Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, pre-feasibility studies are not free. They do involve expenditure of public funds. And now the pre-feasibility study I was being asked about earlier was for a road across Great Slave Lake to the tune of, again, even just preliminary estimates, being 7 to $8 million every year because the road, of course, melts every single year, and now there's pre-feasibility studies for several other additional projects.

Mr. Speaker, again, on the fly, that's several significant expenditures of public funds for projects that I really don't have a good estimate on other than the one I've already indicated is quite challenging and likely not to lead to a reduction in cost of living. Happy to take the other ones away, look more carefully. There may well have been some pre-feasibility work done at some time. I don't know that standing on the floor so I will certainly make that inquiry and perhaps can start from there in terms of where we can go next. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the reason why I'm bringing this up is to really try to identify how we're going to address the issue of the high cost of living in the community of Lutselk'e. So we could get together with the chief and council and talk to them about it, but we need a process to do that. And so I guess what I'm trying to say, Mr. Speaker, is that there needs to be a process now. We have to look at figuring out what the cost might be and plan for 5 to 20 years down the road. But right now at this point in time, you know, we could talk about it but to me, it seems like it's -- I bring it up, and I brought it up in the 19th Assembly, we talk about it, and it's been pushed aside. And at this point in time, we got to look for a solution. And we talk about building a relationship, that's what I'm talking about. So my question again is that can we start working together in partnership and bringing this issue up with the Indigenous governments in Dettah and N'dilo -- sorry, Yellowknives Dene First Nation and Lutselk'e Dene First Nation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, with respect to a concern on high cost of living and looking for solutions, one of those areas where there's high costs is the fact that there's a lot of fuel that has to get transported to the community and a lot of that is being transported because the community right now of Lutselk'e is running on a diesel generator to generate all of their power. And yet, Mr. Speaker, I do believe there have been some initial scoping studies done about micro hydro facilities. That would reduce the cost of living potentially, certainly bring a more reliable, sustainable power system and one that would reduce the amount of fuel that's being brought in. So that is an area that might have some impact. I don't know for sure. But that's exactly the kind of thing a feasibility study might do. I understand the chief of Lutselk'e has some interest in this. I'm certainly happy to follow up on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to offer an invitation to the Minister to work together with myself and meet with the YKDFN on their capital needs but also to go to Lutselk'e together and meet with the chief and council and have that dialogue and discussion and next steps going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'd like to know if the invitation -- I'll put it out there for her to accept. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to return to Lutselk'e. It's always a good experience to be there, a very pleasant and beautiful community, especially if it's fishing season, but certainly happy to go back and further these conversations.

Similarly, Mr. Speaker, not that long ago myself and Minister Macdonald were able to meet with YKDFN, both chiefs, in the community of Dettah. Also happy to go back. I expressed at the time that more of those meetings would be good. It took a long time to find a time then. I don't want a lot of time to pass before we can do a follow-up on that meeting. So, again, very happy to be able to say that here, that we're looking forward to continuing the conversations that we began recently. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I spoke about the importance of defending Canada's sovereignty and making sure the Northwest Territories is one of the leaders in that effort. Arctic defense spending has become a national subject of -- or subject of national interest, especially from those who want to be our next Prime Minister. The leader of the opposition has pledged to build a military base in Iqaluit. Next door, our neighbours in Yukon have established a security advisory council, and they've already been successful in finding some federal funding as well. We can't wait for the federal dollars to come to the North because other people are going out to get them. So what is the Premier doing to ensure we have a robust security and sovereignty strategy that brings federal dollars, federal investments into the Northwest Territories, not only for the jobs and the growth but for the safety that our residents deserve? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when we started this term, Canadian sovereignty and Arctic security weren't on the tops of our list of priorities given that, you know, those are federal mandates; however, they've come to the forefront of discussions all across Canada and especially here in the Northwest Territories. And so a lot of the work that we have been doing actually feeds directly into the notions of sovereignty and security. By advocating for the Mackenzie Valley Highway and putting that infrastructure in place, that is increasing our sovereignty, assuring our security. And that was referenced by Minister Blair in interviews he's done subsequent to the announcement that investment in infrastructure in the North is an assertion of sovereignty. And so we put work into projects like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, like the Taltson Hydro Expansion. We've been putting work into critical minerals. I've been working with my colleagues, particularly the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on ensuring that our regulatory system is as efficient as it possibly can be. And, of course, critical minerals are important to Canada's security, Canada's sovereignty, and, you know, North American security ideally but given the current situation, we are focusing on Canada.

I've had a number of conversations with Minister Blair, the Minister of National Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister Joly, Minister Leblanc, all centered around this topic. So we have already been doing the work and we are putting together -- I don't want to say a strategy but we're putting together some guiding -- a guiding document perhaps on how we're going to move forward addressing these issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate those conversations but, I mean, we're asking them to invest in what we're already doing. I mean, we had a Prime Minister -- Prime Minister Harper came here every year and apart from a few big projects here and there that some Members are very familiar with, we didn't get much for it. We're still underfunded. We still need more infrastructure. So what we're looking for here is defense spending, and that's still something we're only starting to see trickle out. We do have the leader of the opposition pledging to build bases in other northern jurisdictions. So can we have a focus on Arctic defense spending as one of the items of an updated federal engagement strategy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would say that when we engage the federal government, we want to package our asks in a way that is going to be palatable for them, in a way that they are going to want to consume. And Arctic security, Arctic sovereignty, is very sellable right now to the federal government, and so the Member can rest assured that it has been and will continue to be a major component of how we engage the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, allow war packaging that way but unfortunately these projects -- else I'm mistaken, and I invite the Honourable Premier to correct me, but these don't count toward our NATO -- or 2 percent of GDP NATO spending. They don't count. So what I'm trying to do is if we're moving to 2 percent, or maybe even 3 percent now, if we're going the way Europe's going, to divert some of those, if not most of those dollars, into the Northwest Territories. So defense spending is crucial. It's more nuanced than just repackaging our current asks. So can we get a commitment to advance defense spending and specifically tie it to these increases that are coming from our NATO commitments, tie that to the Northwest Territories. And even if the Premier wants to go and speak to the other northern territories and develop a tri-territorial plan or pan-northern plan, I don't care, but let's get some of that money flowing here and make it specific to defense because, again, those projects we're advancing are not -- do not count towards that 2 percent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if we're speaking specifically about defense infrastructure, that's something we have to leave up to the military. I don't have the wherewithal to tell the military where they should build a base to best deter the Russians or anything like that. That being said, we -- I've been having conversations, as I mentioned earlier. I spoke with Minister Blair earlier this week and I said that, you know, it's important that we are involved when they are putting their mind towards military spending. If there's going to be an expansion of, say, in Inuvik of the military presence, well, we might need to upgrade the water treatment plant, we might need more childcare, we might need other types of infrastructure that would generally be municipal or territorial, and so ensuring that that happens. And so we are working with the federal government to ensure that when they decide on how they're going to spend this money for their military installations that we are going to be part of those discussions and that Northerners and northern companies and Indigenous governments will all benefit. So, you know, I could go on and on about this; perhaps I'll just leave it at that. Thank you.

Oh, I remember what I was going to say. The announcement as well, from Minister Blair, was not just an announcement of the forward operating support hub locations but also an increase in the amount of money going towards those facilities. So we've already seen a significant increase in the commitment of the federal government on defense spending in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, for the facilities that are owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Department of Infrastructure does have an asset disposal policy. While it is imperative that we follow that policy, I also feel that it is imperative that we also speak with communities to find out what their intent is as well, to make sure that we have an open conversation about those assets. We have had outreach from some communities indicating what they would like to use their local community learning centre for, and so continuing those conversations is paramount.

And then in addition to that, there are some facilities that are being used, for example, as classroom space, and so that will be very important that they continue to be that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so these -- we've heard that there's -- we've heard directly -- Members have heard directly from people working in some of these facilities that they're seeing clients, you know, there's some that are very productive. So is there a pathway that the Minister can take -- can keep these facilities going under a different mandate, keep the staff going, doing the work they're doing of offering programs, and then, you know, the ones that are less productive, maybe hand those over to the local authorities, whatever they may be. But, like, I think what Member -- what communities are concerned with is you have some of these places are working really effectively. They employ people. They see people. The Dettah, N'dilo facilities, a hundred people over -- or a hundred students and training them over 18 months. So is the Minister willing to take this on and bring these back under ECE? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that would be a pretty significant budgetary ask and, at the same time, a building is just a building without the staff that need to go along with it. So that is not a question that I have an answer to right here on the floor of the House, and I think certainly would have more information as more of these details get ironed out. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.