Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the beginning of this Assembly, we came together to agree on several key priorities to focus on during our term. One of those key priorities is ensuring the safety of residents and communities. While territorial-wide dangers like disasters and crime often come to mind when we think about public safety, but we're also hear to solve public safety challenges which is unique to our communities as well.

A challenge to public safety my constituents uniquely face is the lack of junction lights on Highway No. 5 on the way to Fort Resolution. Without these lights, drivers often miss the turnoff on Highway No. 5 towards Fort Smith in the dark. My constituents fear worse than that. However, they feel it is only a matter of time a vehicle could collide with one another in and out of the turn towards Fort Smith. This is specifically a concern during the winter months when it's dark. Nights are long and freezing conditions could reduce a driver's ability to react and take evasive action.

My constituents raised this issue to my office often, and I agree with them. The lack of lights at this junction poses a serious threat to drivers yet when I raised this last chamber, I am told that these concerns have been flagged or studied enough for a solution to be considered. How many studies do we have to have to build a set of lights at the junction? Surely, we do not have to wait for a serious accident to take place before the Minister takes action. If an accident happened before the lights are set up, our priority for safety committees would not have been upheld for my constituents. I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Members' statements. Member from Monfwi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to discuss how the government will safeguard higher learning in our small communities.

Mr. Speaker, in a public briefing about the closure of community learning centres, both the chairperson of the board and president of the Aurora College outlined the college's decision to move to online learning. The board says the reason is, quote, low enrolment and high costs. The president of the college suggested the closure of CLC will save $8.29 million.

Mr. Speaker, I find the proposal to transition to online learning deeply troubling. The college number for online enrolments are inflated by classroom restrictions dating back to the pandemic. Their plan comes down to one thing: The loss of in-person learning for adult education programs and upgrading.

Mr. Speaker, in small communities, technology is a huge barrier to education. Many students do not have internet access or their own computers. Students with special needs such as FASD and others need hands-on visual learning opportunities. Were these factors considered in Aurora College's decision-making? This problem cannot be solved by a support line. Connectivity at the Whati CLC is currently adequate for running remote programming since the school has recently been hooked up to the fibre optic line. But this will not be the case if we force learners to upgrade online at home.

Mr. Speaker, we need a brick and mortar approach. Closing all 19 centres to save a small amount of money is wrong. Students will need to use the existing infrastructure to join classes online. I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with approximately 937 days left in this Assembly, Mr. Speaker, I wonder what will happen next. Mr. Speaker, in my February statement I talked about being bold, reaching out to the defence Minister, talking about getting investment in the North.

Mr. Speaker, recently a Cabin Radio story talked about Inuvik and Yellowknife becoming the hubs in the North. Mr. Speaker, their story said there's $218 million over 20 years going to be spent. Let's be frank, Mr. Speaker. That's a drop in the bucket as far as defence spending goes. Mr. Speaker, if I spoke in NWT terms, I'd refer to that as 72 kilometers of highway. That's all it is, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we need northern infrastructure. We need northern bases. Mr. Speaker, we could be the true hubs to protect all 135,000 Northerners from one side, be it the Yukon to the other side; be partners with Nunavut, Mr. Speaker. There's no reason we can't be bold.

Mr. Speaker, historically we always know that we've had Russia, China, and different views of how geopolitical problems work. Now if you read the Globe and Mail, you'll see a former Yellowknifer Nathan VanderKlippe talk about Trump's influence and desperation of saying I'm annexing Canada and I'm taking Greenland with it, Mr. Speaker. Shame on them. Now couldn't be a better time to demand Ottawa starts better spending in the Northwest Territories. Even the city of Yellowknife sent a letter saying that we could be a strategic centre.

Mr. Speaker, that 2 percent NATO spending ain't going to spend itself. Mr. Speaker, we don't need all the F35s, just a couple, Mr. Speaker, because a couple mean tons of jobs, a lot of money, serious investment, and commitment to protecting Northerners.

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague from Boot Lake pointed out that that delegation in a few days, I encourage the Premier to invite MLA for Boot Lake and myself because we feel very strongly about this particular concern, so strongly I wrote a draft joint working group terms of reference in response to the Premier about how could we advocate for more defence spending in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I want to see money in Inuvik, and I want to see money in Yellowknife, and I want to see Northerners working to help protect Canadians, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I read the quote in the story a couple days ago and the Premier says the federal government now appears to know that they should come talk to things, actually I reverse it. We should now be on the tips of our toes leaning into Ottawa and saying now's your opportunity, we're open for business, and we need your money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Members' statements.

Colleagues, today, I would like to talk about an individual who is a great-grandson of Baptiste Cazon, the former chief for Liidlii Kue First Nation. The GNWT named the ECE building in his honour just previously. One of these individuals that provide a message to everyone present via the grand chief was Gavin Wilkes.

Gavin was born in Peace River, Alberta, to Naila Cazon of Fort Simpson and Brian Wilkes of Northampton, England. Gavin is one of seven children between the two. He has two half-brothers and a half-sister on his mother's side, and two half-brothers and a half-sister on his father's side.

Gavin's great-grandfather Baptiste Cazon was a chief of Liidlii Kue First Nation for over 20 years. Growing Gavin was inspired by the work and dedication of his great-grandfather helping the Dene people and being a voice that he served in the region. People highly respect his great-grandfather.

Gavin wanted to do something similar like his great-grandfather. He studied hard and was accepted to attend the University of Augustana faculty from 2014-2018 where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in drama and philosophy. Then his next step was to attend the University of Alberta for his law degree from 2020 to 20203 and obtained a doctorate degree.

Gavin is now legal counsel at the Wahkotowin Law and Governance Lodge in Edmonton, Alberta, where he is working diligently with First Nations to identify, articulate, and implement their laws and legal governance structures.

Gavin's mother is very proud of the young man he has become and for his dedication to pursue his goals and his tireless dedication and commitment to his work. She told me that she sees a lot of her grandfather in Gavin, and she knows he will do great things for our people.

Recently Gavin attended and spoke at the 30th Annual Deh Cho First Nation meeting that was held in Fort Simpson this past summer where he shared his educational journey and addressed the youth, inspiring them to challenge themselves and to pursue their education. Gavin shared that he made this ten-year educational journey for the Dene people and to advocate and serve the Liidlii Kue First Nation of Treaty 11. I would like to congratulate him on his achievement.

Members' statements. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Returns to oral questions. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just following up on my Member's statement today. Given the fact that the Premier's noted in a recent story about this engagement of the federal government, I'm asking the Premier what is he doing about the national defence investment money in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since this was announced about a year ago, I've had numerous meetings with Minister Blair, the Minister of National Defence and with other federal Ministers, and we have -- along with the other northern Premiers, we have been lobbying the federal government to enlarge and advance more quickly their investments in the northern operational support hubs. I believe it was $218 million is the number that was in the original plan, and that was mostly to be spent in the final years of that plan. And so we've been advocating to get that money spent sooner than later. In the meantime, we actually have hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of investments from the Department of National Defence in infrastructure projects in the territory currently underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I should mention I forgot to say that MLA for Range Lake was also advocating on this issue too.

So, Mr. Speaker, back to the question at hand. Mr. Speaker, the Premier and I had some conversations in the last sit -- sorry, in the last month about a joint working group. Would he still be interested on creating a joint working group, and I'll table the terms of reference today. I'm curious on his opinion on that with respect to national defence spending.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I'd have to see those terms of reference and figure out what exactly the Member is talking about in terms of a joint working group, what that would look like, who would be involved, what the subject matter would be, and so on. And so after I see that, I'll be able to speak to the Member about it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Defence money's good money, Mr. Speaker. And we're spending almost half a million dollars on our super envoy who will be living or working in Ottawa from time to time. That said, I'm asking is the -- is this individual on this file to help get defence investment in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're using all the tools at our disposal. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first question following up on my statement earlier is to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. As the chair of the committee of internal trade, what key accomplishments have been achieved under NWT's leadership? Mahsi.

Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of ITI.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a collaborative table with all jurisdictions across Canada, and it's a collaborative table that I am very proud to be part of. As a group, the committee on internal trade has set four key recommendations across the country, and they include enhancing commitments under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and that includes conducting a rapid review of all party's specific exceptions, prioritizing mutual recognition on priority goods and sectors to reduce regulatory and administrative burdens, Mr. Speaker. It includes facilitating labour mobility and then also sectoral priorities like, for example, direct-to-consumer sales system for alcohol, and that is specifically for willing jurisdictions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information reply. It's good to see our government taking a forefront role in these national committees. The next question, Mr. Speaker, how has the NWT's leadership encouraged other provinces and territories to take a more ambitious approach to internal trade deliberations? Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, even though the NWT has the privilege of sitting as the chair, I have to say that Ministers from all jurisdictions showed up to the table in Toronto ready to do good work on behalf of Canadians, on behalf of the residents that we individually and then collectively serve. And so there wasn't a need to encourage one another to go farther. It was a very exciting table where people were literally stepping out of the meeting room in order to call their Premiers and get expansions to their negotiating mandates, and there were commitments made on the fly at the table, and it was really encouraging to see how dedicated Ministers from across the country were to this work. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that reply. It seems to me there was a lot of excitement on advancing in a productive kind of way during the session.

My third question: It sounds like there has been good progress. What are the primary barriers to internal trade that would remain? Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so while we came together at the table in order to discuss the barriers of mutual concern across the country, certainly what exceptions each jurisdiction chooses to remove and how they choose to tackle those are going to be unique by each jurisdiction. There's been jurisdictions who have done reciprocal agreements, jurisdictions who have done, you know, a lot of work on their exceptions, and there was some who have even done a lot of work previous to this. So as it sits, Manitoba only has eight exceptions right now, and other jurisdictions are using that as a shining light.

The other piece that we're doing, that I'm really excited about for the Northwest Territories, is the mutual recognition of goods which really stands to have a positive influence on our industries here in the territory and on our administrative burden as well as the potential costs of doing business in the territory. So that's where I'm very excited, also very excited for the work to be done under the labour mobility piece that is in collaboration with the labour Ministers across the country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.