Ministers' statements. Honourable Premier.

Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in May 2022 our government announced the merger of the Departments of Lands and Environment and Natural Resources. Post-devolution, the merger is an important step to evolve the resource management, regulatory, and security responsibilities that are linked but currently split between the two departments.

Mr. Speaker, we have been hard at work since May 2022. Leadership in both departments have worked with staff to develop the merger organization structure for the new department. In mid-November 2022, the high-level organization design was approved; and, on March 9th, the establishment policy for the new department was approved. Leaders continue to work with staff through workshops and information sharing sessions and regular engagements to make sure we collectively make the merger a success.

Managing change is crucial to maintaining a strong public service. To this end, we have contracted experts to help guide us through the first year of change. This process will create a resilient and focused organization ready to tackle the current and future priorities of our territory.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Erin Kelly will be the deputy minister of the Department of Environment and Climate Change. Dr. Kelly is highly qualified for the role, with 21 years of experience in the environmental science and management sector, including nine years of progressive leadership within the environment and natural resources directorate. Her extensive knowledge and dedication to public service makes her an ideal fit for the position.

Mr. Speaker, we want to ensure we get this right. That is why the merger will be moving forward in two phases. April 1st will conclude the first phase of the work to align complementary program areas within both departments. During phase two, the new department will continue to enhance organizational structures to make the best use of human and financial resources so that we provide the most efficient programs and services to the residents and organizations of the NWT. This work is intended to align with the government's renewal initiative.

Mr. Speaker, with change comes uncertainty but it also provides opportunity. As we build the Department of Environment and Climate Change, we will take every opportunity to create an organization which will connect this territory's land, water, air, wildlife, and forest resources and continue to strengthen our leadership on climate change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation, or BDIC, is excited about business development and digital transformation opportunities in the territory. As we shift to a digital economy where consumers are purchasing more goods and more services online, looking for e-commerce convenience and expecting vendors to personalize offerings, there is a greater need to support businesses to establish or increase their online presence. I am pleased to announce the introduction of the Accelerate Digital Adoption Projects for Tomorrow Fund, or ADAPT, at the BDIC.

The fund is a revamp of the BDIC's contribution program to assist businesses with digital adoption. This fund can be used in combination with the Canadian Digital Adoption Program, for a total of $5,000 to get online, increase online presence, boost e-commerce or digitalize operations. The federal Canadian Digital Adoption Program provides qualifying NWT small businesses with up to a $2,400 in grants and e-commerce advice to help businesses build their digital capacity. The Accelerate Digital Adoption Projects for Tomorrow Fund is designed to complement the federal funding program with up to an additional $2,600 available in grant funding for a total of $5,000. To deliver its mandate to help create and develop business enterprises in all industries and promote economic development in the Northwest Territories, the Business Development Investment Corporation is committed to finding ways to create value for entrepreneurs that are entering the digital market or expanding their digital presence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Lands is currently running an ad campaign on the benefits of leasing. And, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the main benefit of leasing, which is one we all tend to ignore in this territory, and the main benefit is that at the end of a lease, a lessor can take the land back, Mr. Speaker. And, in fact, in the Northwest Territories, not only do we take the land back, we require the lessee to tear down any structures and remediate the land, Mr. Speaker. And yet everyone I talk to who has a lease does not seem to think this is at all a possibility.

So, Mr. Speaker, we have to ask ourselves - are we actually going to take back any of the land and the structures that people live in under these leases? And, Mr. Speaker, if the answer to that question is no, there is a very simple and obvious solution. That is to give those people their land, Mr. Speaker, that we have no intention of actually taking back. And, Mr. Speaker, I believe it is time we get out of the leasing business.

Firstly, Mr. Speaker, I think we have to start with the hunters and trappers who are exercising a traditional right. I say the easiest and most simpliest solution here is to identify their cabins, give it to them in fee simple for a dollar, and leave them alone, Mr. Speaker. No more inspections.

However, Mr. Speaker, if we're not willing to do that, I think there is an elegant solution in some sort of tenure for Indigenous rights holders. May I suggest a 99-year lease for $1, and then we leave them alone, Mr. Speaker. And we might just have to accept that our pages and pages of lease guidelines aren't the best fit. Mr. Speaker, we're going to have to meet our hunters and trappers where they are. The reality is they have cabins that are sometimes within the hundred meter set back from the high watermark, Mr. Speaker, and we might just have to accept that, Mr. Speaker, and give them some sort of tenure for $1, Mr. Speaker, and stop charging them lease fees, stop charging them taxes, and stop taking them to collections.

Next, Mr. Speaker, once we are in community boundaries, why do we have any leases? The key role of community government is to set bylaws that speak to setbacks, the size of structures, and to administrate their land in community boundaries. It is time we take every single lease we have in the community boundaries and either give it to the community government or the individual who lives in that house. The GNWT needs to get out of the leasing business and stop doubling down on the benefits of leasing if our intention is to not actually take the land back at the end of the term. I'll have questions for the Minister of Lands. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member for Great Slave.

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. It's good to be back in the House after the Spring Break, and I rise today to praise the efforts of young leaders in our territory. Over the last few months, youth from around the territory have been organizing and hosting summits in their communities. These gatherings brought future leaders together to discuss the challenges they all face, to learn from each other and experts, and to share their solutions and ideas for a brighter future. Gatherings have been held in Behchoko, Dettah, and Fort Providence, to name a few, and saw youth gather, not only from the NWT, but from the Yukon and Nunavut as well. Events involved traditional hand games, crafts, and drumming, as well as workshops on communication skills and mental and physical health and well-being. Youth had the opportunity to try new things and make new friends, building relationships that will last a lifetime; Relationships I know will be crucial when these young people take their seats in this House and at the consultation tables across the regions. These youth are our future, and it heartens me to see their strength and resiliency, to see them take the reins of their own destiny. For that, I want to thank everyone who helped organize these events that give voice and opportunity to the youth of the territory.

Mr. Speaker, it's no secret youth are facing challenges. The reports being tabled by the social development committee show that youth are crying out for help and want solutions and our government is failing them. Whether it is youth aging out of care, children trapped in the endless cycle of care which is akin to the trauma of the residential school system, boredom due to the lack of resources in communities, no youth psychiatric facility, and no youth treatment centre. Why do we have a Minister responsible for Youth when there appears to be little to no advocacy from them in this area?

Mr. Speaker, we need to invest in our youth. This means actually taking care of them and providing the resources they need. When Ministers tell me that a 16-year-old must find themself a new home or go to the overcrowded youth shelter that is barely funded by this government, it shows me that they don't care. And more devastatingly, Mr. Speaker, it tells the youth that they don't care, and that breaks my heart. We are role models. The youth are watching and learning what works, what doesn't, and whose needs are actually being met. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it should be clear that the current bilateral water management agreement with Alberta is not an effective mechanism to protect our waterways. We have heard from the Minister that there have been two separate incidents at this oil sands mine between the 5.3 million litres of industrial waste spillover in February and then a separate incident where oil sands tailings ponds, with contaminants over the regulated guidelines, have seeped into the groundwater and surface water since May 2022. According to the news reports, the premier of Alberta has gone on record to state that the Alberta government, through the 2005 Bilateral Water Agreement, have no obligation to notify the Government of the Northwest Territories. Our ability to create stronger environmental protection mechanisms with other jurisdictions is very limited as noted with the current bilateral agreement.

Mr. Speaker, the impact to our watershed and aquatic life is at risk. Our way of life is at risk due to another jurisdiction's inactions to protect the waterways at all costs. The Alberta government do not believe that water is life and is sacred to the well-being of Indigenous nations that live on the waterways. The Indigenous nations have never been consulted nor have any meaningful consultations prior to the development of the tar sands for oil extraction. I will have questions for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources at the appropriate time. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Members' statements. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT has accumulated $16.5 million in arrears. Of that, $4.9 million is owed in mortgage payments. The role of Housing NWT is to provide safe and affordable housing to residents. It is not to set up people for failure, entering into mortgages with people only to evict them later because they cannot afford the mortgage.

Mr. Speaker, I have residents who renewed their mortgage with Housing NWT when it was clear they were unable to keep up with costs of that mortgage. I agree that we need to promote homeownership, but Housing NWT must consider a person's fiscal reality and enter into realistic contracts when doing this.

Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT has a collection policy that it does not appear to use.

I have seniors who are being told they need to renew a mortgage they cannot afford to renew when they receive a letter saying they are behind on their mortgage payment. We have Housing NWT refinancing mortgages with young adults in their 20s upon getting their first full-time job. This, again, is setting up our people for failure, Mr. Speaker.

The Government of the Northwest Territories needs to take responsibility and support our residents if Housing NWT mortgage arrears continue to grow. That means there is something wrong with the NWT Housing process for entering into mortgages or collecting payments or managing arrears. There is mismanagement on Housing NWT's side. This is not reflective of what residents need. Thank you. I will have questions for the Minister of housing. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. In the Finance Minister's budget address on February 8th, 2023, there was mention of a review of the fiscal responsibility policy. She said, quote, last summer, we evaluated this policy and its requirement that at least half of GNWT capital investments is financed by the operating surplus to ensure that it still is effective in meeting our debt management principles. We've already started changes in the reporting on the future debt implications in this budget, and in short order, we will be revising the fiscal responsibility policy to help decision makers better understand the implications of their budget choices, end of quote. The fiscal responsibility policy has failed to keep us out of growing debt. The 2023-2024 year-end debt projection is $1.5 billion, $65 million higher than that projected for 2022-2023. This policy also did not prevent the massive over-budgeting of capital projects that has finally been capped, at least in practice. I can confirm that there was engagement with Regular MLAs on the fiscal responsibility policy late last year. Unfortunately, I can't talk much about it, but I do think our feedback was amongst the best work we have ever done. It appears that the Minister has finally heard Regular MLAs' calls for the calculations associated with the determination of compliance or noncompliance with the fiscal responsibility policy that will now regularly be found in financial documents. We need more detailed financial reporting and accountability throughout the year to ensure that sound financial management continues. There needs to be some consequences, though, for noncompliance and at a minimum a requirement for a plan to be made public to bring our finances back in order. I'm particularly concerned with this government's increasing reliance on public, private partnerships or P3s as a way to finance larger capital projects. There's been little to no analysis or disclosure of the impact this has had on our operating budgets as P3 services costs eat away into our ability to provide programs and services. There should be firm caps on P3 servicing costs just as there are on debt servicing as part of the fiscal responsibility policy. I will have questions later today for the Minister of Finance. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, on March 6th, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment announced the Members of the new Aurora College Board of governors. I was very pleased to hear the Minister's long-awaited announcement on this matter because I know that having a new board of governors for Aurora College is a vital step to advancing the transformation into a new polytechnic university.

Mr. Speaker, among the 13 appointees of this board, there are five people from the South Slave Region - two Hay River residents, two Fort Smith residents, plus one student representative from the Fort Smith campus.

I am very happy to see that the South Slave is well represented on this newly appointed board. On behalf of the constituents of Thebacha, I want to welcome all 13 new Members into their new roles as the board of governors for Aurora College. I know that this new board will provide valuable input into the transformation and overall direction of the future polytechnic university.

Mr. Speaker, I am confident that with this new board, Aurora College will have a stronger northern influence, will work to decentralize, and will be in good hands as this process goes ahead.

Lastly, I would like to thank Denny Rogers for his service as the administrator of Aurora College for the last six years. I will have questions for Minister of education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Members' statements. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today before we start, I'd like to congratulate the Yukon Indian hockey tournament this past weekend and the K & D Outlaws from Aklavik for winning B Division down at the biggest tournament, the Stanley Cup of our hockey tournaments in the North, and I really want to congratulate Bodie and Johnny Elias. I was really proud last night, former -- our good friend Darius Elias, who passed away, former MLA for North Yukon. North Yukon Eagles won the A Division and Johnny's really looking like his dad and so when I watch -- we watched those kids grow up. So I'm really, really proud of them. So congratulations to all who participated in that tournament.

Mr. Speaker, today my Member's statement is on recreation funding. Accessing sport and recreation in my communities is not as easy as it is here in Yellowknife. My constituents travel from communities with larger centres is extremely expensive. Yellowknife will have Super Soccer shortly, Cager tournament, countless other tournaments in the South Slave, and being able to drive to Edmonton and Grande Prairie is very realistic for them. Mr. Speaker, the charter from my communities can cost up to $30,000 round trip. A round trip ticket from Inuvik to Yellowknife is costing now $1,400 on our local airline. Our current economic activity is crippling supporting our youth and ensuring the access of sport and recreation.

Mr. Speaker, I should not need to tell this House how the importance of sport is in building our youth - our future leaders. Sports programming helps our youth grow mentally to become more confident, developing skills, having a physical outlet. Sports gives a chance for meeting new friends, a positive environment, and being able to travel outside of our home communities. All this goes a long way. It's not about going out and going into communities as well. We are not seeing our territorial sport organizations supported. They are facing inflation, high costs of delivering sports programs. We're not giving the strong foundation for our youth to travel to meet other athletes and themselves and try to excel themselves in sport.

I was told by the Minister $250,000 was budgeted for the Beaufort Delta, and MACA. That's not nearly enough as giving us what we ask for. The costs have been highlighted. I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Members' statements. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I come to you with a message of great concerns regarding our waters. As we speak, the Slave water system, which is a lifeline for many small communities in our region, is facing serious threats of downstream water contamination originating in Alberta. This contamination is a result of industrial development and has the potential to cause irreparable harm to our environment, our economy and, most importantly, the health of our people in the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding and all residents of the Northwest Territories as downstream users.

The current transboundary agreement between the Government of the Northwest Territories and Alberta lacks the regulatory means to address this issue. This means that we are at the mercy of those who are polluting our waters system south of the 60th Parallel and the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act only addresses the commercial development north of 60 in the Northwest Territories.

We cannot allow this to continue. We need to take action, and we need to take action now. The Government of the Northwest Territories must lead a campaign with the federal government and provincial governments to create a national water strategy that ensures Canada's water system is protected for our future generation against any potential harmful effects as a result of industry development. We need to come together and demand that all government takes this issue seriously.

Our water is not just a resource; it's a fundamental right for all Canadians. And it goes without saying that for Indigenous people, water is life. Without it, communities cannot thrive and our way of life will be lost. We cannot allow harmful effects caused by industrial polluters south of the 60th parallel to threaten our health and well-being in my riding of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh and all residents of the Northwest Territories.

I urge you to all join me in the fight. Let us make our voices heard and demand that our government take the necessary steps today to protect the water system with the Government of Canada. Let us work together to ensure that our children and our children's children can enjoy the same clean and healthy water that we have today. I will have questions for the Minister of ENR at the appropriate time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the word "procurement" has been mentioned over 500 times in this House in the life of this Assembly, which is more than the previous two Assemblies.

Through conversations about procurement, we have advocated for increased northern procurement benefit retention, economic reconciliation, improved procurement transparency, and a general change in procurement accessibility. As elected leaders, we have all committed to making procurement improvements as requested by all Northerners.

In September 2021, the procurement review panel published its findings and 50 recommendations. According to the panel, this review provides the GNWT with an historic opportunity to establish a solid foundation for the strategic use of procurement and take full control of the opportunities to leverage public contracting to support economic and social objectives in the Northwest Territories.

This past fall, the GNWT tabled a work plan with a single table divided into four deliverable categories:

• Administrative updates to make it easier to do business with the GNWT;
• Actions to improve government procurements;
• Transparency and accountability; and,
• Efforts to increase the benefits of government procurement for Indigenous and NWT businesses.

But that is literally the extent of the work plan's detail.

Mr. Speaker, this work plan does not give certainty of whether or not the procurement review of the 19th Assembly will affect change or fall short of resident and northern business expectations.

In response to questions about the outcomes of the procurement review, this House has been told that, quote, "the work is underway, and we need to wait and see how it unfolds."

Mr. Speaker, we have limited time left in the life of this Assembly, and this Assembly needs the opportunity to review, question, and hold the government accountable to changes to the GNWT procurement policies. And as a Regular Member, I need the opportunity to advocate for the people and entrepreneurs I serve and ensure their voices, experience, and time given during the panel review are respected. NWT businesses continue to question why their businesses continue to operate north of 60 when significant contract dollars go south to where the cost of doing business is more affordable, and population decreases show that a significant number of Northerners are heading south. Northerners need certainty. Regular Members cannot continue to wait and see how long the work of the procurement review unfolds. This government needs to finalize this work and deliver it, along with certainty, to NWT residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Jack Lee Mouse was born on May 15th, 1972, in Fort Simpson. He passed away on March 14th, 2023, at the age of 51. He was the son of Cecelia Mouse and Frederick Tonka. When we heard that he passed away, the family, friends and community were very shocked and saddened. Mr. Speaker, death has taken away a genuinely nice individual and, more importantly, a loving nephew, cousin, and brother. While the family and friends mourned the loss, they gathered in Fort Simpson to pay tribute and a celebration a life this past Tuesday. I can advise you that he had left a lasting impression in the minds of his acquaintances and others. People knew him as a pleasant, cooperative, helpful, and dedicated individual. Everyone at the service talked about how they always remembered his laugh and how it made them feel.

Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of knowing Jack in 1993 on the ball field in Fort Simpson when we played the Roadrunners team. He stood out because of several things. He has a reverse grip when he went up to bat on the left-hand side of the plate. He could spray and hit the ball into whatever location he wanted, and he was very fast. He played right field and enjoyed the game. On top of those attributes, he always had fun and was an excellent sportsman on and off the field. His team gave him the nickname "Tamarack Jack."

Mr. Speaker, as time passed, and the more I got to know him, I had the pleasure of chatting with him off and on throughout the years, especially when he walked past my home when I was outside. I can tell you he was a very proud person who loved where he was brought up and his family. He was a very nice person that cared about his family.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that this is a particularly difficult and painful time for his family. In extending to them my heartfelt condolences, I wish them courage and strength as they deal with their loss.

Mr. Speaker, I received a beautiful write-up from his cousin Angela, and I would like it to be deemed as read and printed in the Hansard.

Mr. Speaker, the family would like to thank everybody for their support during this difficult time, especially Liidlii Kue First Nation and their executive director. He will be sadly missed by his surviving family and friends.

Hi Shane, Please find enclosed the letter about my cousin Jack, as promised. First off, we will miss him so very much, he was so young.

Growing up with Jack, he was no different than my brother Daniel. He was so funny, and his laugh was amazing. There were so many good memories of Jack that we all loved, especially how good he was at fishing and hunting. He would share the food he hunted for, and he'd give it to family. He was so kind and always cared about others before himself. We all are like Jack this way so much.

One of the amazing things I loved about my cousin Jack was how fast he was at running. We were at Gramma's cabin across the river, we were just little kids then, and I tried catching up to Jack as he was running from me in the bush. I called out for him but he was super fast and he was gone. I was amazed how fast he was, just like his nickname "roadrunner" like the cartoon.

Jack was so very traditional. He reminded me of my amazing uncles. He would always be speaking Dene, and this was so important to our culture and who we all are. Jack and my mom Elizabeth Mouse taught me, my brother Daniel, and my little sister Mary-Ellen how to go fishing the amazing way - tie some fishing string on a stick with a simple hook holding a piece of bread or a small fish and it worked big time. I caught the biggest jack fish at ten years old with my amazing cousin Jack and my sister and brother.

Jack will be forever missed so much. Everyone loved Jack. He was such an amazing, good person. Thank you for the reading. Angela Elizabeth McGonigle.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community at this time.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Oral Question asked by the Member for Kam Lake on February 28, 2023, regarding Child Care Funding Supports for Teen Parents.

The department will take the Member's suggestions into consideration, particularly as we advance the Child and Family Services Action Plan and explore ways in which we can work with other departments to provide integrated services.

As the department continues to enhance the delivery of services, we recognize there is a need for options. Currently, child and family services has two types of voluntary support services agreement options available to teen parents that can include funding for child care: the Support Services Agreement or the Voluntary Services Agreement. The difference between the two agreements is that one directly supports the youth while the other supports the family who is supporting the youth.

To access these options, the individual youth would meet with a community social services worker to determine the services that best meets their needs. The community social services worker guides the youth through the program options. All agreements incorporate a philosophy of maintaining family, culture, and community connections and can include support from relevant Indigenous organizations.

Mr. Speaker, child and family services acknowledges that colonization has created systemic barriers for residents. All NWT residents, including teen parents, deserve to feel safe, free from discrimination and racism when accessing health and social services. We are making some important progress in this area. For example, the cultural safety and anti-racism team tailored the existing cultural safety and anti-racism training specifically to focus on harmful historical and present-day child and family services policies that have contributed to anti-Indigenous racism and systemic barriers for clients. This training was delivered to child and family services staff in November 2022 and will be delivered again in November 2023. As a second example, the department is developing cultural safety and anti-racism principles in 2023 with guidance from the Indigenous Advisory Body. These principles will shape how we operate as a system, towards a culture of cultural safety. Child and family services continues to make improvements based on feedback from families, communities and stakeholders, and we are committed to continuing these discussions, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Returns to oral questions. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Oral Question asked by the Member for Great Slave on March 1st, 2023, regarding renewable energy.

Regarding the request for information about how much of the $20 million in funding secured for Taltson Hydro Expansion has been retained with northern businesses and how much has been sole sourced to former Government of the Northwest Territories, or GNWT, employees, I can provide some information in addition to what is already on the public record.

To date, approximately $11.5 million has been spent on pre-feasibility work for the project. This includes activities related to regulatory planning, commercial development, forming Indigenous partnerships, and establishing the technical parameters for transmission and generation components of the project. Of this amount, approximately $6.2 million, or 54.6 percent, of spending has been distributed to northern businesses, residents, and Indigenous governments.

Regarding specific sole source contracts, a total of $167,000, or 1.4 percent, was paid to a single contractor over a four-year term, from June 2019 to November 2022. The consultant was formerly an employee of the Government of the Northwest Territories whose experience was relied upon to build and coordinate working relationships between the parties involved.

The Taltson Hydro Expansion Project is being developed in partnership with the Akaitcho Dene First Nation, or ADFN, and Northwest Territories Metis Nation, or NWTMN. A key area of focus early in this project was the development of a guiding statement of principles and a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to advance the project. The success of a project of this scale hinges on collaboration and relationship building between the various parties at the table. Although it took some time to establish trust between the parties, this is a long-term project. An MOU was formally endorsed by the leadership of the ADFN and NWTMN at our first Taltson Expansion Steering Committee meeting which was June 2021. The consultant continued to support the MOU implementation until November 2022 and no further work is expected going forward.

Regarding the northern businesses, direct contracts have been awarded for services such as fixed-wing and rotary aircraft consulting. Thus far, contract work has been awarded within GNWT procurement guidelines, which includes guidance of the business incentive policy and adjustments for northern and local content on bids.

The reality of this project is that pre-feasibility work requires specialized and technical skills across a broad range of disciplines; accordingly, many technical aspects of this work are awarded to specialized southern contractors. We are seeing significant efforts by proponents to pull together teams that do include northern businesses wherever possible and expect northern spending to grow over time as we progress to a regulatory application and construction decision. This is good indication that the project is creating new opportunities for northern businesses, and the project will continue to prioritize the inclusion of northern businesses in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The cost of living continues to rise across the North. Flying in and out of our communities are expensive. It cannot prevent our youth from accessing sport opportunities in Inuvik or further south.

Can the Minister explain what funding supports are provided to territorial sport organizations and organizations like BDSRA given the impacts of inflation; is there any increases on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for MACA.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we give about $1.561 million to TSOs to provide opportunities for youth and that. For the BDSRA, I believe it was $250,000 we talked about it in the last sitting here. But I'll have to get back to the Member for the confirmation of that number. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, getting our kids out of the communities for sports tournaments and training camps are huge. We need it for our youth.

Can the Minister give us some background on current funding available for teams looking to travel from the communities to larger centres in sporting events; is there any funding available that they could access right through MACA? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do give funding to the BDSRA and then the BDSRA gives that funding to the community. So there is an application-based money allocated from the BDSRA for the communities to do that. Again, it doesn't give all the money that they need, but it's similar to the Mackenzie Rec Association that does the same thing in the southern part of the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is doing to ensure the education authorities have access -- like, I brought up in the House before that we want a big regional tournament in Inuvik with nine Beaufort Delta communities all participating such in sports like, you know, hockey, curling, Arctic sports, Dene games, and they have a swimming pool in Inuvik. Some of those kids never get to see that swimming pool from the communities I represent. Is there any possibility that the Minister and the department can ensure that if we don't give that money to the education, Beaufort Education Council, and keeping it in MACA, I'm wondering if the Minister and this government would step up to the plate and put our youth first and give monies to do something like this sporting event which was done in other years in this legislature? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have the after-school physical activity program that the Member talks about. That there goes to the schools and communities depending on who organizes the after-school programs. What the Member is talking about is regional events, and that was done and organized by the Beaufort Delta sport recreation -- Beaufort Delta Sahtu Recreation Association. Unfortunately, that organization defaulted. It's now talking to some of the leaders in the communities, especially the rec coordinators are trying to reactivate that, and that there does help develop the swim meets, the regional ball tournaments, hockey tournaments. But I can tell you right now that they have been working on one in Fort McPherson. They're actually working on a regional hockey tournament. This happened recently. They were working on that, and they're starting to work on those same types of opportunities, and they're getting money through the BDSRA, and we at MACA have given that money to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I still feel our communities that we represent are penalized because of where we live, in this government. Our youth don't have -- we have after-school sports in the community. No opportunities for those students to go to regional sporting events until they're older. Why can't this government step up to the plate and this Minister just give the funding that we ask for and put it in the budget? I mean, they always say youth are our future. They're so good at that. But nothing, nothing to back it up. They say -- and they put it all on the communities for the community mayors and everybody to stress out, to provide these sporting events for youth, when we should be doing it ourselves out of this place and supporting our youth, all youth across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I totally agree with the Member - youth are our future. That's our commitment, though. If you look at recreation funding, which is $825,000, we give that out there. We also give $450,000 to youth and child resiliency. We also give $400,000 for the regional sporting events. We also give youth contributions of $225,000. We also do $500,000 for youth court. So we do put money into that. We also then have the Mackenzie Recreation Association and the BDSRA, when we put money to them, and they provide to the programs there. I'm more than willing to work with the Member. I'm willing to work with the organizations, whether it's NWTAC - however we can work together to get this. As for the budgeting process, we are going through negotiations. We have a budget that we submit, and we are in the process of negotiating that right now, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the appointment of the new board of governors for Aurora College, can the education Minister explain how this will change executive decision-making at Aurora College and with the transformation into a polytechnic university? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So before the board was put back into place, the functions of the board were carried out by the administrator, at the time Mr. Denny Rodgers, and so that is still the process. The board will make the types of decisions that the administrator was making. So those are decisions related to policies, developing policies of the college respecting the administration, operations, programs, and priorities of the college. But in terms of the day-to-day operations, the management, that is it still an operational aspect that is handled by the administration. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if the new board of governors wanted to make a change of direction with where the college is going and say it was different from the college president and senior management wanted, how would that be resolved? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The president works for the board so the board can set the direction of the college. And I hope they do set the direction of the college. I hope they are engaged enough to set that direction. And based on the conversations I've had, I'm sure they will. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, does the board of governors have the ability to veto or overturn a decision by the college president and senior management? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aurora College Act lays out the responsibilities of the board and the responsibilities and authorities of the president. And it's quite clear -- I can't get into specific instances as there may be variables, but their roles are quite well defined. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, there are four positions within Aurora College that are currently being borrowed from Fort Smith. But they do not belong -- but they do belong to Fort Smith, and they must be returned as soon as possible.

Will the Minister commit to work with the newly appointed board of governors and return the four loaned college positions back to Fort Smith? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aurora College Act states that the Minister is not supposed to get involved in the operations of the college. And I will say that those are positions of the college, not necessarily positions of a municipality or a region. So I'm sure the board will do whatever is best for the college. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are related to my Member's statement regarding the Kearl Mine tailings pond spills.

Can the Minister provide an update on impacts of the Kearl Mine tailings ponds spills for this House alongside the ongoing work of our government to protect our waterways? Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, several meetings have been taking place with the Government of Alberta and senior representatives at Imperial Oil to receive the most updated information about the monitoring. I have also met with Minister Savage, the Alberta minister of environment and protected areas on this issue.

We have been informed that the water quality results have been stable and show no impact to downstream waterways or drinking water. Environment and Climate Change Canada's Fisheries Act direction was issued to prevent potential impact to fish not because impacts were detected. Again, the monitoring to date showed no impact.

ENR, in conjunction with the Town of Fort Smith, Smith Landings First Nation, and Fort Smith Metis Council, have also initiated a precautional weekly quality sampling campaign in response to the incident. Based on the monitoring and information provided, we do not expect any effects in the NWT presently. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister. I think he's already answered my second question. I provided all the questions to him ahead of time, so he's just about answered all the questions.

Mr. Speaker, we need certainty and confidence in our partners. Alberta needs to understand how their work in mining and the oil sands impacts our way of life.

Can the Minister apprise as to how we will ensure the future management of discharge regulations can be developed in a meaningful way? In a meaningful way, I mean meeting with all the Indigenous partners in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, he did give those questions and I can tell you I just answered your question one at a time so I still have other answers for the information that you asked.

So the Government of Alberta is currently conducting assessments and scientific studies to fill knowledge gaps provided to decide on whether to develop regulations that would allow the release of treated tailing water. Alberta has agreed to give us significant time to critically review the reports and discuss our concerns with them before they make a decision to develop regulatory guidance.

The GNWT has received five technical reports that address these gaps. Four have been reviewed with the help of external experts, and one is under review -- presently under review. The federal government is planning to engage with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations in NWT this year through a bilateral process. The GNWT has and will continue to advocate to Alberta to consult with the NWT Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations near the NWT-Alberta border, as well as the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. The Minister mentions consultations but it's a bilateral process he's mentioning. I'm wondering if he could elaborate on that. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we're in the process of the Alberta government and Canada government is working to develop an arrangement where the bilateral -- they'll have the engagement. We've reached out to both the federal government and the Alberta government and said we need to be engaged; we need to be part of this process. I've sent a letter to Minister Savage and Minister Guilbeault, and I just recently sent another one there, again stressing the importance of us to be part of anything that's moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. I'm encouraged by the fact that they will have engagement, which was very lacking at the outset of the tar sands development in the early years, as we would have heard many statements of concern, something similar to the Berger Inquiry. Everybody remembers that one, when the pipeline was going to be coming up and down the Mackenzie Valley and there were a lot of concerns. Nothing was ever, ever heard from the Indigenous peoples. I notice the people from Fort Chipewyan have been voicing their concerns for quite a number of years. There's lots of cancer agents within the tailings ponds effluent, and that is not going to stop. Because these lakes, as I mentioned before in previous statements, that these tailings ponds can be seen from space. So they're very large. And those are just waiting, you know, to spill over and into our waterways thus ending our way of life with the water. And this is very concerning because right now we got waterfowl that we count on for spring hunts that are landing in the tailings ponds. There's many of them that have been killed through that process, and it's going to continue. You know, this is very, very concerning. I'm just wondering what message the Minister's bringing to the bilateral water agreement table without first having heard from the First Nations of the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you firsthand that the Indigenous governments reach out to me on a constant basis, especially about the tar sands and this issue. And it's been an issue previously. So I've had a number of conversations with them. I've been down to Fort Smith and met with the Indigenous leaderships there. I've had conversations with other leaders in the Northwest Territories about that. So the first and foremost thing is right now with the disaster that had happened in -- with the seepage and -- of 5.3 million litres of tailings released into the environment, I can tell you right now Fort Chip has done the monitoring. There has been no impact there. Right now in Fort Smith, the monitoring we have done, there is no monitoring. So we are working with the Indigenous governments. We're hearing their concerns. We've also passed that message on. The Wednesday I heard it, we had a Minister's statement out. We advised the Alberta government and the federal government this was going on. We advised the Indigenous governments. So we are taking this seriously. It's about -- as the Member said, water is life in the Northwest Territories. We take it seriously. So we are dealing with it as efficiently as we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege of chairing the Mackenzie Valley Impact Review Board for six years, and I had also the privilege of working with the Yukon Environmental Assessment -- the Yukon Environmental Social Economic Assessment Board and also the Nunavut Impact Review Board. Amongst these three boards, I was able to work with them to create an MOU so we could work together and share information. But at the same time here in the Northwest Territories, I chaired many environment assessment projects here and so I understand what's happening here in the North in terms of regulatory process.

My question to the Minister today is that my concern is that we need to come up with a strategy. And I mentioned that in my opening remarks. So my question to the Minister of ENR, Shane Thompson, is that what specific regulatory measures will the government put in place to address the downstream users of water contamination originating in Alberta to protect the Slave water system in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. The NWT continues and does participate in Alberta public environmental assessments and regulatory processes. The transboundary agreement with Alberta provides a number of ways to address downstream concerns. The agreement commits Alberta to meet water quality, water quantity, and biological objectives at the border. The agreement commits Alberta to share information in a timely way and notify the GNWT prior to development of the activity. Should questions of dispute arise, the agreement contains a dispute resolution process. Should the provisions of this agreement not be met, the GNWT needs -- the agreement was negotiated so that all legal measures outside of the agreement remains available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Minister. When I was chairing the public review board, we dealt with Giant Mine, for example, and what we did with Giant Mine is that we had a lot of proponents that were impacted. So all Indigenous governments, the Metis, and we went through a review board assessment, environment assessment process, and we thoroughly examined that project and we made some strong recommendations and measures and that kind of thing. The thing is that the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, the way it's set up right now, is that it doesn't address the downstream users, whether it be in the Yukon or in Nunavut. And so we're only -- when I was the chairman, I was only able to address north of 60, in the Northwest Territories only. That's why we created this MOU to work with both boards and agencies and that kind of thing. But for me right now as it is, Mr. Speaker, is that the current transboundary water agreement between the Government of the Northwest Territories and Alberta is insufficient in addressing this issue on downstream users.

My question to the Minister is what steps will the government take to renegotiate this agreement to ensure it includes adequate regulatory measures to protect the water system for downstream users? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transboundary water agreement remains one of the best of its kind. The agreement prioritizes NWT interests to identify throughout the years of engagement on the NWT water strategy and guidance from Indigenous steering committees. For example, it includes measures to protect aquatic ecosystems' integrity and ensures Indigenous knowledge is considered in decision-making. These agreements are cooperative and respected decision-making authority of each jurisdiction.

There is no reason to renegotiate the agreement. In fact, the agreement gives us the tools to address situations like the Kearl spill through our dispute resolution provisions, which is happening right now.

Throughout the agreement, we should not have -- if we would not have these tools and Alberta would not be obligated to share information with us or meet specific conditions at the border. Alberta's engaging with us on this issue. They have agreed to engage in a dispute resolution under the agreement and have put us in touch with Imperial to provide us with more detailed information on this matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, you know, when I was thinking about the -- when I chaired the impact review board, you know, we -- again, we couldn't really address any issues on the downstream users from Nunavut and the Yukon. And, but here and Alberta, it's the same thing. This agreement that the Minister talks about doesn't give us the tools needed to participate in their regulatory process in terms of approving a mega project. We're just kilometres down the road in Fort Smith, and my riding of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh and Fort Resolution, that are impacted and all the residents of the Northwest Territories. So there has to be a way that we have the voice at their table so that we are able to have a say in the regulatory approval process, otherwise it's -- you know, we're going to be talking about this in the next four years and four years thereafter. Nothing's going to happen.

So my question now is to the Minister, again, the need for the national water strategy to protect Canada's water system against harmful effects from industrial development is long overdue. What concrete steps will the government take to advocate for and concrete such strategy and what timeframe is being considered? That's my question to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, the NWT does -- can and does participate in the Alberta environmental assessment and regulatory process. I need to stress that. We do engage. We were part of that process.

In regards to the question the Member is talking about, the Government of Canada continues to work towards a Canada water agency. We have participated in the process and will continue to advocate for the NWT Indigenous governments and organizations to be part of any process that we have -- or they have. We've been having -- that's our letter. We've had conversations with Minister Savage. We're reaching out to Minister Guilbeault. And we're trying to meet with them, and we're trying to meet with Minister Savage as well sometime in April face-to-face to discuss this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From what I'm hearing, then, the Minister had said that we -- the Northwest Territories has -- is involved in the regulatory process for approval for development in Alberta. I'm not sure about that.

Can the Minister provide a commitment that the government will prioritize a protection of the water system in the Northwest Territories over the interests of industry and will take proactive measures to prevent contamination from industrial activities from entering the Slave water system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And maybe I misspoke. What I said was we're part of the process. We engage. We provide feedback to it. We're not involved in the final decision-making. No other jurisdiction -- Nunavut doesn't have that with us when we deal with our diamond mines and that there. So we do engage, and we work with them there.

I can tell you right now I'm committed to protect the waters in the NWT. As I said to the previous Member from Deh Cho, as soon as we found out this was happening, we did a Minister's statement; we wrote letters; we've had contact with both the federal and the Alberta government. So again, though, I have to stress that right now there's no evidence in the water, whether it was in Fort Chip or in Fort Smith, that the tar sands that -- what has happened has had an impact in our waters right now.

Finally, as I publicly stated, I will not support discharge of treated oil sands tailing water without rigorous scientific or science to prove that the water is safe and the process is safe. And if the GNWT is not happy with it, Indigenous governments are not happy with it, and the public needs to be involved. So we're all a part of this. We're stressing it. And if it's not that, we have other processes that we can move forward on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance on the recent review that seems to have been carried out around the fiscal responsibility policy. So can the Minister outline how this review was carried out and who was consulted? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fiscal policy review was something that is an internal policy looking at a way of evaluating what we do as a government and how we manage our budgets, how we design our budgets. It was completed by the fiscal policy division as the primary lead within the Department of Finance but also with input from some of the other departments that look at this type of work and that do this type of work, such as the comptroller general's office, the management board secretariat. We certainly did look at counterparts across other governments to see what they might do when their departments of finance are managing and developing their own internal budgets, and it certainly was very helpful to take that opportunity and have a fairly detailed engagement with standing committee. And as mentioned earlier, it was a very thorough response that was received back.

I'd also note we did check in with the two credit rating agencies that would look at how we are doing to manage our budgets, and that's how this was developed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. It never fails to amaze me sometimes the things I can learn in oral questions, that the credit rating agencies were consulted but -- okay, that's all good.

In my statement, I noted that the fiscal responsibility policy has failed to keep our debt from growing at greater than inflation, that there are no consequences for noncompliance. Can the Minister tell us what changes will be made to the fiscal responsibility policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fiscal responsibility policy is really only one tool among many, not the least of which is the process that we are currently engaged in here, of examining our budgets publicly as part of this Assembly. Mr. Speaker, I would note that our current rate of budget growth is the smallest that it's been in a very long time, possibly in over a decade. So certainly there are things that are working within the Department of Finance right now to manage that debt growth. But notwithstanding that, the review was done to try to make it even better. There's a number of changes, Mr. Speaker, not the least of which, something that comes up frequently, we're proposing a cushion of $120 million under the federal borrowing limit so that there's not going to be this constant question of when are we going to hit the limit. We know there's going to be that cushion there so that that gives us the room every year to ensure that if there's something like a flood that there's always the room available to us.

Another one I want to highlight, Mr. Speaker, is with respect to publishing two things: An ongoing moving average to show where we are in terms of where we are in fiscal responsibility policy, what kind of surplus we need depending on what's happening on the capital side. And with that, Mr. Speaker, in the fall, when we do the capital plans, that's when we'll actually be putting out an anticipated amount that's required for the fiscal responsibility policy and for the operating surplus to meet the capital plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, as a Regular MLA, I was asking for that kind of information in the last Assembly, but glad that we're going to finally get this. So another concern, though, that I've outlined is the growth in P3 debt servicing that eats into our ability to pay for programs and services. This is a growing problem as this government takes on more and more P3 projects with little to no analysis or disclosure of the impact this has had on our operating budget.

So can the Minister tell us whether there will be greater analysis and disclosure of P3 servicing costs and impacts on programs and services as part of a revised fiscal responsibility policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the P3 policy is separate; it wasn't part of the review that was done in looking at the fiscal responsibility policy so that it simply wasn't part of it. It's a different policy all together.

Mr. Speaker, at this point in time there's not any active work happening with respect to a P3. So this is not something that is -- you know, there's not an active concern around growing numbers of P3 projects. What we do have are the -- some projects that are ongoing that where there are operational expenses now because rather than investing huge amounts of sums at the capital side to build a project through a traditional process, instead, that -- the budgeting for these projects, such as Stanton, such as the Mackenzie Valley fibre line, they were extended over the life of the asset; they were made into operation costs over the course of existing projects. At the end of the day, though, Mr. Speaker, all that money is GNWT money, whether it's on the capital budget, whether it's on the operations budget. So those P3 projects that are still on the books are there on a different side than what they would have been otherwise. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course I'm not talking about the P3 policy; I'm talking about the fiscal responsibility policy where debt servicing should come into play, whether it's P3 debt as well, and it should include that. And although the Minister doesn't think there's active concern, I've been raising this in the House for seven years. So I'm very concerned that the Minister and the department appear to be ready to make changes to this policy without bothering to engage the public, and the Minister herself spoke about how they engaged the credit rating agencies but are -- you know, are we actually going to talk to the public? So we hold all kinds of public engagements for such mundane things as renaming the Stanton Legacy building or a survey on liquor and cannabis products. But can the Minister tell us whether there will be any public engagement on the review of the fiscal responsibility policy, and if not, why? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had the pleasure of overseeing a number of different policies that have been reviewed and revised in the life of this Assembly. And I've actually had the opportunity to go back and say, you know, when do we go out and engage public and when do we take different types of approaches? And, Mr. Speaker, it depends upon the impact of the policy on members of the public. The greater the impact, the greater the anticipated interests, such as in the naming of a building which may well involve wanting to name it after an individual or after a particular location. Those occasions certainly do see a wider and more concerted effort to do engagement. The affirmative action policy would be one that I am currently involved in right now where there is extensive public in-person engagements taking place. The fiscal responsibility policy, on the other hand, Mr. Speaker, it really is something that looks at government trying to ensure its own processes and its own budgeting is done in a responsible fashion.

As far as input on to budgets, Mr. Speaker, there are the budget dialogues that I've done every year; there is the process of the Committee of the Whole; there is the process of business plans. All of those are opportunities where members of the public, advocacy organizations, municipal governments, send in their comments on the budget, what we should spend on, how we should spend it. The budgeting dialogues process, again how we should budget, where we should manage, where the balances should be. So all of those processes continue to exist. But the fiscal responsibility policy in terms of how to structure the fiscal strategy, that's an internal looking process and that's why we've kept it to being more narrow focus. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Order. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed, we do need to do a better job at administering our housing programs and supporting our residents. And with that in mind, Mr. Speaker, if we give people a home and they continue to build arrears and are unable to pay their mortgage, that means our program is not working.

Can the Minister tell this House how they are working with residents who currently have a mortgage with Housing NWT to ensure they are able to pay that mortgage while having resources for other things, such as food? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for raising this question as well too, because right now Housing NWT is reviewing. We have 268 mortgages throughout the Northwest Territories. This was a program that was available to the Northwest Territories through CMHC about over 20 years ago. At that time, we did come out with the subsidized mortgages throughout the Northwest Territories. We have run into some issues where we have not had clients pay consistently throughout the territories. But we do enter into payment plans, and we do work with each of the clients considering their financial changes and trying to make them become -- and help support them to become successful homeowners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have mortgages that we know people cannot pay. We have a collection policy that shows our ability to forgive residents who are in this situation.

Can the Minister explain how Housing NWT administers its collection policy and how often people are assessed and forgiven from their debts based on their ability to pay those back, those debts? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the lifetime of this government, the Housing NWT has forgiven $8 million in housing mortgage arrears throughout the Northwest Territories, and they consist of several different financial situations that the client may be entering into. And we try to do our best to try to work with the client prior to them receiving the eviction notices. That is the absolute last resort. And if that -- that we do have public housing that is available to the tenants as well if they're not able to afford their homeownership program.

We also do work with our collections within Housing NWT, but we also do have to submit to FMB as well too with the financial analysis as to why we are going to be submitting a forgiveness and a write-off of those debts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the moment, Housing NWT is owed almost $5 million in mortgage payment. The current process of refinancing and owning a house through Housing NWT is proving not sustainable. Can the Minister commit to forgiving the current outstanding mortgage payments owed to NWT Housing, particularly for those that have recently refinanced, so we can help our residents get out of poverty by having a stable home they know is theirs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member as well too. It is not just as simple as just writing off all of these debts throughout the Northwest Territories for housing. A lot of our programming does recycle, and it does go back in to programming for homeownership repair and programs available to support homes throughout the Northwest Territories.

I will have to take a look at what we have so far and looking at the current debt status that we do have, and I have to work with the Member as well too for her riding. But this is an issue throughout the Northwest Territories, and Housing is really trying to work with each and every one of these clients so they can be successful homeowners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have some elders in the community who -- they did -- they entered into refinance agreement, and some of these elders are in their 70s. I mean, that should have been forgiven long time ago. I mean, that is not acceptable. That is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. And we have some refinancing that was done with 20 years old and that the agreement is not in their name; it is in the parent's name. The family moved into the house before the child was born, and this is where they are doing refinancing agreement with a child that -- who got their first job. There's quite a few of that in my community, in my region. So I just -- it's more of a statement. It's more of a comment. So I don't have any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Taken as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Mr. Speaker, the 19th Legislative Assembly cannot afford to leave residents of the Northwest Territories without meaningful change to procurement benefit retention and transparency in this territory, especially after all the focus and conversation we've had about that in the life of this Assembly. So I'm wondering does ITI intend to table a fulsome response to the procurement review panel's 50 recommendations that the public can see where ITI stands on each of those recommendations? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, as the Member's already pointed out, there was a summary version of what's ongoing already published several months ago with respect to the work that's happening. I believe with that there was also a publication of a set of principles, unifying principles about procurement so that we are no longer spread with different purposes and objectives between different departments, which was a significant recommendation from that report.

As to a detailed response, Mr. Speaker, that is something that is still coming out. There will be a more fulsome response out this summer.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to point out that delay isn't for lack of work that's been happening. One of the major things that's happened in the last year was an engagement directly led with EIA on -- with Indigenous governments and towards an Indigenous procurement policy or approach, and it was out of respect for that process that a more fulsome response has been somewhat delayed. But I do, as I said, expect something more by the summer. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that response. And I can also say that in conversation with the Minister during our other work time that the Minister's been very helpful at kind of providing a fulsome response of what all the department is working on. The problem that I have is that I don't have concrete answers to be able to give the people that I serve about what those specific changes are going to look like.

In the month of August and in the summer, there's about eight sitting days that we'll get to sit through roughly before we're done, and we're literally escorted out the building. And that doesn't give me the time or my colleagues the time to really hold the government accountable to what those changes look like. And so the Minister said that there's an intent to table responses in the summer, but I'm really concerned with that timeline.

So is the specifics to the policy work that's been done, for example, to the northern manufacturer's policy, to the business incentive policy, is that expected to be tabled in the summer, or is that something that we will see before? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's things happening in an ongoing way. So some of the work under the manufacturing policy has -- if I'm not mistaken, has already been prepared and is already ready to go ahead with respect, for example, to the guidelines under the manufacturing policy. Those guidelines have been improved. And I will reconfirm as to their whereabouts on the website. I had understood they were going out and were being promulgated already.

With respect to the business incentive policy, one of the biggest issues is around defining northern business. I know this question's been asked many times. Mr. Speaker, there are recommendations in the report that we are actively looking at. Again, the issue around ensuring that we are being respectful of what's happening within Indigenous procurement and with those definitions has put a bit of a pause on that, but it will ultimately produce a better outcome that everyone is on board with.

It's not my intention -- not that I wouldn't table them, but it's not the intention to wait to the August session to table it. The idea is to get them published in the usual process here, which is it goes to Cabinet, it goes to MLAs; it then goes public. I would certainly employ that process here but with a view to having it out so that if there needs to be some further debate about it in August that there's ample time for that to take place, and it won't just be happening on August 30th. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that commitment from the Minister because I think that this is really important, and I think that there's been too much focus on procurement in this Assembly for this to simply be something that's tabled on the last day and then we don't get the opportunity to discuss it in this House, because I think that's really important. And I appreciate the Minister referring to the fact that, you know, this information will be coming to committee for comment, but I think it's really important that we have a very transparent view on this work so that also the constituents who are using this information and will be using these policies going forward have the opportunity to reach out to their MLA and say hey, this doesn't work because of this applied reason, because, you know, when I'm going about doing this work it doesn't work for that reason. So I'll ask that -- or I guess I'll start by asking will the Minister commit to making these changes public sooner than later so that as we're reviewing it, we have the opportunity to also discuss these changes with our constituents? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so already there is, just to confirm, the manufacturing policy guidelines newly minted are on ITI's website, current BIP guidelines and renewed guidelines are on the ITI's website. There is now a dashboard with respect to procurement that is live over on Finance's website. Those are all things that have come out of the procurement review, and I certainly would encourage people to go to them, take a look at them.

Further, as well, I -- the principles that I have mentioned, the objectives and principles around procurement, that is not a small thing. That was one of the major parts that I had read in that review, was that it was too spread out, the purposes and principles of procurement -- public procurement was too spread out. There are now set principles. That's an important part of the work that took place here, and it's now guiding what's happening across departments. So, again, encouraging people to locate that on our website so that they can consider if that meets their needs.

The definition, yes, Mr. Speaker, I hear the definition will need some opportunity to go to Members to have some consideration done. It is part of policy. I think part of the messaging here is that when there's small things within policies that need changes and adjustments, it can be done. It doesn't have to wait for a full legislative review. We now have done that. We have done the work of the review. We have the background available to us. And I do encourage people to see all of the work that's been done to date. There's quite a lot that's out there.

Vendor performance management. It's the last one before I get into the land of a Minister's statement, Mr. Speaker, and I'd encourage people to look at what we have been doing with vendor performance management. It's actually enforcing the rules. It's a lot that's happened in that space in the last year. And, again, I'd like to know that that's working for those who are already under that system so that we can consider making adjustments in the life of this Assembly if we need to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate all of the references that the Minister gave to different areas of the ITI website, of the Finance website, where this information can be found. I think this speaks to -- and, you know, with all due respect, I think this speaks to the need for a consolidated response from the government. Even when I was going through and kind of creating my questions for today and figuring out how do I go about continuing this conversation in this House, I'm looking at and reading through press releases from the GNWT in regards to procurement review; I'm looking through, yes, the guidelines and the dashboard and the contracting website; I'm looking through the work plan; I'm looking back at the information that came out with the procurement review. And that information is scattered. So anybody that actually wants to look at the panel's recommendations and then see what the government has done in response or what they have chosen not to do for whatever reason actually has to go and do a fair amount of legwork across the GNWT's website. There's not one place where we can see this is the plan moving forward, this is how the government is responding, and this is what businesses can expect. And so that's why I'm asking if the government will table a fulsome response for what their response is to the procurement review panel's 50 recommendations. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, simple answer is yes, there will be a response. It's going to be a full response to the review. And I couldn't agree more because of all the things I've been detailing in my responses now that have happened and that are underway. I've more than once brought the full team from multiple departments together. And at the last occasion, that was exactly the topic of conversation, was saying we can't let in some -- in this case, it's all the good work go unknown and those who are using one part may not know about the things that have happened in another. So it's coming, Mr. Speaker. It needs to come in time. I appreciate the comments it needs to come in it time that it can be considered, and so that if there's questions in the House, that they can be prepared for. So I'm not giving a date today, but it's coming, and I'm conscious of the fact that it needs to come in a manner that provides time for MLAs to be able to ask questions in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Across the Northwest Territories there's essentially three types of tenure. There's community government leasing. I got no problem with those. Community governments can sort out how they want to lease their land. Then there's fee simple title. Never hear any complaints about anyone who owns their house, Mr. Speaker. And then there's the GNWT lease, which to me the main benefit seems to be a miraculous ability to be brought up in every single meeting and immediately derail it. No matter the meeting we're having, someone inevitably starts complaining about a 600 percent fee increase or their cabin, Mr. Speaker. It seems to be a golden rule of the GNWT.

And so my question for the Minister of Lands is can we get out of the leasing business and give people who live in their houses, in a GNWT lease, fee simple title? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Lands is able to offer fee simple title to leaseholders in the areas where land lease-only policy is implemented or doesn't apply. In other words, where land claims have been concluded. The land lease-only policy applies where land claims are not settled. The policy restricts the sale of public land in order to ensure the land claims and treaty negotiations are not jeopardized. As the Member is aware, we are wrapping up a review of the land lease-only policy. This review is intended to address the efficiency or effectiveness of this policy, and it was developed over 30 years ago and has been very -- and has had seen very little change over time.

I'm hoping to update the Members here this week on the status of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to those updates to the land lease-only policy. But there seems to be a disconnect because it's only supposed to apply in unsettled areas, but we know in the IRC, even though it was settled 40 years ago, we are still having this fight about GNWT leases. And it seems to me that at the heart of this issue is we need to separate out those who are rights holders. Even if they are on public land, if they are in their traditional territory, we need to create a different form of tenure and bring them into a different conversation.

Is the Minister willing to look to create some form of new tenure where rights holders are not paying the same lease fees and the same taxes as everyone else? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so rights-based cabins, we're working on that. We're trying to put that to the side. We're trying to be able to identify some of the things. Some of the work that's being done is exactly what the Member is asking for. So we're working on this, trying to get this resolved. We're working with Indigenous governments to come up with a definition with what's a rights-based cabin. Not the GNWT, with the Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.