Denny Rodgers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, beginning tomorrow, Curling NWT and the Yellowknife Curling Club will be hosting the 6th annual Rock the Rings Curling Festival. This event is intended to introduce NWT youth to the roaring sport of curling in various under 12, under 15, and under 20 divisions.

Approximately 65 youths from Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic will be curling, bowling, swimming, and having a rocking time, Mr. Speaker. Nearly half the participants will be from my home community of Inuvik. In fact, I've been told that Inuvik has fared quite well at the event over the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates, with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that. And yes, I do recall having an update, and I was hoping that the packet of the RFP would be out for this and hopefully will be out in the very near future. So does the Minister, then, anticipate that we will have in our next capital planning budget funding in there earmarked to move forward on this project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on May 24th, 2024, I gave a Member's statement on the need for long-term care in Inuvik. Mr. Speaker, I spoke about the program review that was first completed by this government way back in 2015, and it identified the overall need for long-term care in the Northwest Territories. At the time, based on the percentage of residents over the age of 70 in the Inuvik area, the GNWT determined that a 48-bed facility would address the short and long-term needs of the Inuvik region.

Mr. Speaker, I also spoke about how in 2018 the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move the chair rise and report progress.

Thank you, and thank you for that. Is there any anticipation, Mr. Speaker, that in light of my Member's statement I talked about working with -- at one point, the proposal was to work with Indigenous governments potentially owning and leasing this building or a couple of alternatives. Is there still any conversations at the department level of potentially working with Indigenous governments on this, or is this going to be a GNWT project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement regarding the long-term care facility in Inuvik and the planning for it, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can she kind of give us an update on what's now being done to advance this project through the planning stages and where we are, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah and, you know, and I know the Minister is aware and I am happy to work with the Minister and the department on that. You know, some of the folks that we've had presented to us and the folks that work both at headquarters in the region are keen. And I am not saying we don't -- I am not certainly not disparaging the folks we have in place doing the work because I know they're very knowledgeable, and I've had some very good conversations with them. I just want to make sure we have the capacity. Maybe the dream would be a regional envoy for energy policy in Inuvik, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I've brought up in this House many, many times, I do think that the next economic engine that could fuel this territory is liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Obviously, I've said many times we have a significant amount of that in the Beaufort Delta, both onshore and offshore. I've also talked about in 2021 when I know the department did a pre-feasibility study that stated exactly that, that it was technically feasible and -- technically feasible and financially feasible to look at doing this. And I know I've brought it up in the House but I just want to reaffirm...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that. And I know there's funding to do some upgrades on that highway, and certainly appreciate that too. In the summer, the Minister mentioned that he will meet again and talk about doing some commitments. Will the Minister include with that -- and I know in speaking with our contractors on the NWT side, they've often went down and said, yeah, we could get that open but yet a couple of days pass before it's actually done. Is there a potential that we could actually provide some of that service to the Government of Yukon?