Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to recognize our MP Michael McLeod and grand chief Lafferty, two powerful leaders who are strong advocates for the people in the Northwest Territories and I appreciate all the efforts that you do for us. I also want to recognize Brad Enge who is a long-time personal family friend. He's probably -- I think you're older than I am.

And of course I want to recognize Range Lake page Morgan Miller. These are not only important to have in the Legislative Assembly, I'm hoping that many of these pages will become future leaders and carry on the work that we're doing today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize one of the interpreters Mary Jane Cazon, a resident from Fort Simpson. She does a great job, and I thank her for that.

I guess I'm going to jump on the bandwagon here and recognize Michael McLeod, former boss. He was my Minister way back when, so I thank him. I consider him a friend, mentor, and a sounding board in the work that we do for residents of the Northwest Territories. As well to Jackson Lafferty, a friend, mentor, colleague, sounding board, and now he's the grand chief. So welcome to our Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to also acknowledge and recognize our Tlicho grand chief, Jackson Lafferty in the audience. I am happy he moved on to be our grand chief, and I am grateful to be part of this 19th Legislative Assembly. So I am grateful he's -- he is our grand chief. And I would also like to recognize Michael McLeod in the audience and Sholto Douglas who is originally from Behchoko. So I would like to acknowledge and welcome Sholto Douglas as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to welcome MP McLeod as well and Tlicho grand chief Jackson Lafferty. And I'd also like to recognize the Sahtu interpreters as well, Sarah Cleary and Theresa Etchinelle. And also the pages from the Sahtu as well, Colby Campbell Modeste and Aidan Widow. Thank you for all your work this week as well too. And also Happy Birthday to Lillian Elias and hello to Sholto Douglas. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Sahtu. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I think we actually have a rule that we're not only supposed to acknowledge folks that are in our riding but, and I'm not going to pile it on just this one time I will follow the rules, but I acknowledge there's lots of friends in the House today.

I do want to recognize a page, Jaida Deutschmann. I haven't met Jaida, but I think I know her mom and dad. They're great vegetable growers; they've got a greenhouse and so on. And I really appreciate the work that all the pages do for us in this House. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Once again, welcome, Mr. Lafferty, grand chief, former Member. And also Michael McLeod. I'd just like to actually -- you know, colleagues, a lot of times we don't get a chance to thank people until it's too late. But a lot of people don't know, but 12 years ago in August, Michael and also R.C. McLeod encouraged me to run before the 17th Assembly there. And, you know, the jury's still out on that one -- no, I'm just kidding. But I'd just like to thank him and also Robert McLeod. But that wouldn't have happened without my constituents. But, you know, it meant a lot to have those encouraging words. And, you know, a lot of we might not have the confidence to, you know, take on a role such as this but, you know, with encouraging words and also the support of our constituents, we could do anything. And I'd just like to take the time to thank both of them. Also Jackson, I had a lot of fun in the 17th and 18th Assemblies with him, and also part of the 19th. But I'd just like to wish you all well in your leadership endeavors and keep up the good work.

Also if we've missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber and I hope you're enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to see people in the gallery. Mahsi.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Premier going to listen to the people of the Northwest Territories and get rid of the time change?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do know that it's with the Department of Justice. I know that the Minister is looking into this. There was a survey done. There was a lot of comments. I think that the Member is right; it's important we listen to the people. I also heard the MLA -- one MLA say that he doesn't agree with it, so I hear that. I do think that it's an important question, and I do know that the Minister is looking into it right at this point. I have my own personal opinions but I'm here to support the GNWT, and I will support the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North. (audio)

Merci, Monsieur le President. I know the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources just got off an interesting phone call with the Alberta environment Minister, and I'm just wondering if he might be able to provide an update to the House on that conversation? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did take some notes from that meeting so I'm just going to read them here.

Mr. Speaker, we spoke about the importance of sharing water -- our shared water to the NWT residents and the communities. We talked about some of the concerns that residents in the communities have downstream of the oil sands. We spoke about the importance of honouring the commitment of the Bilateral Water Management Agreement. We also spoke about the critical importance of being notified about development that might affect the ecological integrity of our water share. And we spoke about the importance of transparency, information sharing, and the continued need for robust monitoring that is essential for building public trust. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that, keeping notes and giving us the update. I'm just wondering if he can tell us whether there was any acknowledgement of noncompliance with the transboundary water agreement or an apology? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can advise you that the Alberta Minister recognized that there was a failure to communicate on the issue. There was a lot of finger pointing through this whole process and I can tell you she just found out this February. So she was similar into the same boat as us there. We talked about working together to improve how we implement the transboundary agreement. Again, it's about the wording and that so we've made that commitment to do that. And we've also committed to have a face-to-face meeting sometime in April, whether it's the 13th or 18th. We're just working on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I think it was yesterday -- maybe it was the day before, I raised the issue of, you know, public engagement on the development of any new tailings discharge regulations, how we've hired consultants, they give us reports, all of that is secret. We don't know what's being said behind closed doors. I know that's a trigger word but I'm just wondering, Mr. Speaker, if this issue of public engagement and the development of these discharge regulations was raised with the Minister in Alberta during the call? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I took the heat from the Members on the other side during their business plan and that, and I did bring it forth to raise the concerns with her about the House that development regulations for the release of oil sand tailings need to be transparent and public, and we need to be engaged moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm just wondering if he can tell us if there's any real concrete outcomes? I understand he's going to meet with the Minister face-to-face in April. That's a good thing. But, you know, did he secure a commitment from the Minister in Alberta that there would be public engagement in the development of these tailings discharge regulations? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the first thing is we made the commitment to do the face-to-face meeting. That's the important part of it. She has also committed to sharing information on the seepage and spills moving forward. So we'll make sure we have a robust process in getting that information to us. They also agreed that the dispute resolution provision of our bilateral agreement is the right tool to resolve the matter and set a plan to avoid this kind of incident in the future so we're doing dispute mechanism. She has agreed to that. She's looking forward to enhancing the transboundary agreement. She sees some hiccups there that we have addressed and that we're moving forward on that. So she's made a commitment. I'm looking forward to meeting with her in April. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.