Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. So the Literacy Outreach Centre is in danger of shutting down if it can't find classroom space to operate, new funding, and new partners. Has the Minister or ECE staff had a chance to meet yet with the staff who have been running the Literacy Outreach Centre, either Inclusion NWT staff or Aurora College staff, as well as with any other interested partners to help find a path forward for the centre? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that conversations have begun but they are certainly not finalized, and there is still more work to be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit that by the end of this fiscal year, she will not only figure out how much money ECE has been allocating to Aurora College for the Literacy Outreach Centre but reallocate that funding to other partners who may want to carry on with the program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can do better. At the end of the fiscal. Aurora College annually operates the literacy outreach programs with $350,000 in funding. In addition to that, Inclusion NWT receives $85,000 annually in funding. So I can confirm the first part of that.

The second part of that, which is figuring out what to do next, is what is currently underway with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, but that program will still operate until the end of June. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that the Minister has managed to do the work to find the amount that we're talking about here. Will the Minister commit, if there is another partner that steps up to continue the program, to reallocating those funds away from Aurora College to that partner, that $350,000 that's currently going to Aurora College? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I think what needs to be -- there's a few things that need to be ironed out first, and that is what the future looks like before we can start allocating funding to different entities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister for ITI.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. So our BIP program is currently one of our exceptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and there's no plan to take away that exception that we currently have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that. That is reassuring. Mr. Speaker, what changes are being contemplated? I know we have I think around 18 -- anyways, in the teens of exceptions in the Canada Free Trade Agreement. So what are we looking at eliminating here in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We currently have 12. The first 11 are on things like our business incentive program, they're on things like our resources, like fisheries and oil, and then there's one of them that is a future one so it's not for resources today. The things that we are looking at doing resolve more around labour mobility and barriers that we have in that realm. And then the other piece, Mr. Speaker, is around regulatory harmonization. So a great example of that is the work that's currently being done at the reconciliation table around the trucking pilot, and all jurisdictions right across Canada have doubled down on that commitment to that table because that's one of our biggest gains to be had right now as a country, is ensuring that goods are moving around the country in an affordable way and that we don't have unnecessary administrative burden or unnecessary additions of cost to how we're moving foods and goods -- sorry, goods and services around the country. Thank you.

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

Thank you. And on the matter of trucking, we have trucking businesses in the Northwest Territories. They have access to these kinds of fast passes to get through provincial borders without paying dues they can reconcile at the end of the month. It expedites the whole process. Unfortunately, we can't certify that process here in the Northwest Territories, so businesses are looking -- have to base their operations outside of the Northwest Territories. Alberta seems to be the case in most areas. Is this something the Minister can correct and allow northern-based trucking companies and moving companies to get their certifications for cross-border programs like this here in the Northwest Territories so we aren't losing businesses to southern jurisdictions? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So absolutely, mutual recognition is something that we're fully committed to for the NWT's part of our participation within the committee on internal trade. And this also works into my colleague of infrastructure and the work that her department is doing. And so certainly we are absolutely committed to doing this work and are in the process of working towards it on that reconciliation and cooperation table. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the subject of business supports, the Government of Yukon announced yesterday, I believe -- may have been announced before but I just saw it yesterday -- a million dollar fund to help Yukon-based businesses adjust to any additional costs caused by tariffs, the illegal and unjustified tariffs from the Americans. Is -- what are we doing to support our own businesses? I don't see a fund in this budget. I have heard no announcements. This seems like a good idea. Is the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment considering bringing forward a similar fund that is flexible, supports northern businesses, keeps jobs in the North, and protects northern businesses? Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is certainly watching what's happening. They've got a close working relationship with our Chambers of Commerce, industry representatives, as well as business associations in the Northwest Territories. I think it's crucial at this time that we're very open and honest about what the impacts are. We don't have an indication of doing -- or sorry, we don't have a plan right now of launching a program because I think it's really important that we see what the impacts are. There are a lot of businesses that are looking to changing who they currently source items for and switching to Canadian suppliers, which I think is incredibly important in this. But until we know what the impacts are, it's hard for us to design a program that actually gets to the crux of what some of those challenges will be. And until we also see the responses from the Canadian government, we need to ensure we're not duplicating efforts as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, I'm curious as to why the Yukon feels they need to do this, but maybe that's something the Minister could speak to her territorial counterparts. I'm sure businesses would be assured by that. There are a number of other things we can do by eliminating the red tape, reducing fees and services, make it cheaper to do business for northern businesses and Canadian businesses. Will the Minister undertake to do that work, to find ways she can cut those fees and barriers to doing business in the Northwest Territories to protect Canada's interest in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That certainly is the work being done at the committee on internal trade, and the NWT is a very active partner in that table in regards to, you know, why one jurisdiction might react differently than another. We all have different trading partners, we all have different trading activities and different investments in it, and so how we react across the country is certainly going to be different, but at the end of the day we are certainly very committed to being part of Team Canada right across the board, but our pathways to success in that may look different. Thank you.