Denny Rodgers

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of Tabled Document 111-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2024-2025, at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seconded this motion. I, as my colleagues know, it's something I brought up in this House as well. A former councillor, a former mayor of my town, and someone obviously who works closely with the current Mayor Wood and his council up there, very important that we do bridge this gap and this work get done to ensure that the funding is done equitably throughout the territory. And I won't take any more time than that other than to say full support and thank the Member for Yellowknife Centre for bringing it forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Certainly, that portion of the redundancy is very important to the businesses and the satellite station facility as the Minister alluded to. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, I guess, who is the owner of the fibre line once it's complete, the redundancy line?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you've heard me speak in this House regarding the Inuvik satellite station facility, an important piece of the economy viability in Inuvik and certainly, Mr. Speaker, was the anchor tenant for the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Line, which I appreciate this previous government had completed. Mr. Speaker, now there's a redundancy line being built through the Dempster Highway and through Whitehorse and over through Fort Nelson as well to ensure that we do have a redundancy loop for any breakages or any lapses in that line that's important to this facility.

Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, just briefly -- and I'm assuming maybe following up on my colleague's question -- I notice that the seasonal positions in the Beaufort Delta dropped by three coming up in this year. Can the Minister speak to why we're no longer required to have those positions in Inuvik? Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry if I wasn't clear in my question, Minister, I apologize. No, it does say that it was to the testing of the wind potential of specific sites of interest to the GNWT. I guess is what that specific funding, that $70,000, was used for. So I guess my question was is this out of the budget, I didn't know if it was a sunset clause, if it was a grant, or if it was just we're done studying wind in Inuvik because it's expensive to build windmills up there?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Energy poverty, I could show my heating bills for the last two years if you want to talk energy poverty. But thankfully, thankfully, IRC is taking a risk in developing some natural gas up there, so we may get some relief in the near future. That's not my question, and I'm not trying to do a Member's statement. But it popped in my head when I saw the term energy poverty. I'm like, yeah, you know, I got ten minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll be brief. You've heard me make comments in this House about the fact that these illicit drugs are destroying our communities. I support the motion. If I could support it twice, I would. And I think anybody in this House should feel the same way. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee defer further consideration of the main estimates for the Department of Finance at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.