Thank you, Premier. And that's a good point. We'll just stick to the items in this document. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I will ask in the House again because the economy in the Northwest Territories should be front and center. But overall, again, it's building relationship. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Agreed. Thank you.

Mr. Edjericon. Are there any further questions? Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess sometimes there's examples in here where it's unclear what's happening. We supposedly are supposed to put the environmental assessment and the regulatory process for the Mackenzie Valley Highway in for fall 2023, and it says here preliminary desktop fieldwork and community engagement has advanced; there's some planning underway. I'm just wondering whether we believe we are on target for fall of 2023 making a submission for the Mackenzie -- or the Slave Geologic -- sorry, I have these -- well, I guess I want to know both of these.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway is fall 2023, Slave Geological Province Corridor is 2024. Are we on target for those regulatory applications? Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Archie.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in regards to the Mackenzie Valley Highway, maybe perhaps I'll start with that project.

So we are still on track for 2022 developer assessment DAR submission. We are looking at -- you know, there's a lot of work that's involved in order to put the -- the regulatory process in place, and so we are still on target with that. Let me just see what we are at for the...

So the department is working to develop some of the work plans to collect some of the environmental work on the engineering baseline data, and it is focused on advancing engagement with Indigenous groups as well. So on target for the SGP, and we hope to undertake some geotech and environmental and also Indigenous knowledge gathering this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions on make strategic infrastructure investments that can connect communities, expand economy, or reduce the cost of living?

Seeing none, committee, we will move on to pages 38 to 39, increase economic diversification by supporting growth in non-extractive sectors and setting regional diversification targets. Questions?

Seeing none, committee, we'll move to pages 40 to 41, increase resource exploration and development. Questions?

Seeing none, committee, we'll move to pages 42 to 43, reduce the cost of power and increase the use of alternate and renewable energy. Questions?

Seeing none, committee, we will move to pages 44 to 45, ensure government procurement and contracting maximizes benefits to residents and businesses. Questions?

Seeing none, committee, we will move to page 46, adopt a benefit retention approach to economic development. Questions?

Seeing none, committee, we will move to pages 47 to 48, improve early childhood indicators for all children. Questions?

Seeing none, committee, we'll move to pages 49 to 50, advance universal childcare by increasing availability and affordability. Questions?

Seeing none, committee, we will move to page 51, increase student education outcomes to the same level as the rest of Canada. Questions? Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is another one where I'm looking at modernizing the Education Act and review the education funding framework, and then I see it's in progress. And will we continue beyond the 19th Legislative Assembly is what it says.

Can I just get a -- you know, I read that and I'm just a little confused as to whether we're going to accomplish this in this Assembly or when we think we'll get the Education Act. Can I get an update of when we expect a new Education Act and a new education funding framework. It seems that it'll clearly be work beyond this life of this Assembly, but do we have any kind of timelines? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Unfortunately, I can't give a solid answer. We -- we would have liked -- I would have liked to get this done this term. I've said that many times. I can't -- I can't lie about that. But the fact is that everyone was preoccupied for a couple years and not just the government but Indigenous governments. And when we out to just discuss this topic, it was clear that everyone wanted to be involved. There had to be a significant level of involvement from -- from teachers, from Indigenous governments, from, you know, different organizations. And so because of that and because of the fact that we were stalled for a couple of years, we've had to concede the fact that this will take longer than this Assembly.

However, the plan right now is to get it done in two phases.

The first phase I would like to see happen this term. I would like this Assembly to pass some amendments to the Education Act. And those would be much more technical in nature. They would fix some of the outstanding issues that we've seen over the past 25 years with the current Education Act. They would help facilitate information sharing, you know, which we discussed earlier today, and clarify the roles of education DECs versus DEAs which, you know, outside of Yellowknife are -- it's a real issue. So there's a number of those more technical amendments that I would like to get done this term.

We are working on developing an MOU with the -- through the Council of Leaders on this. And some Indigenous governments want to participate in that. Others haven't expressed interest. You know, there's still some work to be done. I think some people don't want to do phase 1 and phase 2; they just want to just do it all at once. But I'd like to see some changes because I expect that the full modernization won't happen until the end of the next Assembly. And so for four years, at least if we can have some positive minor changes in place I would like that, so.

And the funding framework is dependant on the legislative framework. So while we have made some minor tweaks so far, and I hope to make some more tweaks to the funding framework by the end of this Assembly, the real changes will happen next term. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any further questions on increase student outcomes to the same level as the rest of Canada?

Seeing none, Committee, we'll move to pages 52 to 53. And before we start, we will break for supper.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witness to the kitchen.

---Laughter

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We are on page 52 to 53, enable seniors to age in place with dignity. Questions? Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you. I apologize, without having my spot, I'm just going to ask -- one of the complaints that I'm hearing from seniors is around the processes of being reimbursed for issues and having to pay out of pocket first. And I apologize if this is actually not under the mandate but I'm just going to ask because I can't find my page.

Is there work to improve or change that policy towards making it less burdensome on seniors to get the money for their hearing aids or vaccines, etcetera? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the Minister of Health and Social Services under the income -- oh no, Minister Simpson will be for income assistance. I don't see a mandate on it.

Extended health increase.

Yeah.

Okay, we're going to try to stick to the mandate, though, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Who is taking -- Minister Green.

Yes, thank you. There isn't anything in this mandate that deals specifically with that issue. But I know from my own use of the extended health benefits that that's how it works - that I pay and then I get reimbursed. It takes about three weeks. I can appreciate that for some people who have a short -- have a limited amount of income that that is -- that that can represent a hardship but at this point, I'm not aware that there are any plans to change that. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you. If I had to try to squeeze it in somewhere, I might say that it was in the program to help to tailor it towards their programs but that would be probably a bit of a stretch there.

I guess I'm looking around the mandate item to help protect seniors from abuse or neglect. Having had an aging parent myself, I am aware of that type of scams and things that can happen.

Can the Minister speak to whether or not -- what sort of work is being done in third party entities where we are providing funding to ensure that this type of abuse is not occurring? For example, I think of the long-term care facilities that may be operated by third party entities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.