Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for the information about the 32 meetings.

Look, there's one web page on the ITI website about development of these mining regulations with a vague list of topics, and it's been there for three months and there's been literally no changes. I mentioned that, you know, these detailed secret meetings the department is having with the mining industry.

So can the Minister commit to publicly post the PowerPoint presentations being given at these secret meetings so everyone has access to the information? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, just because one person is not maybe at the table doesn't make it a secret meeting. I don't want to belabour this point, Mr. Speaker. These are the industry partners who are most affected, the most impacted, and are the experts in the area. But more importantly, we are working with IGCS in this process. The Intergovernmental council, these are the partners that we're working at with ITI. And I am very mindful of that relationship.

We have, of course, co-management here in the Northwest Territories. It is a system of regulatory processes that we are proud of. And before I go out and make any promises to publish anything that I'm working with them, I want to go back and make sure that they will not be taken by surprise and that the IGCS, of which the GNWT is only one member, are on board with what we are publishing and the pace at which we're doing that. So let me go and confirm with those partners and make sure that what we put out to the public is in line with their expectations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The problem is some information's being shared with, you know, the same industry this department is supposed to be regulating and one else has access to it, the public. You know, when does the public get to have a say on these issues? So, you know, I also mentioned that the -- I had to apply under Access to Information to get some of the documents that the department has contracted with some consultants. Someone from the mining industry actually thanked me for doing that. And another shares my concerns over the lack of public engagement.

So can the Minister tell us when any of the contract work and internal research is finally going to be shared with the public so that there's some meaningful public engagement? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for ITI.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is quite common, in fact, for departments, all departments, to conduct their research and their policy developments and to do that often internally. Sometimes they'll use contracts and sometimes they will not. So the detailed analysis and the research that goes into it does not always form part of the public engagement materials. That is not in and of itself unusual. I am pleased to hear that Members of this Assembly are engaged with industry and to discuss with them matters of importance, of shared interest.

When there are recommendations ready, then the recommendations will be put out to the public for comment. That is a standard process, and we'll be utilizing that in ITI as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. At some point, there's supposed to be five sets of detailed mining regulations posted for comment, and these are going to cover things like, you know, royalties, benefits, dispute resolution, and so on. Another vague and high level What We Heard report is just not going to cut it, Mr. Speaker. To ensure that there's some greater transparency and to avoid apprehension of bias by the department that is both a promoter and a regulator, comments made on these draft regulations should be public and so should any responses.

So can the Minister commit to ensuring that comments and responses on the draft mining regulations will be made public in the interest of fairness and transparency? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the same process that gets utilized when we're developing other pieces of legislation will certainly be utilized here. And in fact, quite often with regulatory development, regulations do not get the same level of engagement and research and input that these regulations are getting. So with that said, Mr. Speaker, again, subject only to the fact that there may be parties, there may be members of the public when they submit their comments, again, similar to any other development of legislation and regulation, who do not expect their comments to be made public.

So subject to ensuring that I'm not, you know, invading the privacy or confidence of members of the public who might be making comments, it is certainly our intention to try to put out as much information without the policy proposals that are in place, the background to them, and then what kinds of comments are made available prior to having the final materials put together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, before we continue, I just want to remind Members normally questions and answers are five minutes per person. We're pushing seven. So just give everybody a chance, so tighten up the questions and answers would be appreciated. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.