Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when developing the mandate and reviewing it, then am I to assume that the position may or not be filled, or is the position going to be filled?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're looking at all of our options. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary.

So exciting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't contain my excitement. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my next set of questions is targeted to the -- I shouldn't say targeted, but being offered ever so kindly to the Minister of education. And so during the campaign, a lot of the teachers complained about the BC curriculum coming in because the lack of foresighted training for -- and prep for them. So in other words, they're being handed these packages of saying hey, now good luck, and they had to implement it. Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister of education do to help support these teachers who still haven't had the full and robust training in the BC curriculum which they have asked for? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I find that the news isn't all bad. A lot of people that I've had the opportunity to speak with, parents included, are quite excited by the opportunity presented to the Northwest Territories by the BC curriculum. That said, I do have meetings booked with education bodies in April, and I'm very excited to get their feedback at that time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had heard and spoken to some people on the education industry that report cards could have been delayed, and there was a bit of an off-the-rails process about having the right training and ability to fill out the report cards based on the BC curriculum.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister look at sending people to the education boards to make sure that we have that knowledge on how to work through them in a cooperative and collaborative way? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll make the commitment to first find out if there is a challenge at the education board and school level. And if there is a challenge, I will make the commitment to ensure that it's addressed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I might not have had a third question but I just want to clarify on the record, in my case I'm not worried about board; I'm worried about boards as a territorial MLA and hence the issue to me is if it's reflective in Yellowknife, it could be reflective in every riding. So will she ensure that all ridings are -- sorry, all education districts receive the same type of question and support? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment for Yellowknife; I'm the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment for the Northwest Territories. So yes.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, seeing as there's extra time, I thought I ask my friend the Minister of Finance if she -- what she's going to do to support the mining industry here in the Northwest Territories. She's got the money. We need some tax credits. Has the Minister reviewed the submission -- the prebudget submission that the chamber of -- of the NWT Chamber and Nunavut Chamber of Mines has put forward to the federal government for a North of 60 tax credit? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have been a Minister that's been advocating in support of a North of 60 tax credit now for the mineral resource industry for four now going on five years. I have done so alongside Ministers from Nunavut and the Yukon as well and have done so at the finance table as well as at the mineral resource tables that I have been sitting at under previous iterations as well as the Minister of Infrastructure responsible for energy and for regional energy initiatives. So we'll certainly try to find further opportunities to do that.

I can say, Mr. Speaker, that to date, the federal government has not been receptive but hope spring's eternal. Thank you.

And I'm glad to see the Minister spring into action to support our mineral's industry.

Mr. Speaker, if the federal government's not going to fund it, what are we going to do? What tax credits and incentives can the Northwest Territories offer to our exploration industry to make it more -- to level the playing field with other jurisdictions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mineral exploration tax credit is a flowthrough tax credit tool that's used, and it's not one that would be effective here. We don't have the sort of financial institutions and large-scale investors that would make it useful as a tax tool from the Northwest Territories. We really are looking at the federal government where for them, in our view, there would be no revenue losses. It would be an opportunity to really just create this opportunity for more investment in the North and for an incentive to invest in the North.

To look more generally at what can be done to incentivize investment in the Northwest Territories financially, I mean there certainly are programs that are run obviously through the department of my colleague to my left, of ITI, and, you know, always be looking at different opportunities across a whole of government, but there's a lot that we can do, you know, within the fiscal sustainability strategy that we do have to look at what's effective. So looking at some of the programs and services that we offer, looking at ensuring that we make those programs and services effective, everything from tax credits and the mineral incentive policy to also the kind of direct engagement that you'll see where we had multiple Ministers attending at Roundup recently, meeting directly, sitting down, listening to the proponents, and making sure they know that they have an opportunity to see ways to fit through the system here in the Northwest Territories. That's something we can offer, and that's something that we are doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I recognize that we are -- we are a small jurisdiction in the global field of the minerals industry. We do have a great program, the Mineral Incentive Program. The Minister talked about it. Will she triple the Mineral Incentive Program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a nice little opportunity to note that unlike other systems where a Minister of Finance might actually create the budget for the government, in our system I don't actually create the budget for the Northwest Territories government, Mr. Speaker. The financial management board, which is all Ministers, sit together. I chair it. But I actually don't even vote at it, Mr. Speaker. I bring people together. I'm responsible for the policy, responsible for the management, but every department does come forward with their incentives, with their initiatives, with their asks, with forced growth. All Ministers are part of financial management board and the decision-making that goes into it. But, again, in terms of speaking to industry and wanting them to know that certainly from the perspective of Finance, very live to what's happening to our GDP, very live to what's happening to the potential for revenues that come into the Government of the Northwest Territories, and want the industry to realize that this is a good place to invest, that they have a government that's wanting to work with them and that's going to help them find ways to see good return on their investment here. Thank you.

Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

(audio) anywhere else, Mr. Speaker. So while we've gone down from tripling to doubling, Mr. Speaker, all the initiatives come through together. So the first step, of course, is the development of the mandate, which as done by Cabinet, but certainly involves review and input from Members, and then with that we'll go through the process of the budget establishment, and that includes once we've got that mandate we can look at initiatives. Initiatives are meant to actually then support the mandate. Obviously one of our four key items is economic growth, and the mineral resource industry continues to be the driver of the private sector in the Northwest Territories. So, Mr. Speaker, whether it's this initiative or whether it's another, certainly Cabinet and the Department of Finance, as part of Cabinet and the leader from the perspective of the financial management board, Mr. Speaker, we need to achieve that mandate. It includes economic growth. What that's going to do, we'll have to wait until the main estimates in June to find out. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Please and thank you. Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the opportunity to ask a second set of questions, colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs looks a little bored today, so I thought I'd -- so I thought I'd ask him a question that springs out of the fantastic opportunity that we're celebrating here tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, the outstanding volunteer awards.

Does the Minister have any inklings or desire to create more opportunities to support our wonderful volunteers in this territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.