Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll try to do it from here but it's probably going to miss some few things that we do at the Department of Lands.

As the Member for Thebacha was talking about, we're trying to get the regulations done for the -- so we can then do the public lands enforcement. We're modernizing the land use only policy, revised project assessment policy. We talked about securities, project assessment. We were working on industry surface review. So we're working out there, land use and sustainability. I'm missing one, sorry. I had it written down here.

We're also doing a review of the securities. We are working with that. We have reached out to the Department of -- or the Chamber of Mines to coordinate it, and we have one interested company that's specifically asking to do that. We are also doing enforcement. And most importantly, we are trying to deal with rights-based cabins and unauthorized occupancy, but. And then we also do land use plans working with Indigenous governments and the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Specific to the Nechalacho project, could the Minister outline the current status of the Nechalacho land use permit? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question.

The department executed a seven-year industrial lease for Cheetah to support the demonstration mining project on April 23, 2021. Cheetah's now seeking a potential for a 30-year lease for mining proposals as they are working towards the mining phase of the project. The department has been working collaboratively with both Cheetah and the Department of Justice to ensure that draft release continues to protect the GNWT for liabilities related to the proposed plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that we have -- we are in the discussions with Cheetah Resources about securing a bankable long-term mining lease. This is an essential requirement for any mining project to ensure it has secure tenure and protect its multi-million dollar investment. Could the Minister advise us on the status of the discussion? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. So we've been going on for about two years from -- as me from being the Minister. There's been constant communication. As I said today, we did have a productive meeting with Cheetah this morning -- or this afternoon at 12, me and Minister Wawzonek and the Premier. We had a conversation with them. We're getting really close to hopefully coming up with a final agreement. But at the end of the day, we need to make sure that we protect our environment for future residents. It's about our children, our grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. But in the conversations with Cheetah, I think we're very, very close, and I appreciated Mr. Atkins coming all the way back -- or all the way up from Australia to have these conversations and hopefully we can have closure to this and move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If necessary, would the Minister commit to advising the Assembly on future progress in terms of enabling this project to proceed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm more than willing to meet with committee to give an update once we finalize it. I don't want to talk about the work and the process it's in right now. I want to be able to get a final closure to it, and then I'm more than willing to bring that information to committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if we ever expect to realize living wages for NWT workers, we need increased resource development to move that initiative forward, because we can't rely on finite federal funding to prop up the economy forever.

So Mr. Speaker, the Premier previously stated that the Northwest Territories requires investments and strategic infrastructure that can help to unlock our natural resource potential when seeking commitment from the federal government for 100 percent flexible infrastructure funding. Can the Premier confirm where this government is with respect to achieving those goals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to defer that to the Minister of Infrastructure. She's taking the lead on the infrastructure funding. Thank you.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to report that progress has been made on all three of our strategic infrastructure projects: The Slave Geological Province Corridor, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, and the Taltson Hydro Expansion.

Our work is supported by over $250 million in combined federal and territorial support to advance these three important projects. Funding to date has been 75 federal for Mackenzie Valley Highway/Slave Geological Province and 100 percent federal for Taltson.

While all three of these projects are currently at different stages ranging from a feasibility and planning to environmental assessment, they are all advancing. You know, some of the key milestones for these projects this year include Mackenzie Valley Highway, submission of the developer's assessment report to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board this fall to advancing environmental assessment, advancement of Prohibition Creek and Mount Gadet access road projects.

For the Slave Geological Province Corridor, advance of Indigenous knowledge, environmental engineering work to support future project applications, discussions with Canada and Indigenous governments regarding a request by the Tlicho government to undertake a regional strategic environmental assessment of the project.

Regarding the Taltson Hydro Expansion, routing selection, Indigenous knowledge, environmental and engineering work to support the future project applications, working with our Indigenous partners to discuss commercial structure for the project.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to talk with communities and Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations on these important projects so they are prepared to take advantage of future economic and social benefits. Quyananni.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was a mouthful.

Mr. Speaker, extraction of resources is one component of oil and gas and mineral resource development. Refining the product is another. The community of Hay River, with its railhead highway access and marine facilities, is strategically located to accommodate such infrastructure.

Can the Premier confirm what effort or incentives this government puts in to encouraging natural resource development companies to establish processing or process extraction facilities in communities such as Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The responsibility for new businesses is the Minister of ITI. I'd like to defer the question to the Minister of ITI. Thank you.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Madam Premier. Mr. Speaker, we're always looking for opportunities. We are happy to work with any proponent, whether that's as a pathfinder of our own processes and our own regulatory processes, whether it's as a pathfinder of understanding what the federal processes might be. Mr. Speaker, obviously, for -- I shouldn't say obviously, but for any larger scale programs they are typically on the mineral resources side, they would involve often IBAs, SEAs, social economic agreements, impact benefit agreements, and so certainly to the extent that they're able to provide value added in terms of, you know, increasing the amount of northern component, then that will, no doubt, be a benefit on those fronts. So, you know, we're certainly happy, as I say, more than happy to work with any project that is looking at developments here in the territory. I expect, really, Mr. Speaker, we'd wind up being whole of government, and we'd probably see Lands involved; you'd probably see ENR involved. And certainly in my experience in the last two years, the LNR departments - Lands, Natural Resources departments - are now actively meeting, actively working together and quite ready to look at those kinds of opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we know the resource sector wants certainty respecting complex regulations along with restrictive land use planning legislation and policy - something this and past governments have discussed for years with little to no resolution on how to soften it.

Can the Premier tell me what this government is doing to streamline processes or at least to lay the groundwork for future governments to ensure long-term resource development and processing takes place in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, that question's for the Minister of ITI. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Minister responsible for ITI.