Mr. Speaker, again, I want to ensure that we do track these positions and we track the hard to fill positions. They are done by region. I'm just trying to see if I was able to give the Member an example. Well, and so that December 31st date that I'm using, there was 108 vacancies in the Beaufort Delta. That's 12 percent of the region's funded -- or rather funded positions so you can note slightly higher than the overall total. So perhaps lightly different -- slightly more difficult to recruit. But, again, would have to look at the underlying reasons. It may well be that there are some positions there in the Beaufort Delta that have been vacant for a long time, and we need to look either at more creative ways to fill those positions or to look at whether or not there are positions there that need to be cleaned up. Again, so happy to have that on the radar, and we'll certainly make sure that we are working to clean up positions that are not being properly filled. Thank you.

Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I noted in my Member's statement earlier today, the previous health Minister committed a year ago to bring changes to the pharmacists' scope of practice for early in the life of the 20th Assembly. How much progress has the health department made since the previous Minister's commitment, and -- well, that's my first question, Mr. Speaker.

Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. An advisory committee has been established with the pharmacists appointed by the NWT Pharmaceutical Association to collaborate with the department officials. The advisory committee operates under clear terms of reference and reviews and advises on issues identified during the development and drafting instructions and regulations under the Health and Social Services Profession Act.

To date, this group has convened ten times to address this mandate. As well as through the work of bringing more professionals under the Health and Social Services Profession Act, the GNWT is committed to ensuring NWT residents have the confidence of health and social services system and the people caring for them by having clear rules in place for how professionals are licensed and maintain standards of care and competency. Clear standards for licensing, care, competency, complaints, discipline help increase the confidence that patients, practitioners, and partner organizations have in health and social services by improving safety and accountability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that answer. I do appreciate hearing that there's progress being made.

Mr. Speaker, what kind of scope is the department looking to give pharmacists here in the territory; is it comparable to jurisdictions on the higher end of the scale such as Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Alberta?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the scope of practice being considered is in line with the scope of other jurisdictions. The work will hopefully align the Northwest Territories with best practice and establish standards with the rest of Canada provides practitioners and patients and an understanding of what's required and expected of professionals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm very happy to hear that from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to a timeline of six months -- that being August 2024 -- to get these new regulations into force?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work required to bring regulations in is a minimum of two years. What we are projecting is a 2025 come-into-force date for the pharmacy regulations, and we are very pleased with the support and commitment of the pharmacists' working group with the department to move this work forward as quickly as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary.

Oral questions. Member from Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member's statement, my questions today is for the Minister of ITI and ECE.

A unique remediation opportunity is within our grasp. The Norman Wells oil field is creating revenues for the owners as we speak. Revenues that can fund Nortran, a trades training initiative. This is an ideal candidate for economic diversification. My first question to the Minister is the GNWT working with the community of Norman Wells Indigenous governments and industry to prepare for the closure of the Norman Wells oil field? Mahsi.

Member from Sahtu. Is that question for ITI or ECC?

ITI. Thank you.

Minister of ITI.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the remediation of the Norman Wells oil field will be managed by the owner of that lease that's on that property, which is Imperial Oil Resources. However, what I can say is due to ongoing development in the planning process on that remediation, the Government of the Northwest Territories, while it doesn't have detailed information, is doing what it can in order to try and make sure that there is some synergy happening. Like the MLA said, this is Canada's longest operating onshore oil field which definitely is a legacy but one that has some opportunity to learn from from what is happening with the remediation of the diamond mines or the winding down of the diamond mines, I should say. And there's definitely some potential to be had. I can say that right now, ITI is working with Indigenous organizations, stakeholders, and businesses through its SEED funding to help networking processes with Imperial Oil and to ensure that they're doing what they can to support the local governments in order to ensure that there are relationships there for local contracts and also remediation opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can say on the collaboration between ITI and the federal government, as well as with local communities, Mr. Speaker, is that ITI is doing what it can in order to support local businesses as far as business development. There's opportunity as well for also training through ECE as well for businesses to be able to prepare for the remediation that's ongoing.

What I can say, too, is that as a government, we're constantly advocating at the federal level for funding, for example, for labour market initiatives and investments and also strategic infrastructure investments as well through my counterpart colleagues here in order, really, to build a skilled workforce and make sure that we have the critical infrastructure to be able to move forward with the economy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that reply.

Carrying on to my next question, are any pilot programs to develop remediation labour force or business capacity planned to the principles of Nortran? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is probably a little bit more of an ECE question and kind of a marriage between the two departments, which is so nice to be able to wear both hats. But as far as Aurora College is concerned with that date, they have informed us that they do have a funding agreement with CIRNAC to develop courses related to mining remediation. These courses are currently under development and while Aurora College is at an arm's length, I'm more than happy to follow up with any of the particular information with the chair of the board that Members might want. Thank you.

Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question -- thank you to the opportunity -- has the department explored partnerships with training institutions like MTS, Mine Training Society, Aurora College, or the Olds College in Olds, Alberta, to provide labour force development in the Sahtu? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in addition to the program development that's currently underway with Aurora College that I just spoke of, what I think is best positioned to be inputted here in the response to this question is really promoting both apprenticeships and the SNAP program with students. And so, really, what this is about with the principles of Nortran that the Member is speaking of, it is about developing a skilled workforce and it's about making sure that our students or our youth know about these opportunities as well. And so what I would really like to put in a plug for is the ability to leverage one another in this room to create relationships between students and youth and employers. And so if anybody knows of any employers that are willing to take on apprenticeships and student apprentices, this is a great opportunity to work together to build a skilled workforce. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.