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

Mr. Speaker, one of the questions I had asked about was about purchasers for the power, and I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to any partnership discussions about securing partners to purchase the power as well from Taltson? Thank you.

Quyananni. Yes, those discussions are ongoing. You know, you look at the Taltson project, and it's -- you know, it's a $1.5 billion project. There's still a lot of work to do, including maintaining the -- building the partnership, being able to look at the three different phases that's included with this Taltson project. So yes, Mr. Speaker, we are having those discussions now because it is also key. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we started this Assembly the ICGP, or the Indigenous Career Gateway Program, was not being fully utilized. There was gaps in terms of the funding available and its usage. I'm happy to say, Mr. Speaker, it is now fully subscribed. So departments are becoming aware, and they're becoming aware that it is a useful program to help bring young Indigenous people in to the public service and to ensure that they have the adequate training to get them to the next stage.

And as for accountability, to make sure that we continue, I'd rather have that program be oversubscribed and be looking at ways to expand it. Mr. Speaker, that's why we have the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. That is going to provide and does provide the accountability. It's providing accountability in terms of the highest levels where the performance measures are actually going to be part -- or the performance appraisals of senior management are actually going to be looking at the achievement of the targets that are there, and the targets are now being made public department by department. So I'm happy, again, to have that reinforcement here so that departments are aware that this is something that is, in fact, now a live issue and the targets are there and the accountability is present. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister create a departmental procedure within HR to ensure that every Indigenous candidate on the casual pool or Indigenous career gateway receive one-on-one support from an HR professional to provide advice and support for securing GNWT positions?

I understand that this is a -- this is something that the HR does provide to all -- anyone who needs the support on writing -- or resumes and things like that. But knowing what we know, that our Indigenous population is so low in our GNWT statistics, is this something that her department can commit to? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the action no. 1 of the IRRF -- the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework, it is that the Department of Finance will create resources and tools to improve the applicant's experience when applying for positions.

Mr. Speaker, I take the Member's point, and I don't disagree. It's not about asking someone to ask for help. Some people simply will not ask even if they could use and benefit from that help. So as we move forward with this recruitment and retention framework, Mr. Speaker, we are, indeed, going to create those resources and tools, and I will certainly commit to get back to the Member as to what that's going to look like so that we can, in fact, achieve that action goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I know that is a big barrier with a lot of people looking at the resumes and stuff, and I know it's part of a lot of the review that they're doing within the human resource department, is looking at these overinflated job descriptions. My worry is is that if the job description is rewritten and, you know, that the pay goes down but is there a possibility of a way that HR can review a lot of these entry-level positions that have been overinflated to accommodate salaries, which is the way that the job eval works with the Hay Plan and the whole union thing. I really would like that a lot of these entry-level positions are looked at with the salaries remaining the same. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, as mentioned in the framework, the point of reviewing the job descriptions isn't to find a way to reduce pay. The point of reviewing the job descriptions is to make sure that we are aligning the necessary level of credentials to the job that is to be performed. So there's no intention or desire to reduce pay. Again, it's really about finding a way to make sure that we are matching skill sets and matching opportunities to the labour market, to the labour force, and bringing in a more representative workforce, bringing in more people who are otherwise not seeing themselves because of too narrow a job description that doesn't actually fit what is required.

So -- and Mr. Speaker, I know -- I know the Member's had a lot of personal experience. I've had -- actually have had her sit down with folks from Finance before, and they found that helpful. Perhaps the way to address some of the bigger issues in this question is to have the -- see if she'd be willing to do that one more time now that we're at a different point in the framework and that we can benefit from her experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is the first time I get to say yes, Minister.

Can the Minister commit to making the NWT Indigenous labour force statistics by gender and community available? You know, the reason why I'm asking that is we do get statistics broken out by Indigenous, regional, Yellowknife, but it's the age. Like, within -- like, I'm talking about in my Member's statement is these young males that are -- are -- starting careers and, you know, and needing this step in the door. So I'm really hoping that we can get this and be -- have it public so that we're transparent for the rest of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the public service annual report does provide some of the information with respect to the breakdowns by community, by gender, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Meanwhile, I know ECE also does reporting with respect to the overall labour force although not directly to the public service. So I'll certainly commit to going back and seeing if there's a gap between what's reported by ECE and what's reported by the Department of Finance public service report if there's something more that we can do to put those information pieces together so they're more clear and make it more useful, with the goal always of ensuring that we are being transparent about who's being hired and being transparent about areas where we still have some work to do. So, you know, again, I don't know if that's quite what the Member's looking for but if she is going to take up my offer to sit down again, we can work through any other gaps that she may see. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment or Finance, with whichever hat she would like to put on. I'm going to ask about some of the things I see as variables towards our economic recovery, and one of the things I hear a lot from the private sector is around the carbon tax.

Can the Minister maybe explain to me -- it's my understanding that currently a lot of the carbon tax and other fees for, say, a shipment gets rolled up together and then the GST is applied on top of that. To me, that sounds like a tax on a tax. So perhaps the Minister could speak a little bit more to that and whether or not the upcoming changes to the federal government's -- sorry, I'm having trouble speaking today. The federal government's changes that are coming up, how they will affect us as a territory? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Conscious of Mr. Speaker's direction that we be brief, I will try to wrap this up quickly. And Mr. Speaker, the federal carbon tax system does indeed create a system whereby it is indeed a tax on tax design. It's a tax that is in all of the inclusive price of a thing. It is then -- the carbon tax is then placed upon that on top of that. That's administered by the federal government. It's not something about which the GNWT can necessarily change or alter.

That said, also, Mr. Speaker, with respect to changes that are coming and that have been introduced in the last several months by the federal government, we certainly are expecting those changes to be fairly significant to the GNWT and we are right now quite actively working on how that's going to impact the Northwest Territories in terms of industry and consumers. We want to, of course, ensure that as a jurisdiction that's at the frontline of climate change that we are leading the way but also cognisant that we are quite far behind in terms of the tips -- the tools we might have at our fingertips to respond. But Mr. Speaker, we are going to come up with that plan and make sure that we are aligned and ready to respond to those new benchmarks when they come into force. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister's response. One of the things I heard at COP, and was the messaging that we took there, was that we can't afford to, as a territory, pay for the federal government's commitments.

My next question is a little bit along the lines of my colleague from Kam Lake. I just wanted to know if the Minister could provide us with an update on the Taltson Hydro Expansion business update. I know that there has already been some conversation around this. I'm just wondering if there's been any change now with respect the way that the world is changing with COVID and whether we have more interest from the feds? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure if COVID has been the motivating factor, but certainly the realities of the climate change as they become only ever more pressing, I think are having an impact. And as my colleague already today spoke to today, Minister Archie and I are both sitting together on the steering committee where we sit with Indigenous governments who are signatories to the MOU, provided they continue to wish to participate in that, and it's in that context that it's progressing. We are, as I think my colleague has mentioned, at a stage of having our preliminary business case and moving that through approvals to have that shared with other Members of this House. And once we've done that, we'll also be sharing it with -- continuing to share with the federal partners that we know we need to have.

And Mr. Speaker, it's, you know, picking up on my -- the Member's point, that this is about climate change and adapting our missions, Mr. Speaker, when I do hear the ITI hat and engage with industry on the mineral resources sector, there's a lot of interest in this project because they also want to reduce their GHG emissions, not only because of the cost but because it's good practice; it's social licence. So there's -- this is a good time, and it's a good opportunity for us to continue to move that business case forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister and I align fairly well with our feelings on the importance of the Taltson Hydro Expansion.

Next, I just want to ask, again further along about emissions, there has been new benchmarks brought in to Canada for the first time enshrined in law, as my colleague from Kam Lake was saying. I'm just curious to know, does the Minister know if there will need to be updates for applications or projects that we already have underway in order to assess them for these changes in the climate emissions?

I think of the Frank Channel Bridge, which I know had a climate lens study as part of the application under the Trade Corridor Fund. So I'm just curious to know if we'll have to do any updates on that type of work, or are we sort of brought in as from before? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is fortunately a project where we are working, the Department of Finance, Department of Infrastructure, and federal colleagues over at Transport Canada, are all working together. So Mr. Speaker, at this point I am not concerned that there's going to be any difficulty moving that project forward. The intention is still to continue to expedite given the importance of that project for so many strategic reasons in the North. And no doubt, there will be some impacts that will be some benchmarks for climate change emissions are certainly going to be -- bring some changes. We're still working on what that might mean and exactly how we will respond. The fact that those conversations are happening with respect to the Frank Channel Bridge leaves me confident that that project won't be negatively impacted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I probably don't have to tell the Minister that that bridge's lifespan is up in 2024 so there is no way we could actually entertain any further delays there.

And last, I'd just like ask the Minister one of the main things I spoke to in my statement was the importance of our mining and exploration sector and the lag that we see between an exploration project becoming a full producing mine with royalties.

Can the Minister speak a little bit to how the upcoming exploration season is shaping up? Are we seeing the reopening or the lifting of restrictions; has that come in enough time in order for the exploration sector to take advantage of it for the upcoming field season? Thank you.