Thank you. That's very proactive and positive, and I appreciate taking those steps. And I appreciate the indulgence of asking these questions at this section that I thought to jump on -- ride other people's coattails.

Moving towards the envoy position, I'm wondering if -- do we currently have a contract or do we contract government relation services from firms, like lobbyist firms essentially, to support our efforts to engage with not just the federal government -- well, primarily the federal government, but other governments and organizations? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you. So we don't have a formal contract in place with such an entity but we have used services of, you know, firms in Ottawa, especially when we were travelling down for the -- with the Council of Leaders or as part of the Council of Leaders, and they helped, you know, set up meetings and even things like arranging media interviews and things like that. So, yes, we have used those services in the past. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you. Yes, and I would encourage you to make use of those professional services. Ottawa is a fierce beast when it comes to politics, of course, as I'm sure everyone's aware, and having people who are used to navigating those waters is probably the best value for money we can do. I appreciate this kind of novel approach to assigning an envoy but when you -- I quickly Googled special or senior envoys in Canada, and most of the results that come back are about envoy -- like, the Government of Alberta has an envoy to the United States specifically around the energy relationship there. Quebec has some envoys to the United Nations, economic and social organizations. And Canada, of course, has many envoys to the Pacific, to Syria, to countries and nations. So it just feels to me -- and perhaps that's because I'm a bit of a nerd on this stuff -- that it's kind of reaching to the realm of, like, foreign affairs. So it -- but I appreciate what the role is supposed to do. But I wonder if instead we just use those resources to retain, you know, political staff rather than bureaucratic staff to engage in decision makers, and we get more value for money. I mean, this is something that I can tell you from my own experience that I have seen those -- that approach yield far more results. And I know the Premier is well aware of Bob McLeod's red alert, and at the time I was skeptical of it, and in hindsight I think it was a brilliant idea, and I think it really raised attention on northern issues and the challenges that the government was facing at the time. And I know that was facilitated by engaging with experts at messaging and political -- and government relations. So I just wonder again, like, are we trying to -- do we have the right tool for the job, right? Are we -- you know, are we trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when we could be using contracted services who are experts in this for less cost and more results? So I know the Premier has a perspective on that, but I share these concerns around, you know, was this the right evidence-based decision and most efficient use of our resources in engaging with the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you. And so, you know, I'm -- we're very willing to and we do engage those types of services as and when required in Ottawa, and I understand what the Member is saying that, you know, a lot of the work in Ottawa -- to get things done in Ottawa, sometimes you need to go out for supper with people, you need to, you know, hang out in the crowd and hear what people are talking about and get insight into, you know, what Ministers' offices you need to talk or what person you need to contact or where the money might be. And so that type of work, you know, we do work with folks in Ottawa to get that type of understanding. The senior envoy role is a political role, very political role, and it would be complementary to those types of efforts as well. I can leave it at that for now. I don't have to take up too much of the Member's time. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake.

Yeah, thank you. And I mean, it's hard to -- because it is a political role, it's hard to assess it as you would with GRI or one of those tools that we've been trying to use for evidence-based decision-making. But I just -- I fear that we're not going to get the best result possible from an expensive singular role when we could spread it out across contracts and, you know, have those people who are working in those circles and get more awareness of what's happening on the ground and more influence for our government on the ground as well. So I don't need a response from the Premier, but those are my concerns. We'll see how it works. Again, this is something that Bob McLeod's government did as well. There was an ADM in Ottawa for a while, and I don't think it made a huge difference. And I don't think it made as much of a difference as the red alert and those kinds of efforts to raise the profile of the territory to the federal government. So those are my concerns. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I know the Premier is aware, the Yukon territory has set up an Arctic security advisory council. They've assembled a fairly impressive team there to work on issues around Arctic security. They've got a major -- a retired major general there, Joyce on there, who was -- his career included appointments to the privy council office as a military advisor. They've got Dr. Ken Coates who is chairing that committee. And I think, given what's happening nationally, given the -- you know, we heard today -- I think Minister Blair announced ten NOSH sites, northern -- I forget what the acronym stands for -- but one in Yellowknife, one in Inuvik, one in Iqaluit, which -- you know, which is good news. Has the Premier considered or is the Premier considering setting up a Northwest Territories security advisory council? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you. So I believe we actually have an observer on the committee. We've been -- you know, and I've been in talks with the Premier of the Yukon on this and talking about how we can better collaborate, and as the three northern territories, we do collaborate on these types of initiatives. Every chance we get, we get up in front of a microphone and we talk about these security issues. You know, there's a good relationship at the official level between my deputy minister and staff in the department of defence. And I can say that I've seen that relationship -- I'll say it's improved in the sense that the federal government now appears to know that they should come talk to us when things are happening, so if they plan on announcing something, you know, we don't get a ten-minute head's up anymore, it's -- there's some more engagement beforehand. There's more willingness at the political and official level to reach out and actually engage and talk about, you know, what might be needed going forward. And I always raise myself when I speak with federal counterparts, whether it's public safety or defence, that, you know, we need to be engaged if there is going to be any sort of investments in the North because, you know, if there's going to be a new base or new facilities in a community, maybe they need a new treatment -- or a water treatment centre, maybe they -- water treatment plant, maybe they need to improve the highway infrastructure around there. So there's -- maybe they need new childcare spaces to accommodate, you know, additional personnel that might be in the community. So those conversations have grown and strengthened over the past year, and I think we're going in the right direction. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, listen, in no way am I insinuating that the work that's being done currently by DMs, and certainly by the Premier's office. Hasn't been good work. And I just wanted to correct myself, so the Northern Operational Support Hubs is what the -- what Minister Blair was talking about, Mr. Chair, and they'll be located in Inuvik, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit, and it appears they're planning on putting some personnel in there too, so I think this is great news. But I just think as a -- you know, as part of that, I think it just gives it more oomph, if you will, Mr. Chair, to have that advisory council put in place to get some expertise on there outside of the political realm as well with, you know, when you see what the Yukon has done with retired major generals on their committee, and I think that gives us, then, a little more expertise and a little more depth when we're in Ottawa and explaining to some folks, as we often have to do, where the Arctic is, you know, what's taking place, the fact that we have a NORAD base in Inuvik that we -- you know, there's a forward operating location there, that we expanded the airport, and those are the messages that we need to get out so when, you know, spending does come our way from DND and we -- you know, we're talking about the Mackenzie Valley Highway and, you know, maybe there's an opportunity there too and working with the Department of National Defence to look at some potential funding for that. But these are, you know, the big pictures. So I just, I guess -- and, again, I appreciate what the Premier is saying, but I think having that advisory council in place gives us that little more kick, if you will, Mr. Chair, for that -- to negotiate that to look at how, you know, again Ottawa looking at the North right now and how we need to make sure that we are certainly not missing the boat. Not to say that the Yukon is ahead of us but certainly, you know, the Yukon having that security advisory council in place, I just think it would make sense for us to do it as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, I take that as a comment unless the Minister -- I'll go to the Minister.

Yes, thank you very much. And so, you know, we do have access to some of the same academic advice that that advisory council is receiving. We are looking at developing a -- sort of a public basic policy around defence. I mean, we're not tasked with national defence, but it's clearly being put -- thrust in the spotlight and we need to be able to deal with it, so we're looking at how do we best do that in a very structured manner and what are the interests of our jurisdiction in that world. And also, you know, the Yukon, they do have their council, but we have the Joint Task Force North headquarters and the forward operating location in Inuvik. So in terms of that conversation, we're light years ahead of where the Yukon are right now, and so we have -- you know, Cabinet was meeting with Joint Task Force North with, you know, the senior staff there, the commanders, and we got those briefings. The deputy minister and others regularly are in contact with the Joint Task Force North. So we're in a different position from the Yukon. That being said, I understand where the Member's coming from, and we are trying to shore up our own defence policy, for lack of a better word. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, and I appreciate that. And, again, and I know from conversations I've had the Premier, with his staff, that it's not -- not that we're not doing any work here, because I -- and I appreciate and I realize they are. And I don't need a response but I'll just read the -- what the Yukon security advisory council had sent out in their press release: A strong and secure North is critical to a strong and secure Canada. The Yukon is at the forefront of issues related to Arctic security and, accordingly, the Government of the Yukon remains committed to working with the federal government and global partners on matters of security and defence for the benefit of all Yukoners.

You know, those are the kind of statements coming from a council that I think can or does resonate. I appreciate what the Premier is saying, though, however, and I have no further questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much. Next on my list I have is the Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My comment's on the creation of this envoy position but actually I gave it some thought there after I seen the article and read about it, and very similar through experiences, I thought it was a very good choice of actions to staff the unstaffed strategies this government depends quite a bit on our federal counterparts for resources and supports, and what better engagement is to have a one on one with our federal counterpart. Some things are best said in person, some things are best demonstrated through PowerPoint presentations, and I think there's a lot of merit to this decision to staff that strategy followed by implementing the strategy designing our conventions to encourage more resources. We have an Arctic foreign policy. The policy is only as good on the rewards and the fruits of our government's efforts to bring solutions to the North, similarly to my colleague from Boot Lake had mentioned.

So I see a lot of value at the end of the day to this decision, and experiencing and similarly to my past private contracting life, we did see a lot of opportunities from the oil and gas clients, so periodic sales trips were made to Calgary, and getting prepared for their incoming presence for the projects they had and having knowledge of that encouraged us to witness what other similar larger companies were actually doing.

One company in particular, who I've worked with, had a full-time salesman in Calgary. He had a credit card. He had an apartment. He had a vehicle. And that was his task, was to go and solicit opportunities. So that concept exists all over. There's current lobbyists on behalf of large companies doing that same business right this very moment in Calgary.

So our government needs an office there and a presence there and a strategy and a staff to implement those strategies. So I really see a lot of merit to that choice. So I just share my comments with experience there, Mr. Chair, and endorse that choice. Mahsi.

Okay, thank you. Are there any other Members that want to make comments? Okay, thank you. Moving on, no further questions, please turn to page 124.

Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Cabinet support, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $2,443,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Moving on to corporate communications beginning on page 126 with information items on page 128. Are there any questions? I am going to go to the Member from Great Slave.