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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the economic vision exercise that's being done is being worked on with multiple stakeholders across the territory. We have presented to Council of Leaders, and Council of Leaders has formed a working group with officials that Indigenous governments have selected. Following that, this year we will also be working with additional stakeholders across the territory outside of government so that we are creating an economic vision which is largely a statement with principles and values associated with it, and our goal is for every Northerner to be able to see themselves in this statement so that it is something that, at the end of the day, we are putting together as a team and that we can all take outside of the territory together. So when we're doing investment attraction, whether or not it is an Indigenous government, a municipal government, or a resident of the territory, we're all speaking the same language together and all essentially hustling in the same direction. The goal for this work to be done is in the fall of this year, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm a bit surprised to hear the ambitious timeline considering it's spring of this year that we're already hoping to have this out the door by fall, although I'm not going to sit here and discourage the department from getting work done quickly. And I appreciate the department noting the need for and development of an investment strategy following development of the vision. And I think that's a great -- you know, that's a great order of operations there. You want to establish the vision and then what are you going to do to implement it. So great planning there.

The only question I would have is, you know, it wasn't that long ago that the government established regional economic development plans. So how do those fit into this? If we've developed regional economic developmental planning, I have to assume that those plans haven't been finished and completed and job well done. So is this going to supercede those; is it going to work in concert with them; are they a totally separate thing? Can the Minister help us better understand how this all goes together and works together. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So we certainly use that work as a basis for this work. But that work is certainly, as the Member referenced, absolutely not done. The economic plans from regions speak to things that were identified by people within the region of what they are interested in and what they would like to see investment in. So those were things like agriculture and tourism and really speak to regional specific economic development opportunity whereas the economic vision really is a whole of territory approach and doesn't speak directly to specific sectors, so to speak, necessarily. It speaks more to a global vision for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I am curious, I mean, considering that incredibly ambitious timeline, are MLAs or the economic development and environment committee going to be brought into that process at all, or is this going to be done kind of completely outside of the Assembly's contributions? Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I absolutely want the voices of committee to be involved in this work. And so between the months of April and July, there will be an engagement period that will include Indigenous governments, the public, stakeholders, and certainly committee and MLAs as well. There will be a draft discussion paper that will be produced from there and engagement -- sorry, engagement results collated and organized and then also facilitated visioning sessions that will be done through ITI themselves and then in the fall, so in November roughly, release of an NWT economic vision. But to the Member's question, yes, I absolutely want to be able to have every Northerner, should they wish to participate, see themselves reflected in this work, and that includes Members of standing committee.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And can the Minister discuss what kind of expert economic analysis is going to be applied to the economic visioning in particular -- yeah, and how it's going to kind of lead into investment strategy. I am curious to hear because, you know, the Minister will remember I made a statement about this a number of sittings ago. I was speaking about the Greenland Economic Council and how they applied economic analysis of the current state of Greenland and how, you know, targeted investment in certain areas would help change that and move things along. I would notice that Ontario publishes a report like that annually. I'm just curious what kind of analysis -- because, I mean, it's great to go out and talk to people, but it's also great to employ the advice of experts who understand macroeconomic planning and understand how investment can move the needle on certain things. So I'm curious to know what kind of expertise the department would be employing as they develop this vision to ensure that it is effective and not effectively just a What We Heard report turned into a vision. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you. I'll go to the ADM.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate that answer from the department and would just again -- yeah, just re-emphasize the point that, yeah, I would like to see a combination of the voices of the NWT enhanced by expert analysis and then planning for how we can move the needle in certain sectors because it does take -- it does take a well laid plan in order to get action that would be effective. So thank you. Those are all my comments I think on the business plan. Let me just check my notes before I cede the chair.

Those are my business plan related comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Next on my list I have got the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I was just refreshing my memory through the business plan and this, I think, specifically speaks to policy work in corporate management so I hope it's appropriate for me to ask here.

I was, you know, grateful to be able to attend the NWT Association of Communities AGM last weekend, and there was a lot of conversation in the bear pit around emergency management and I was looking at ITI's items under -- or sorry, emergency management and business continuity. And it says here that you are developing guidelines in partnership with the chambers of commerce, another important partner to make sure we're all prepared for any emergency that might come our way. It also says that you're expecting this to be published in the spring. Can I please get an update on that work, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through yourself, I'd like to pass to assistant deputy minister Cyr.

Thank you. I'll go to the ADM.