Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community at this time. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize an old friend, Mr. Tony Akoak. He is from Gjoa Haven and currently the Speaker of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly. Tony and I went to school here in Sir John Franklin back in the day and attended the Akaitcho Hall student residence. And Tony was a terrific basketball player on our Akaitcho Hall team. We just only had to pass him the ball at the top of the free throw line. He would jump up in the air and just magically turn full circle and always scored a basket. I still remember that one. Welcome to the Assembly, Tony.

And I also just want to recognize someone who introduced himself; I can't remember his name. The Indigenous gentleman from Thunder Bay, Ontario. It's nice to see an Indigenous person in the whole contingent, and we encourage more of them to join their legislators or work hard to get into those. And I also like to welcome the rest of the contingent from the CPAs. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to welcome all of our fellow parliamentarians. But also, I would like to recognize my constituency assistant, and also my constituent of Great Slave, Colleen O'Connor who puts up with a lot when she helps support me. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions will be for the Minister of Finance.

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, although being part of our NWT healthcare system, is a separate entity from the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority. We know that funding was identified and provided as a labour market supplement for some employees of the NTHSSA.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm when funding was identified to cover the labour market supplement for the NTHSSA, was additional funding a consideration and identified for employees of the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process that takes place in order for the labour market supplement to be utilized, Health and Social Services brings forward the request. They know best what their human resources needs are. They bring forward a request to the Department of Finance, to the Financial Management Board, and that is how the funding gets approved. And for Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, as noted they are separate. They will then know best what their needs are. They will bring forward the request, and then the funding can be put through the Financial Management Board.

I certainly know that at the time that the NTHSSA was going through their process, Hay River was already under bargaining. And I'm fully confident that they will be taking into account the needs that they may have for a labour market supplement through that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Finance confirm approximately how many Hay River Health and Social Services Authority employees, if included, would be eligible for the labour market supplement based on criteria established for payout to the NTHSS Authority employees? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't but I can't for actually a reason that I think is good, and that is the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority has the opportunity to look at their own human resources needs, to look at their own areas where they're having difficulty in recruitment. And it may well be that their needs are very different, or at least somewhat different than what we had under the first round of labour market supplement. So they now have the opportunity to examine their own direct needs. They're sitting down at the table right now in the midst of bargaining. It's a good opportunity to utilize the policy that we have in place, to apply it to Hay River, and to determine exactly whether they have the same needs as the NTHSSA or whether they have slightly different needs and then to bring that forward. So assuming they are going to be going forward, and I expect they will with the labour market supplement, that will then be specific and tuned to the needs of the people in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm curious to, I guess, know how much money we're talking about. So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if she has an approximate cost to offer up the same labour market supplement to employees of the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority as she did for the NTHSSA? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have an approximate cost, and I certainly want to be cognizant that they are in the midst of bargaining. I certainly don't want to create expectations or limitations on what may be happening at that bargaining table. I would note, Mr. Speaker, that they are not at the same pace in terms of when their collective agreement gets discussed or even in terms of what the opportunity that NTHSSA had and the Department of Finance had to sit down to do the labour market supplement that applied to the rest of the healthcare workers in the Northwest Territories. All that said, Mr. Speaker, given the size that we were dealing with in terms of the first round of the labour market supplement for all the rest of the healthcare authority in all of the Northwest Territories, the cost that might attract or attach to Hay River, I expect, to not be significant and, as such, it's not something that gives me great concern moving forward. I'm confident that they'll be able to reach an equitable solution. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess my concern is that if we do nothing, then we're going to end up losing healthcare workers in Hay River. So Mr. Speaker, knowing that -- knowing the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority is in negotiations with the Union of Northern Workers, will the Minister confirm if she'd be willing to reach out to the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority and the union to discuss a memorandum of agreement that would provide Hay River health employees with a labour market supplement? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I share the Member's concern. That's why the Department of Finance developed the policy in the first place so there could be structure by which we can take steps to help with recruitment and retention. That's why there's the health recruitment unit that resides both with Finance and the Department of Health. But, Mr. Speaker, it's not the role of Finance to actually direct what's happening with the bargaining units at the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority. They are separate. All that said, you know, I'm quite confident that the authority and the union and the process of bargaining that's taking place there is well aware of the needs and concerns of the healthcare workers in Hay River. And Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that they'll be doing nothing. I simply don't want to impede on the process that's happening. I think a lot of information has been going out over the last few days to assure the workers that they are being heard and that, again, that process that's underway right now, it is going to take that into account. They won't be left behind. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment who is also responsible for mining. The timeline for public engagement on mining regulations is slipping and badly. Meanwhile, the department is holding detailed secret meetings with the mining industry. And I did give the Minister a head's up.

So can the Minister tell us how many secret meetings have been held with the mining industry in 2020 and 2022, and why the information presented to them has not been made public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm inclined to say that there are no secret meetings. And simply sit down, that might be one path by which we could go about this. But leaving the wording and the language aside, I know we will not probably see eye to eye on this, there have been 32 meetings held with industry on the Mineral Resources Act regulations. This is, indeed, with the very entities who will be most directly impacted, most directly involved, and have the expertise to help develop these regulations.

All that said, Mr. Speaker, again, this is a normal process. Processes that are involved in the Department of Finance and the Department of ITI with which I have the most awareness, I can assure you all of which we would go to stakeholders who are most directly involved, would produce What We Heard reports. We'd take the opportunity to have open engagement platforms with the public. That process is going to occur here as well. There will be opportunity -- ongoing opportunity for interested parties to participate. There is the website open right now.

I note, again, you can't really win. If it's too detailed, we're told we're flooding people and if it's not detailed enough, it's too general. But I would encourage anyone interested in the area to obtain that website and provide their feedback. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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.