Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my second set of questions is for the Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains. You make it look easy, Mr. Speaker. How is the Minister working with climate science to make strategic decisions for investment in our current and planned energy systems? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is shortly going to be a North Slave resiliency study. The last one of these was some time ago. We are looking to have that updated. And part of what is being done within that study is, in fact, to look at some of the changing climate conditions we are under, including low water, and what that's doing to our water systems and power at various hydro facilities. And of course, also, Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss not to point out to the policy direction that was issued by the GNWT on behalf of our Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, which included things like long-term integrated systems planning, which, again, too would be looking at threats as well as opportunities and some of the challenges that we are facing here in the North. So those are a couple of the areas where we are looking to, indeed, to what I think the Member's looking for from us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Can the Minister please tell me how scientific modeling and predictions are impacting decisions made for the future of our energy systems specifically hydroelectric systems, such as Taltson, that her department plans to action into the 2030s. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So certainly scientific study is going to be a significant component of the planning work that goes into Taltson expansion as well as the planning work that's going to have to go into the integrated systems planning more broadly. It is really -- the lack of an integrated systems plan for the Northwest Territories is something that holds back better long-term planning, and it's something that I'm very much looking forward to receive back from the Public Utilities Board. I understand that process has begun, engagement has begun, work with the utilities has begun. And it would necessarily and certainly our response necessarily to that will have to look at what we have available to us in terms of our hydro resources in order to make good on the recommendations that come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has spoken previously in this sitting, and mentioned it earlier in her answers, that she has directed her staff to understand the resiliency of our hydroelectric systems. Can the Minister outline what will happen to meet our net zero goal if we do not meet our timelines to upgrade our strategic energy infrastructure and continue with the status quo. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do want to reaffirm that the net zero goal is still there, that we would be at net zero by 2050. There certainly are different ways that we might reach that goal, whether it's through the simple attrition of industrial measures or whether it's through something more proactive. And there's small scale and larger scale efforts underway, everything from the EV corridor to the border that we do already have, to a Taltson upgrade that is advancing, I would suggest, for quickly than it has in many years, though still some work to go. Having the integrated -- the systems planning and having the resiliency study will help bring those things together. But, yeah, Mr. Speaker, certainly if we fall behind on some of that work, if we fall behind on upgrading the hydro systems that we have, that will certainly make it more difficult to achieve that goal in a proactive way as opposed to simply allowing assets to fall by the wayside or for industry to walk away from here. So the idea is to be proactive, the idea is to find a pathway forward. And, again, Mr. Speaker, that's the modeling that we're doing, the planning we're doing, and why we're continuing to pursue upgrades to the hydro systems. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As per my Member's statement earlier today, why are students in Range Lake being told that they have to pay late fees and other costs through no fault of their own due to the department's lateness in getting payments out the door to kids on SFA? Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start by acknowledging that this certainly would be very frustrating and difficult on the part of students who are really wanting to ensure that they're focusing on their post-secondary studies. As the Member mentioned, student financial assistance has seen an increase in their applications this year. There's been an almost 20 percent increase in the number of applications for student financial assistance that have come through to the government, and even though the Department of Education, Culture and Employment did hire five additional staff in order to take on some of this increase in applications, we have still seen delays in processing those applications this fall. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that that bottleneck has been cleared. That's what I've heard. But the issue -- the question I asked was will the Minister pay for those late fees. Students shouldn't have to shoulder that burden because of a capacity issue. So I'll ask it again because the Minister didn't answer it: Will the Minister direct the department to pay the late fees and costs associated with these late payments for our students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for bringing back the question. Mr. Speaker, there is currently, to be quite frank, no mechanism for education, culture and employment to pay for those fees. The way that this program is structured is to pay a portion of a student's post-secondary costs but not the entirety of the cost of their post-secondary education. And so the theory there is that as soon as their student financial assistance would come in that would reimburse some of their savings that they had to also pay for their student -- or sorry, for their tuition costs. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Mr. Speaker, this program, I think, is all nestled under income assistance. When income assistance is late for -- has late fees related to power, they pay it. So I don't understand. We have a mechanism for that. Will the Minister use the same mechanism she uses for income assistance at the departmental level to pay these late fees and take the burden off of our learners? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, while they are still both under the same division, they do have different purposes, they do have different design. Income assistance is a program that is structured around the basic needs of residents who would not necessarily have a mechanism to pay those late fees because education, culture and employment is funding them based on their entirety of their basic needs whereas student financial assistance is structured differently and also does have an expectation that students contribute to their post-secondary costs as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been working with the finance Minister and the Minister of education and all of Cabinet and the Council of Leaders to try and bring in more money for education specifically related to Jordan's Principle and the reductions -- or the change of the program by the federal government. We'll continue to advocate. And my hope is that we'll see some success hopefully in the near future. If not, then we have to look at, you know, how we're operating and what that means. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question will be is that I just want to make sure that the Premier respects and honour our existing treaties and especially on education, and the youth from our communities do matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. So I believe he wanted to make sure that I'm honouring the treaties. You know, I do my best to honour the treaties. I don't do anything that I think is dishonouring the treaties or not aligned with the treaties. So in every decision I make, I do my best to ensure you are that we are aligned with the treaties. They are foundational documents, not just for the Northwest Territories but for Canada, and we can't have a functioning system in the Northwest Territories if we're not honouring the treaties. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.