Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government of the Northwest Territories' mandate document highlights that benefits from non-renewable resource productions enables an investment in many of the priority areas of our Assembly. The primary means by which this Government is addressing the Assembly's priorities in this area is the ongoing implementation of the Northwest Territories Mineral Development Strategy. Establishing a Mining Industry Advisory Board has played a very important role. They are helping us to get the word out to industry that the Northwest Territories is a good place to work and to invest in.

The Fraser Institute, which sets out a report on an annual basis, has always indicated that the geologic potential of the Northwest Territories is very high. We are always in the top ten. But on the working in the Northwest Territories, we have been very low. We have been rated right up there with the Congo, at times, at 39thplace. So we are very surprised at the ratings we were getting, so we approached the Fraser Institute and asked them what their process was. We found out that most of the people that were submitting hadn't worked in the Northwest Territories for a long time, and the ones that are here now hadn't had the opportunity to fill out these questionnaires that they send out. So we are going to make sure that they are working with current information and that they know what the realities are.

We also have the Mining Development Strategy, which is a very important piece of our toolkit. We invest in geoscience, which is the backbone of mining. We also invest in prospector training to train prospectors. We also provide a Mineral Incentive Program, which provides funding of up to $400,000 annually to junior mining companies, and that has been over-subscribed since its introduction. We are working very closely with industry so that we can continue to get ready, so that when the commodity prices come back, we'll be ready to see the Northwest Territories take its rightful place so that exploration spending will be back up where it was in 2008. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for his very good reply; it is much appreciated. Mr. Speaker, the territorial government and the Northwest Territories often gets criticized for its regulatory regime and I know that there's been considerable efforts in recent years to improve that. I wonder if the Minister could please elaborate on what the role this government has had in streamlining that process and are we any further ahead than we were in past years as it relates to the regulatory processes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working at this from a number of fronts. First of all was the successful achievement of devolution two years ago and we are now continuing to devolve and evolve and the mining legislation out there will be reviewed. We are also looking at introducing a Mineral Resources Act. The Northwest Territories is one of only two jurisdictions in Canada that does not have a Mineral Resources Act. This will be very important for our mining industry. It will provide for more effective oversight and enforcement of Northwest Territories mining regulations. We are also talking to the federal government about the MVRMA process. We pushed for it under devolution that we should take it over, and we've raised that with Minister Bennett, Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Affairs and so we have a number of areas that we want to look at to improve the mining regulatory regime. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, thank you to the Minister for his reply. Mr. Speaker, one of our successful programs in this area is, in fact, the Mining Incentive Program. I wonder, can the Minister inform the House what has been the uptake in the Mining Incentive Program and what feedback from industry, if any, has the department received?

The Mining Incentive Program has been very well received in the Northwest Territories, especially with the downturn in the economy. In the two years that we ran the program, it's been oversubscribed. We had $400,000 available for the exploration side; that was oversubscribed. There was about $1.4 million requested and we only had $400,000, so it's obviously filling a very important void. On the prospector's side, it has been fully subscribed where prospectors in a number of regions have taken the training and have received funding through the prospector's program. I think it's going to benefit the industry going forward and especially when the commodity prices recover.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Always great to see a successful government program. Mr. Speaker, lastly, could the Minister tell us how the department is actively engaging industry to meaningfully address barriers to development, such as seeking opportunities for funding and partnerships on infrastructure projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have a number of ways that we engage with industry. First and foremost is we have the Chamber of Mines for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut which is a very active association and we interact with them on a regular basis. There's also a number of industry events in the Northwest Territories. We have the NWT Geoscience Forum which is one of the largest events in the Northwest Territories where we usually get about 800 to 900 participants and it is a very important show.

We also attend the Cordilleran Roundup in Vancouver and PDAC in Toronto, and that allows us to make very meaningful contacts and to present and advertise the Northwest Territories as a good place to work and invest. We also have the Mineral Industry Advisory Board which provides very good advice. We also meet with participants, the proponents that have projects. We have a number of projects that have been approved or ready to go and the only thing holding them back is the lack of access to capital. When we lead trade missions we also bring a number of industry people along with us to help promote their projects as well.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier today I have questions for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations on NWT co-management board vacancies. Two of the boards do not have a quorum and 22 per cent of the positions are currently unfilled. What is the Minister doing to ensure that we have an effective co-management system with fully staffed boards? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have done a number of things. First of all we attempted to have the authority for the boards devolve to the Northwest Territories, which was not accepted by the federal government because of the fact they had a national regulatory improvement process across Canada so they felt it was in their interest to continue to keep the MVRMA boards under their jurisdiction. In the latest election when we wrote to all of the party leaders, the leader of the Liberal Party wrote back that if they were elected they would review the environmental assessment process and we saw that as an opportunity now that we have the Liberal government. So we approached them as to the fact that through the devolution process responsibility for the MVRMA was going to be reviewed after a five-year process, and we put forward a case that we didn't have to wait five years, we should start to work so that we could transfer those responsibilities to the Government of the Northwest Territories very quickly. So we're still pursuing that process with Minister Bennett. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Department of Executive website has a board appointment section on it, but there's really no easy way to determine which positions are vacant and for how long and when positions may be opening up. Would the Minister commit to improving the website in the interest of getting vacancies filled more quickly and to ensure greater transparency?

I should clarify that on our website it is referring to Northwest Territories boards; those boards that are our responsibility. If the Member is suggesting that we also include federal boards, I'll be meeting with Minister Bennett next week so I can certainly raise that with her as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll be happy to have a chat with the Minister afterwards and we can chat about that website because I think there must be some misunderstanding here. I think there are some other longer term solutions. The Minister talked about delegation of appointment authority. We might also look at having an independent body that would vet applications to ensure a balance of expertise and experience on these boards. We could also look at perhaps a policy of nominating candidates for sunsetting positions, maybe six months or even a year before appointments are due. Has the Minister considered these sorts of longer term solutions that I've just mentioned?

I believe we're doing that for NWT boards and for those board appointments that fall under our purview.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We may disagree on a number of things here. But this issue of co-management vacancies is obviously a long-standing one when some positions have gone unfulfilled as long as five and a half years. Can the Minister commit to report to this House at least annually on co-management board vacancies and efforts to improve and avoid these sort of lengthy delays and appointments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'll be pleased to do that. Where it has been pointed out to us by our Aboriginal government partners, we've made representation to the federal government and generally they respond on a very quick basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I spoke about NTCL and the community fuel delivery, my question is for the Minister of Public Works and Services. Mr. Speaker, my first question is: what is the GNWT doing to ensure that community fuel deliveries will be completed given the recent announcement that NTCL is pursuing creditor protection? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Public Works and Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Public Works and Services has had a long-standing working relationship with NTCL and we recognize that they're going through some difficulties, but we have re-established a different contract with them to make sure that they're going to transport fuel into the communities during the summer of 2016. Based on the renewed contract and the decision within the legal case that they just recently had, we're not anticipating any interruption in fuel provision for this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for the response. My question is, Mr. Speaker, what impact will this have on the communities?