Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, with respect to a concern on high cost of living and looking for solutions, one of those areas where there's high costs is the fact that there's a lot of fuel that has to get transported to the community and a lot of that is being transported because the community right now of Lutselk'e is running on a diesel generator to generate all of their power. And yet, Mr. Speaker, I do believe there have been some initial scoping studies done about micro hydro facilities. That would reduce the cost of living potentially, certainly bring a more reliable...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is, of course, some significant critical minerals deposits not far from Lutselk'e in terms of rare earth elements, and it certainly is, of course, work that's -- we're hoping will be getting underway on a Taltson expansion which would have a cable running under the water but would certainly involve potentially some, you know, work being done in or near Lutselk'e and potentially ending up having to move some equipment. That doesn't necessarily open up having consistent year over year winter road. It simply means that there may be some years where even...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's two items in there, and the first one was with respect to having relationships with Indigenous governments, Indigenous leadership. I had the opportunity recently to be -- to travel to Lutselk'e. I work with the chief of Lutselk'e on the Taltson project as a partner and I know, in fact, that the Premier met with the chief of Lutselk'e just today.

That said, Mr. Speaker, a separate question, then, becomes on whether or not initiating a feasibility study is or is not a reflection on the nature of that relationship. Mr. Speaker, I would distinguish the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity, together with the Member for Range Lake, to meet with the brewery. I've met with them on past occasions as well. They're significant contributors to this community in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker, and this is -- again, I do want to re-emphasize, not only to the brewery but any businesses as we're talking about reducing trade barriers, ourselves, territories, Atlantic provinces, we all have businesses that are small that may be concerned about what it means to open up, but this is an opportunity and we want to seize that opportunity...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is one that, again, straddles probably a couple of different departments. I am happy to say that prior to attending the internal trade Ministers' meeting, the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and myself had the opportunity to discuss this issue and, indeed, we are sitting at that table, we are participating in this working group. At this point, the direct-to-consumer sales I understand is going to go through some reviews, some considerations to what can be workable, not only for us but for other provinces and potentially territories. We're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's exactly the kind of question that we would like to have the time to examine before signing on to any sort of direct-to-consumer sale system. It's precisely for that reason, and likely precisely for that reason, that other provinces, although we're all committed to reducing tariffs and trade barriers want to just make sure that the businesses that we all represent are understanding what exactly it is that we're putting to them and what kind of opportunities we're creating. What we want to create is more opportunities for Canadian businesses, more markets within...

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to continue my theme this week celebrating Yellowknife South constituents' accomplishments and achievements. And today I am proud to speak about two individuals who last week were awarded the King's Coronation Medal. The Coronation Medal commemorates the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III as King of Canada and are for individuals who have made a significant contribution to Canada or to a province or territory. And the following two people, Mr. Speaker, are, indeed, exactly that. They have both made significant contributions to our community.

Matthew Yap was awarded...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly happy to continue to work with the chief from the community. That's not -- this is not an issue that he has raised with me directly on previous occasions but certainly happy to open that conversation with them.

Mr. Speaker, the capital planning process is a fairly detailed one. There are several criteria by which projects are judged to determine which ones move forward. Existing schools go through regular assessments every five years to determine where they might fall in terms of their needs. New capital projects similarly go through an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll draw on another positive example which is to say that in the community of Behchoko, there was a longstanding challenge of the school there and a desire to see that school changed and moved from the site where it was previously put to a new community. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment as lead, with support from infrastructure, are now working with Tlicho government going to Ottawa to advocate for education. Mr. Speaker, I would be very happy to see that we can get to a place where another Indigenous government, together with the GNWT...

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to need a bit of time to suss out exactly what study this is referencing from 2018, 2019. I'm happy to do so. It may be that I'm leaning on my colleague from Education, Culture and Employment. When it comes to the capital planning for educational facilities, it is a team effort. We rely on ECE to determine their programming needs and then, of course, the team at infrastructure supports them with respect to capital planning standards and then moving through the process. So, again, happy to look into this and to report back to the House and to the Member. Thank you.