Debates of Oct. 23rd, 2025

Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of ECC. Mr. Speaker, what is the status of the initiative to bulk transfer Commissioner's land within the municipal boundary of the city of Yellowknife at this time? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of ECC.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this certainly has been a conversation that's been going on for a while, and I'm happy to report to this House that in June of this year, the city of Yellowknife and the Department of Environment and Climate Change signed a memorandum of collaboration that provides a commitment to work together and to prioritize the city's land transfer initiatives upon application as well as information exchange, coordination, problem solving, and planning to support timely and effective land transfers for the city. So that's the latest update. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that certainly is good news.

Mr. Speaker, are there any outstanding applications currently before the department of ECC at this time from the city?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's not data that I currently have in front of me but happy to collect that and get it back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of ECC. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.

No, thanks.

Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it recently came up on my Facebook about places that have talked about the closure of the diamond mine, and there's one scheduled -- there's a public discussion scheduled in a few weeks here about the impacts on the community. And, Mr. Speaker, it kind of makes you wonder about how many jobs are going to be lost in this process because we have, as potentially scheduled, Ekati at 2027, Diavik at 2026, and I think Gahcho Kue is in early 2030. So, Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of ITI is how many potential jobs will be lost through this process that are actually NWT resident jobs; is she aware of this? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of ITI.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have approximately 1,400 NWT residents that are directly employed by our diamond mines in the Northwest Territories. In addition to that, we also have staff who work for private contractors that are subcontractors up on site. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So approximately 1,400. I like round numbers so whether it's, you know, 1,208 or, you know, 1,440. 1,400 is a nice number. So, Mr. Speaker -- it's a clear number, sorry, not a nice number.

Can the Minister give some details on how many businesses, and northern businesses to be specific, will be impacted by the closure of these three mines? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the number certainly fluctuates year to year and as different diamond mines get closer, for example, to closure, the types of businesses they're bringing up on to site and the amount of them does tend to decline, so that is a number that is certainly in flux year after year. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm comfortable with that answer. I mean, it is in flux, and I'll be fair to that point. It's tough to nail it down exactly. But, Mr. Speaker, Indigenous organizations and their economic wings aren't a number in flux, and they're very easy to define. Is there any details on how many Indigenous organizations, including their corporations, will be impacted by this? In essence, the numbers that will be affecting them and their smaller communities ultimately is what I'm trying to get at and that does affect Yellowknife, but it also affects the regional Indigenous communities as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is absolutely right, our Indigenous development corporations do work very closely with diamond mines and do hold some of the primary contracts of our diamond mines, including Tlicho Investment Corporation, Det'on Cho, and it -- sorry, North Slave Metis Alliance as well as Lutselk'e's Development Corporation as well. And I do sit down and speak regularly with the heads of these development corporations about what work they're currently doing on site, what work they're projected to do on site, and also what other branches of economic development they are splintering off into as well. This is a very live conversation between myself and the Indigenous development corporations, and we continue to work very closely together. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the fiscal update this House received last week, the Minister said that she is modifying the fiscal strategy of the government, being responsive by investing in the stability and the resilience of the territory, and this is after a loss to the operational surplus of $154 million. So can the Minister just confirm that Restoring Balance, the fiscal strategy of the House, is no longer the strategy of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a big part of Restoring Balance was on the -- premised on the idea that we would try to be repaying our debt down, which required significant operating surpluses, and it certainly does appear that given the circumstances in the broader world economy that that is not -- should not be the area that we're prioritizing right now. So we're not looking anymore -- we're looking to see what we can do, frankly, to bring some stability to the economy and to residents here and not focus on paying down debt, which was a core part of the Restoring Balance approach. Thank you.

Well, thank you for that clarity, Mr. Speaker. First, that kind of just slipped by because the fiscal strategy I think should be something that we're consulted on. Will the Minister bring a new revised fiscal strategy to the attention of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight so we can review the fiscal strategy for the next two years and make sure it meets the needs of our constituencies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of appearing in front of standing committee prior to the start of the capital planning session, at which time we did discuss the direction of the current fiscal situation that we're in and changes to the fiscal strategy, mainly that there would not be -- that there would be some changes. I'm happy to appear back again before committee and to certainly commit to doing so. That's certainly -- as I said, happy to appear back again whenever it works out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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