Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the previous sitting of this Assembly, I spoke to the problem of lack of clarity in the NWT waters regulations and the issues this problem is causing in our regulatory system. I spoke to arguments which had been made during a review of this issue which noted that amendments to the regs could help to alleviate some longstanding issues with relation to predictability, expediency, and fairness in the system.

On February 28th, I questioned the Minister on this, and he suggested these issues could be solved through interpretation of the regulations as opposed to targeted amendments. Since that exchange occurred, the land and water boards of the Mackenzie Valley issued a reference bulletin which seeks to better interpret the regs but because the regs do not clearly spell out intent and meaning, even a detailed and highly informed interpretation does not bring much clarity. As argued by the Tlicho government in their response to the board's reviews, the review process on the regs, the ultimate solution is targeted amendments to the regs to resolve this problem.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the boards wrote the Ministers responsible for the MVRMA and Waters Act recommending parties come together to make targeted amendments to the waters regulations to resolve these longstanding problems. The boards argued that the regulations are outdated and a source of uncertainty in the regulatory process, noting that there have been no substantive updates made since they were originally enacted in 1993 despite significant changes in the NWT's operating environment since that time. They further argued that focused amendments to the regulations should be prioritized over updates to the Waters Act recognizing that changing the regs will not only be easier and faster but that the regs are currently causing the greatest number of challenges in the board's processes.

Finally, the boards emphasized that there is support for many proponents and some co-management partners for making these changes.

Mr. Speaker, I think this is a great opportunity for the department to take a collaborative approach to their role in the co-management system and come to the table to discuss changes that the boards and many stakeholders in this system have been advocating for. To that end, I'll have questions for the Minister of ECC later today. Thank you.