Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so a couple of points. Certainly, one I think is that, you know, there is a section 35 component to this process that needs to be recognized, and there's a couple of other challenges as well in that under the Act there's requirements for surveys as part of the one of the challenges, and that's part of the conversation that we've been having with the city of Yellowknife and trying to scale back to something that's certainly more manageable from the financial and capacity perspective of surveys. There's also zoning bylaws that come into place. So part of that process of a bulk land transfer would need to ensure that all of the zoning requirements have been met. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So can the Minister waive those survey requirements within current legislation? And because I can ask more than one question I'll say, and if not, can the Minister recommend a solution to this problem? Because I understand there are technical issues with this transfer but rather than focus on the challenges, I think there's real ways to focus on the opportunities. We know that the survey requirements are one of them and there's a financial cost. We could, for example, develop legislation that would transfer the administration of the lands the way that the GNWT currently administers it over to the city that they could later rezone. So there's solutions to these problems. Is the Minister able to provide any of the solutions here and commit to some of them? Because I'd like to see this process move forward. It's been -- I mean, I was an MLA before when we were discussing this and not much as changed since then. Thank you.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Yes, thank you, thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the Member for the question. A couple of parts to my answer. You know, right now we've had some -- in the last few weeks, a couple of months, I guess, even, we've had some very productive conversations with the city of Yellowknife on a -- as I said earlier, you know, a bit of a scaled back approach, and the survey requirement does not fall under the legislation that I am responsible for. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Member for Range Lake.

Thank you. Okay, well, I mean, hopefully when we're discussing with our municipal partners, whether it's the city of Yellowknife, the First Nation, or any -- or Indigenous beneficiary group or whatever, a local authority, that we are involving more than just one Minister and one department. And I know that's the case. It's just I would like -- it would be nice if we saw a clear path forward. And I mean nice is an easy way to put it. I think it's required at this point. Like, the urgency here for housing, for example, has been well stated in this Assembly. The urgency to shore up our economy at a time when we are in very much an existential crisis as a nation means we need to move quickly on this stuff. We can't afford another ten years. And I know the city is the only one taking the government up on this currently, but it would be nice if we, again -- maybe nice isn't the right word.

The right thing to do I think at this point is to really come to terms with this, find a pathway forward, and then do it for everyone, right, rather than just do it on an application basis. Because what we need to do is open up markets in the Northwest Territories for this kind of development. I kind of -- I disagree with the kind of characterization that we've got market and nonmarket-based communities. That's the current regime. But I think they could change if we had the right incentives in place. And the first incentive to building and local development is land. Land access is crucial for the economy, Madam Chair. And we just don't have enough of it in the Northwest Territories. And in this case, this is not an example of a land -- an outstanding land claim holding up development or holding up the opportunities that are inherent to that. This is something -- most of this land that's not already under claim -- because those things aren't even under discussion right now. This is public land owned by the GNWT that's not -- that's held within municipal boundaries. That's the only thing we're talking about here. And it just seems like every time we have this discussion, there are a million reasons why we can't and no one's trying to engage in how we can. So I'll continue to advocate for this, but I think we need to change our mindset and figure out how to knock down those barriers and have that "can do" mindset so we can get this done. We can't wait any longer. We really, really can't because the more the clock ticks, the farther we fall behind. And I don't know if the Minister wants to comment on that.

But the other question I have is the exact same issue which is the North Slave recreational leasing plan that has kind of gone ahead, pulled back. They've carved out piecemeal areas within the North Slave for some people and based on agreements that were never formalized, but they did that anyway, and then there's other people who are still waiting for leases because of various reasons, largely identified with section 35 consultations. But regardless, if we had a policy framework for recreational land leasing in the North Slave from the GNWT that was clear, provided a pathway to those leases, we could give a lot of certainty to people who are looking for those opportunities. And whether or not there's a claim that slows things down or that denies a lease, at least there's a framework going forward and clear expectations around what those frameworks are. So I guess those are my overarching comments on this. I welcome any feedback. But we can't keep waiting -- we can't keep doing the same thing and expecting we're going to get farther ahead. Thank you.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I can certainly agree that, you know, urgency is important here, and I think we've been demonstrating that. Currently, we're prioritizing the applications toward supporting the housing needs across the NWT as one aspect of urgency. And currently our work with the city of Yellowknife is for them to identify their priority areas so that we can work with them to advance those priorities. If we want to sit back and focus solely on changing the legislation, that's a longer process and we're really focused on, but today we need, you know, to support the communities and their opportunities to increase the housing stock across the NWT. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you to the Minister for these last ten seconds. Can I get a commitment -- a timeframe for when at least the Minister will report back to, let's say, the Members -- the Yellowknife Members or the House, or whatever forum he chooses, on when they expect to have concluded the transfer of lands to the city of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, as I indicated earlier, those conversations with the city are ongoing and happy to answer questions on the floor or provide an update to the Member as progress is made. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay. No further questions, please turn to page 98.

Environment and Climate Change, regulatory, assessment and authorizations, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $15,131,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Moving on to wildlife and forest management, beginning on page 101 with information items on page 105. Are there any questions? Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, can the Minister please tell me -- this is based off their business plan which I believe on their plan is page 36, in the entire document page 76, the business plan update. There is a discussion around monitoring ungulate species. So can the Minister please let me know what ungulate species surveys are slated to occur for the fiscal year 2025-2026. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will pass to the deputy minister. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Deputy minister Jenkins.

Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also enjoy a good ten cent word. I -- this question might have to get returned as well, and that's totally fine. But can the Minister provide committee with a list of the most recent surveys by caribou herd by year with estimated populations and ideally with a range map for each herd. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change.