Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So get what done by the summer? Is that the designs, is that the money from the federal government that's needed, the building of the plant itself, geotechnical designs; can the Minister be a Minister be a bit more specific about what's going to be done by the summer? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work that's being completed now is ongoing. We don't have a cost estimate. We are looking at the relocation of new plant projects. So once we get that in place, Mr. Speaker, that would be able to help us to go to the feds through Infrastructure Canada to be able to look at the costs of this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to have to go on the round for a second set of questions because I have a lot here.

So my question -- my last question will be on is the plan -- or sorry, first of all, I'm concerned that this design and cost estimate hasn't already been done since it's been about a year since we knew that this supplemental plant was not going to be large enough. Therefore, what is the Minister planning to do this flooding season when the road next to the diesel plant is undermined? Is there an emergency plan or some sort of safety plan in place should the undermining of the river lead to the inoperability of the plant as it is now? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are working with the community to look at this, unfortunately it's not going to be done this year. We all know how long it takes to be able to build infrastructure. So we are working with the community and working with the flood response to be able to, you know, have something in place for if there happens to be a flood again in Fort Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT led by the Department of Lands has hired a consultant, as the Member has said, EY Consulting Services, to conduct research on surety bonds as a form of reclamation security. This information will inform decisions on the form of securities that the GNWT may consider. EY has now completed their research and identified some draft findings, and the final report will be made available publicly once it is finalized by EY. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course I probably should have squeezed in when is it going to be released? But our government is poised to accept surety bonds without a real plan to prevent further public liabilities like Giant Mine, Cameron Hills, Mactung, Ptarmigan Mine, and more. Can the Minister tell us when GNWT will change its approach to financial security and regularly accept surety bonds? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, using EY's draft findings, the GNWT is working on guidance which will provide industry with clarity regarding the form of the security that GNWT will accept in the future. I will inform MLAs on this guidance when it has been completed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It's been radio silence on any public engagement on the development of Public Land Act regulations that will deal with financial security and other matters. Nothing has been done on public engagement since the release of the "what we heard" report in May 2021. That's 20 months ago, Mr. Speaker.

Can the Minister tell us when his department will start the promised phase two of public engagement and finally set up the stakeholder advisory committees? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. The Public Land Act regulations are near the end of the drafting process. The Department of Lands is working collaboratively with Indigenous -- or Intergovernmental Council Secretariat partners and the Department of Justice to prepare regulations that meet the needs and desires of the public in the Northwest Territories. Stakeholder engagement is anticipated to continue into the late spring of 2023. Public engagement and section 35 consultation with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations, it's also anticipated to occur into the late spring of 2023. 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. I just don't really understand why the work with the Intergovernmental Council can happen in parallel with public engagement. This department and others just seem to leave the public engagement to the very end of the process. By then all the important decisions are made; it's too late.

So, you know, can the Minister tell us if there is actually going to be any meaningful public engagement on the development of the Public Land Act regulations including the forms of acceptable financial security? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, stakeholder engagement is anticipated to continue into late spring of 2023. Public engagement and section 35 consultation with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations is anticipated to occur until the late spring of 2023. The public land use regulations will establish accessible forms of security for disposition of public lands. Mr. Speaker, we are working on trying to get this done by the end of this sitting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Last year, NTHSSA's one-year deficit hit a record high of $33 million and yesterday the Minister confirmed that this year's deficit would be in the same ballpark. That would push our accumulated deficit over $200 million. The Minister also stated that the health sustainability office is dealing with the problem but that doesn't seem to be producing any results. So what are the challenges that the sustainability office is having to reduce this deficit, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Member for the question. The office is now fully staffed. For a while there was an issue with staffing in the office so that they could do their work but that is not an issue at this point.

The basic issue is that it's like playing whack-a-mole in the Department of Health and Social Services. When we finish paying for one thing, another thing needs funding. And this has really become more acute in the time that I've been Minister of Health and Social Services. There are more calls for more services to be covered by our health system than ever before without any commensurate means of looking at ways to increase revenue, decrease non-core services, or in other ways to try and bring our finances into alignment. So the result is that we -- that the NTHSSA was not properly funded when it was created. It's still not properly funded. And the situation that we find ourselves in is that we run a deficit annually. And as the Member knows, the last deficit was $33 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yeah, so the Minister -- will the Minister commit to public reporting in the next NTHSSA annual report on what results the sustainability office achieves, because I know with what she's saying that they're fully staffed now, because that would have been my second question if they have enough resources but, can we know what their achievements are so that we can know if the work that they're doing is actually producing end results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday during the mains examination of the department, I committed to a confidential briefing to the committee on accountability and oversight of the NTHSSA finances, what savings have been realized, what pressures are driving costs up, and so I'm going to repeat that here again today. At a very high level, it can be included in the annual report. But my caution about that is that the annual report won't be out until the fall, and it won't cover anything that happens after the end of this month. So the timeliness of that document is not great. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if the Minister won't be able to commit to the -- because of the timing, then can the Minister commit to some type of public -- I mean, different departments have different ways to show this publicly. Maybe, like, my colleague always asks for it online so we could see how they're -- it's like the child and family services, you could check to see how you're doing and what things are being done. So will the Minister commit to something like that so the public knows that you're doing the work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure what exactly is possible. But I believe that it's important to provide accountability to the public for both our spending and our debts. And so I will work with the department to develop some kind of public reporting. I can't say right now whether that will be online or not. But I will work towards public accountability on this public reporting. Thank you.