Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to the business cases for the three major projects, where are we with them and how long will it take to complete each of them? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister for ITI.

As I said before, I can't tell you when the business cases will be completed. I do believe, in the mandate, there isn't a timeline established at this point, but that is going to be dependent on what we get. I did just want to point out some of the value. A 2018 historic value of production report is estimated, from the mines within or around the Slave Geological Province, at $45 billion, so I would argue that that would be, I guess, the mineral resource potential of that region. I think that there is a clear case for why these should go forward, but I will commit to going back to the department and asking for a better, tighter timeline around the business plans and providing that back to the committee.

Thank you, Minister for ITI. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The one item that is in here, though, is the business case for the Taltson project will be completed by spring 2020. The other ones aren't in here yet, but that one will be completed as per our schedule. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know those dates were in there. They were thrown in there or put in there. I'm just wondering how those dates were derived. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We asked the departments to provide the mandate actions, and then the deliverable dates and the measurable outcomes. In fairness, the departments were a bit conservative in their dates because nobody wants to be set up to fail. Then we brought this mandate document in to standing committee as a draft, and standing committee said, "Be bold," so we went back to the departments and we told them to be bolder, because, again, I don't want to set up the departments to fail, either. They looked with a little bit more objective lens, and they put timelines that they felt would be reasonable, that they could be expected to have them delivered in. It's not the wish list that says, "I will solve world peace in a month," and it's not the reality that says, "I will solve world peace in 5,000 years." It's a balance that says, "This is what, realistically, we think we can do." That's where the timelines came from. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just one more question, and that is: right now, we need to make sure that the money we are spending is spent in the North. The contracts that we're giving out have to go to Northerners. Is the government willing to commit to looking at negotiated contracts in the interim to make this happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, there is a negotiated policy within the GNWT. However, we also need to make sure that we are abiding by the policy. For example, the negotiated contracts to help Indigenous governments to get their feet on the ground, I think it's five years that will support them in that. At some point, though, it has to be open to competition. It's not good to always have negotiated contracts, and then there is no market for any other business; you will shut down every other business. There is a fine balance to starting up, and we usually use them for Indigenous governments. Yes, we will use the negotiated contracts to help governments build their capacity, but we also need to take care of the private market, as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Hay River South.

Thanks for that answer. I guess the problem I have is that, the way the economy is right now, what's happening is we're getting an influx of southern business coming in and taking work away, so we've got to do something different in the interim. If we have companies in the North that are willing to partner up with Indigenous groups to do, whether it's highway work or whether it's building, or whatever, I think we should seriously look at that, because then that way we know that the work will be staying in the North.

I guess I'm looking for a commitment from the government to seriously look at that. Otherwise, we're going to end up losing it to the Southerners, and we're going to lose our contractors anyway. I'm hoping that the Premier and the Minister of ITI can commit to seriously looking at negotiated contracts if it's between the government and a joint venture between whether it's an Indigenous group and a contractor who may not be Indigenous, or could be, as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely, we do want to work with Indigenous governments whenever possible. It's a win-win. I say that every time I meet with the Indigenous governments. If we can get them more sustainable, they will actually give jobs to their people; that means savings on public housing, savings on income support. That's the way I'm looking at our relationship with Indigenous governments; not as a handout, not as a favour. We will work better when we work together.

Like I said, we are committed. I have no problem with doing negotiated contracts with Indigenous governments. As for partners, I mean, there is no way that the Taltson is going to be built without those partnerships. We have Indigenous governments that are knocking on my door. I don't have to knock on their doors; they've been knocking since I took over. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll take that as a yes, and thank you.

All right. Are there any further questions on "Make strategic infrastructure investments that connect communities, expand the economy, or reduce the cost of living?" Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm not going back to the "big toys for big boys." I'm going to go on to the broadband part of the table. I see that one of the items here is to complete the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk fibre line. That's great, but what about linking the communities that the fibre link line already passes by to it, and providing distributions systems in communities that it already goes by? Why is that not part of the work that should be done here? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Some of the difficulty with this is that actually putting the broadband is not a GNWT project on its own. In fact, we do not have the capacity to do that. We need the federal government at the table, but we also need private enterprise at the table. Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, it's on the books already. The other ones might not be, and so it's a matter of developing those partnerships and those relationships with our Internet provider, as well. It would be inappropriate to put actions in a mandate when we do not have firm commitments on things that are outside of our control. This mandate should be based on what we know or what is in our control. Thank you, Madam Chair.