and is a pinch point for the traffic moving through south and north. So it's strategically located. We have other locations along the winter road where our officers camp and work from, but that's our primary location that everyone has to pass through in order to get up to the winter road and to return. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I Appreciate that, that further clarification and substantiation.
Just want to say, you know, yeah, it's definitely important. The department is putting resources into enforcement on the winter road. I think -- I don't need to emphasize the importance of caribou in the territory. And so this one is important to me, and I'm happy to see them making this investment. Thank you. That's it for me on this page, thanks.
Thank you. Is there any further questions from Members? Oh, sorry, I'm going to go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the first capital budget after the experiences of the evacuation of Fort Good Hope. And there's some situations that was experienced, particularly with fuel supply. So having learned from the shortage of fuel storage and capacity and having the airplanes go all the way back to Fort Simpson to refuel, burns up mold // fuel and de-mold // fuel. So given those types of experiences there, is there anything in this capital budget to reflect what we experienced during that wildfire season? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the issue that the Member is referring to was related to our fixed-wing scooping aircraft and retardant dropping aircraft, and those are fueled typically through a contractor at one of our airports that are able to accommodate that size of aircraft. Our primary focus when it comes to fuel from the department perspective is helicopter fuel. We have a number of dispensing units in different communities across the territory and in other locations. We have drum fuel operations that are contained in storage buildings. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from the Sahtu.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that reply. My other question is, is the Deline fuel tank farm at the airport sufficient for unexpected fires that we experienced with the consumption aircraft fuel during that season? I just want to know if that tank farm's adequate. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, our attack aircraft, in other words, our water bombing or retardant bombing aircraft would not be able to land at the Deline facility. The runway doesn't have sufficient capacity to support those aircraft. So primarily they're landing at the bigger centres: Inuvik, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson, Hay River, Yellowknife, and Fort Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Skimmer aircrafts, is there sufficient fuel in Good Hope, Colville, and Deline to support skimmer aircrafts? Not the red retardant aircrafts. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, once again, those aircraft would not be able to land on those small runways. There's a certain requirement, and typically they do not land on gravel strips due to the potential damage to their amphibian gear. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm gonna go to the Member from Sahtu.
Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the Minister for the information.
