Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, again, I appreciate the Member asking these questions. Madam Speaker, multiple departments are currently working to implement the GNWT's approach to the management of contaminated sites. The action plan for the approach includes several items related to the prevention of public liabilities. This plan includes legislative and regulatory amendments as well as working with the land and water boards to update policies and procedures. Items have been completed including updated closure, cost estimate, guidelines, and a new estimate tool for land use permit securities. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, before I proceed I want to make some clarifications, a correction to one of the sentence that I made earlier when I said we witnessed another accident, and I would like to correct that. We came upon another accident. So that's for clarification. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, an expression of interest was issued by Finance in 2021 to address the lack of cell service on Highway No. 3. Can the Minister provide an update on what has been accomplished since this time, what is the status of work to improve cell service on Highway No. 3? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the expression of interest allowed for an opportunity to do some costing and to understand the potential costs of installing cell towers along the highway. With that information in hand, that was the position that we were able to then give, which I think they were spoken to the House, that it looks at notwithstanding the capital expenses, which are themselves significant, there would also be an operations and maintenance expense of $500,000 approximately every year and no other known source of funding other than that of the GNWT. And so in knowing what the scale and size of those costs are, there has not been any change in the decision of not including that in this year's capital. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, does the Government of the Northwest Territories have a plan to implement cell towers between Yellowknife and Behchoko and when will it be implemented?

Thank you, Madam Speaker. There is no plan to implement cell towers between here and Behchoko. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories can install electric charging station by 2024. Can the Minister commit to providing cell service between Yellowknife and Behchoko by 2024? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the vehicle charging stations, or the level 3 charging stations that are going in to Behchoko, are a project that is administered through the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. They apply to the GHG Emissions Fund, which is a largely federally-funded initiative. They then apply and are able to get funds through that program. And this is in response, Madam Speaker, to the fact that the federal government is making it mandatory by 2035 that there be zero -- 100 percent, zero percent emissions vehicles sales. So they'll be a period of time when vehicles can still run without that but any new vehicles are going to have to be zero emissions. So, Madam Speaker, we do need to have a plan at this point in time to be taking that seriously, to be ready for it, and that's what Northwest Territories Power Corporation is doing. The funds that might be available for any and all other capital project, Madam Speaker, would go through the usual capital planning process, the initiatives, and be aligned to the mandate of the government. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. Can the Minister provide information on how many electric vehicles are on the road in NWT; how many people in Behchoko drive electric vehicles; how many people drive electric vehicle on Highway No. 3? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'll work with my colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure, to see what information can be provided. I can say that research went out regarding what might be done to help encourage the use of electric vehicles. Having more charging stations was one of the recommendations that came with that research. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. You know, I made a promise to keep asking about this for the life of my four years, and I'm hopeful one day that someone in the future Assembly takes it up and continues to ask too. But my question for the Minister of Infrastructure is there any hope of the hours of the DMV being altered so they, you know, are possibly open at any time outside of the government's normal 9 to 5 business hours? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the Member continuing to ask questions, but my answers are going to continue to be the same. The Department of Infrastructure is not considering opening the Yellowknife DMV on the weekends. This would have significant costs, Madam Speaker, to double-fill these positions and additional security on the weekends. It would require two extra people to work all times for safety reasons. We already currently provide five days a week, by appointment and walk-ins. Many services are also available online, Madam Speaker. The work-life balance for our staff is so important, and walk-ins, many of these services are available online. One of the things that I want to say is the work-life balance for our staff is important, and I'm not willing to make them work on the weekends. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I understand that there was just recently a customer service review done at the Department of Motor Vehicles, and this kind of has led to us keeping the appointment-style model. But I'm curious whether there is a plan to move any more services online for the DMV? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, many services are currently made online and are accessible any time of the day, including Saturdays. For example, you can book driver examinations; you can print out your driver's abstract; you can renew your vehicle registration; renew your driver's licence - all on the website, Madam Speaker. We are also investing in changes to the DMV services website so that we can improve the user experience for existing online services. These are upgrades that are anticipated to roll out by the end of this fiscal year. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the youth advisory committee is something that I was hoping to establish early on in the life of this government. That was derailed by COVID. So we have reestablished it -- or we are in the process of reestablishing it. Hopefully there will be a meeting in this calendar year. And the purpose of this youth advisory committee is so that I can hear directly from youth. I have lots of discussions with staff, I have discussions with members of the general public, with MLAs, but I don't have a lot of discussions with actual students in the actual education system, let alone from all of the regions. So what this youth advisory committee would be would be two members from each education body, and they would gather, and we would have discussions about initiatives that ECE is undertaking and about other issues that are affecting them as youth, and mental health issues I'm sure will be on that agenda at some point. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, does the Minister set the agenda for each of the meetings, or does the Minister work with the youth to set the agenda for the meeting? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So as this committee has not even been struck yet, we don't have a process for setting agendas. But I would love to hear from youth and know what they want to talk about. I don't want to tell them what they're going to talk about; I'd like to hear from them. We will be putting forward items obviously, but I would love it if the youth would put forward some agenda items themselves. Thank you.