Thank you, Member from Great Salute. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot of work is being done on the Yellowknife airport strategic plan. There's been lots of public engagement, lots of work going on in the background. The department's been working with the Department of National Defence on use of the area and what they can expect, so a lot of that's been working hand-in-hand. So yeah, just in general, I guess there's a lot of work being done in the background to prepare the Yellowknife airport for what potentially could happen there with potential growth and work being done by the Department of National Defence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in the spirit of collaboration, would the Minister be willing to come and give committee a public briefing on all of the good work that's happening and so to give the public an understanding of what to expect in timelines? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, so after our Committee of the Whole meeting, I think it would be important that we sit down and have a good discussion on what's going on at the airport in Yellowknife and talk about the proposed developments and the plans and also a little bit more information and dialogue regarding the revolving fund. I am more than interested in doing that, and we can let the department know when we get the invite. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question would be to the Premier.
Mr. Speaker, the federal government is streamlining environmental assessments under the single review policy. Has the Minister met with the federal counterparts to ensure federal regulations continue to protect our waters here in the Northeast Territories given that if regulations are up to Alberta alone it may not safeguard our rights to clean water for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to hand that over to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this has been an ongoing issue that we have certainly addressed at the federal level through conversations with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, as well as the provincial level with Alberta, and we have also put out two written statements that clearly define our position when it comes to treat and release that we don't believe that under current conditions the science supports that as an approach. We've also encouraged both the federal and Alberta government to look at alternatives to treat and release as a potential solution for this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess my next question will be back to the Minister of ECE if that's okay. Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, Alberta has signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal Government of Canada to expand the oil sands development and, currently, it is anticipated Alberta will negotiate with the Coastal First Nation, BC. Does the Minister of ECE agree that the NWT and its Indigenous governments deserve a seat at that table to ensure downstream communities and ecosystems are protected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly from the Department of Environment and Climate Change perspective, we have always worked with our Indigenous partners, our Indigenous governments, and our Indigenous organizations, and we have many boards and representatives that participate in these activities, and we are constantly sharing information in both directions. So we certainly believe that that is the case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the court strikes down Alberta Bill 7 for violating Indigenous rights on transboundary protections, how will the Minister of ECC ensure Alberta complies and that Northerners' waters and communities are safeguarded? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this question is really a hypothetical question. There has been no decision made, so we would have to wait until the decision is completed in order to respond. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In keeping with the Olympic sentiment here in the room today and celebrating our athletes, Members are rightfully concerned about the state of the physical activity, sport and recreation Fund. I spoke about it in the main estimates review. It's been dangerously close to its $3 million deficit. Many years ago, in the 18th Assembly, decisions were made that have imperilled the fund's future success and now it's even more complicated by the rise in costs of travel and low lottery sales. So the Minister said that he would commit to building a plan. It seems like the only plan to me is to spend the money it needs to continue to function and send our kids to these games. So can the Minister just commit going forward, that we're going to spend the resources that are required to support our young athletes? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, as I stated yesterday in the Committee of the Whole meeting, we have been doing a bunch of work on stabilizing the fund and trying to find a path forward, you know, on the funds that we're lacking. We have money in the budget this year for supporting the Arctic Winter Games. Also, we're continuing to review what some of the issues are. Some of the stuff is out of our control, I mean with the the ongoing use of online gambling is definitely impacting our -- you know, like the the Sports Select and stuff like that. So, like, there's organizations out there that are doing the same thing and we're not seeing the benefits anymore. So, unfortunately, you know, we have plans on looking at legislating online gambling and have money in the budget if we can go ahead and study it and see what else we can get out of online gambling. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Sounds like a good idea, Mr. Speaker; I wonder who raised it. But, Mr. Speaker, is this the plan to solve the gap with the fund? Because if it is, bringing a consultant in to do studying is a far cry from actually implementing legislation, building a compliance regime, and moving forward with tax and regulation of something that is harming our communities and we're losing revenue because it's not regulated. So can we get more than a committee to look at this? Is the Minister signaling now, today, that we are going to do this, bring the revenues in to our gaming fund, and keep Northerners and consumers safe? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, yeah, we're looking into this. And I don't want to say we're studying it because I don't think that's the goal here. The goal is to move ahead as quick as possible so we don't lose out on the opportunities. However, I will say that I know Alberta just, you know, finalized a lot of their stuff, so we're not too far behind, and I hope we can catch up to them and maybe, you know, get some of that gaming legislation out there sooner rather than later. And, like I said, you know, the iGaming stuff is important, and I am happy the Member brought it up, and I am happy to continue to work with the Member on some of this stuff to try to build up that fund and find different ways of gaining revenue for our lotteries fund that ultimately supports sports in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, as much as I appreciate going off topic here, I do think I want to bring it back to multi-sport games. So a plan to plan is not a plan. Can the Minister commit that going forward, we will ensure that northern athletes will have access to multi-sport games as they've previously enjoyed before the fund started getting into trouble? That's a commitment to our youth. It's a commitment to our future. I am hoping the Minister will make it today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the funds that have been allocated in the budget are a commitment that this government is definitely interested in maintaining the funding levels for the sport in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Colleagues, in recognition of the time, we're going to take a brief recess for our translators. Thank you.
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Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of ECC.
Mr. Speaker, earlier I talked about Bill 7 that was introduced in the House in Alberta, proposing merging waters basins which would disrupt northern rivers and threatens our ecosystem and communities. What action will the Minister take to address this clear violation of the transboundary water agreement and also protecting and upholding treaty rights? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as is required under our transboundary water agreement, the GNWT and Alberta will continue to monitor and assess water quantity and quality against our interim triggers that we have within our agreement, and we'll relay that information to the public via the annual report as we've done over the last number of years and through our bilateral management committee. And I am very happy to say that the bilateral management committee has representations from two Indigenous governments that sit directly on the NWT Water Strategy Indigenous Steering Committee. So we've also relayed our displeasure, if you will, with that approach from the Alberta government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Alberta currently has a zero tailings pond policy. Bill 7 seeks to replace it with a fast track path to threatening releasing wastewater into our river system. Mr. Speaker, in Alberta, they're talking about building a nuclear dam and also database centres that are going to require a lot of water. So my question, does the Minister consider this as a violation of our transboundary water agreement? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's kind of a multi-pronged question, but I will do my best here.
So currently under Alberta's own Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, they are unable to release tailings water into the ecosystem. There's the federal Fisheries Act that also applies here. So in order for them to be able to release tailings, they would need to have essentially created the process alongside the federal government. Ultimately, the federal government has jurisdiction here, so they would be the ones that would have to create the appropriate guidelines to do that.
We have clearly stated from our perspective as the Northwest Territories as the ultimate downstream jurisdiction, that we don't support this approach. And for the other items that were raised by the Member, whether it's the nuclear power plant, we're involved in that conversation. We have been from the beginning, and we will continue. And likewise with the data centres and realizing that that has an impact on our water as well.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The transboundary water agreement has no enforcement mechanism. Are there any -- currently no consequences of violators occur. How does the Minister plan to address these shortcomings and ensure downstream users and communities are protected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transboundary water agreement is the key tool that we use to ensure that we're able to monitor, gather information, whether that's through our conversations within the agreement with Alberta. We use that information to inform the Indigenous governments across the Northwest Territories. Many of them are involved in our monitoring programs on the north side of the border. And we continue to use that information to ensure that our pre-determined thresholds are not exceeded. And so we have -- part of our agreement, it speaks to the aquatic ecosystem health as well as the quantity of the water. So those are -- the transboundary water agreement is really the key piece that allows us to continue to monitor on our side, gather the relevant information from Alberta, and ensure that if there are changes we are aware and able to address those in a timely manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are going to be to the Minister of education and just get an update with respect to how the polytech is evolving.
Recently, in the news, Mr. University, we saw the announcement of the Nunavut University. I also read in the news about the Manitoba Institute of Technology losing almost 50 percent of foreign students and, hence, they have to shutter their polytech. And, lastly, Mr. Speaker, I should point out that the Polytech Institute in northern Canada became a polytech within months of planning.
So I guess watching the online transitional tracker, progress tracker -- some days I swear it's going backwards -- can the Minister give us an update as to what's taking so long and does it have enough funding to complete the work that we need done? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in December of 2025, Aurora College, as part of one of its major milestones, welcomed the CAQC Council to the Northwest Territories. This council is made up of academics and persons from other polytechnics who have been experienced in transitions of colleges into polytechnic universities, and they came up to do their work with Aurora College. And that work is currently underway. They were provided some follow-up items from the council, and we're expecting to hear more publicly about that in the spring this year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ever so briefly, in a sentence, I mentioned the Manitoba one because they were no longer relevant in the sense of participation and money, that they had to ask themselves do they need to exist, and my concern is Fort Smith could be on the ropes if we don't find ways to have them evolve. And hence this falls rightly into my next question was, without this legislation moving forward, Mr. Speaker, that town is at risk. So where is the legislation for the polytech; why can't we work on this concurrently? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is currently working on the legislation at the same time that the college is working through the CAQC accreditation process. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my last question really is focused around the North Slave now. Where would the campus be? Is there any actual planning or identification of where the North Slave campus would be located and what type of partners they'd be working with? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within my jurisdiction as Minister, I provide authority for the college to open campuses in certain communities in the Northwest Territories. So through my role, there is a designation of Yellowknife as a campus location. The board of governors is working on further details as to where and what and when that work happens as far as a North Slave campus. I can report to the House, as has been reported in multiple media outlets as well, that the board of governors is currently very hard at work on a North Slave campus and what those options might be. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
