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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would say that this is where I give a generally positive outlook on that. Mr. Speaker, it's -- we've just come through round up. I know the round up was still fully virtual, the virtual format gave me the opportunity to meet with quite a number of proponents here in the North, and all of them are suggesting that they're very keen to get back to work. They weren't unable to attend. Of course, as you might recall there were some allowances made under the previous COVID restrictions. The difference now is that it's easier to hire folks; it's easier to move around. There's less of a cost or a burden in terms of having to modify their staffing or the mobility. So I do think with the planning already in place, it's only going to get easier given with the changes that are coming when they are now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.