Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this project certainly was -- did get to -- or was delayed over the last short while. I can say that at this point there's been some positive developments that at this point we are working with the Tlicho-Kiewit partnership, and it is expected that there's going to be a start-up project -- start-up discussions have already begun. This -- for this year, this concurrent year, there's a production of aggregate underway and the next stages would have an estimated completion date -- I believe the construction itself will start in 2026, so in the next fiscal, with a...

Mr. Speaker, this has the ring of a Minister's statement. There's so much that really needs to be said in this space. The territory has a population that is not reflected in the public service right now and arguably never has been, so we need to get to a place where that changes. I can only imagine that that impedes people's morale. That would make certainly sense to me if you don't feel -- see yourself reflected around you or in the services that you are receiving as a resident. So I want to reflect that first as just understanding the gravity and importance of this.

It also -- if we can get...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can say there's certainly some -- as I mentioned, some renewed interest from Nunavut now organized to have a bit of their own project company that's out to develop and become a proponent to potentially on the Grays Bay Port, and they have reached out to the GNWT to see where we're at on Slave Geologic Province. They're turning their mind to it. I'd actually point the Member also south of our border, and Alberta is also showed a lot of interest. I think they are seeing perhaps less fossil fuel dependent future for themselves as well and are looking at where...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is one of the areas where there's a funding pot that is in existence, and it remains there at all times even when perhaps projects are not yet defined. So it's an effort to ensure that we're distributing those funds equitably across different regions but at the same time trying to identify projects that are able to move ahead in any one particular year. So the projects that we have now been identified and scoped and are more ready to go, there's others that we're certainly, you know, again hoping to get that money out the door and just wanting to keep some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were some delays in getting this program back up and running to the caliber or quality that we were hoping for. I am pleased to say that we partnered with Aurora College and that there is now the leadership development program. It started just this month. Again, pleased to also say it is fully subscribed for level one which is currently running. Level two starts in January of 2025, and that will continue until August 2025. I don't know where that is at in terms of if it's interest level but, again, very happy to see that the first round is fully subscribed. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, first, I guess I misunderstood. So the priority -- the primary criteria rating has been done here. It did get a score B -- B, A, A, and A which is for direct impacts, severity of impacts, and urgency mitigation. Sorry, I apologize. When the project was initially began and the funding was secured from the federal government to get to the regulatory proceedings, back then there was not this rigor. It is going through that process now. But it was just the idea of a comparison when we started, it wouldn't have had that because that wasn't being applied the way...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me see if -- oh, you know what, somebody has it in front of them. May I direct it to assistant deputy minister MacKay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, the red tape reduction working group really was meant to be focused on when a business or an individual runs into an issue and says, you know, I'm unable to get a license in an orderly fashion, I have to pay -- go to multiple departments in order to do something, I, you know, sought permissions or an opportunity, I can't get it done. This was an opportunity to say okay look, take that to the working group. They will cross those different departmental lines. Sometimes it's divisions within a department and they will -- they'll action that. But other...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the totality of this, of what is planned to do all of the planning, is a $40 million project. That is cost shared 75/25 federal to GNWT. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, yes, I'm glad to acknowledge the one item there that -- under asset management that is looking for a replacement. I would note there is quite a bit of work actually happening in this space of improving our fuel services in terms of the storage and the access. In fact, it's a pretty significant overhaul. Mr. Chair, it does happen to fall under programs and services section, so I certainly can speak to it now but -- or could come back to when we hit that section. I'm in the Chair's hands.