Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the Dene Zhatie translators here from the region. In the House are Sarah Gargan and Mary Jane Cazon and to thank them for their contribution to keep the language alive. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I appreciate it very much. Mr. Speaker, my question will be directed to the Minister of Finance regarding most recent bid on the liquor operations here in Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, a local bidder had bid on this project, and they -- their scoring seems to be quite subjective. I wrote an email because of the significant urgency on this. By the time they closed this contract, we don't want it to turn into a legal problem.

Mr. Speaker, by way of example, under northern experience, they got 50 out of 50, Mr. Speaker. But under local BIP, they got 1.8 out of 50. And under NWT BIP, they got 5 out of 150, Mr. Speaker. There's some mysterious concerns with these numbers, and I wish some urgency. Would the Minister pause this awarding of this particular contract to ensure these numbers are correct and all the numbers are correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we did acknowledge the email that I got this morning from the Member and thank you for bringing this to my attention.

As with any other procurement matter, I'm not going to be putting these details on the floor of the House. I have already tasked the department to look into it and when we to get a matter where there's some concerns around a procurement scoring, much like a human resource matter, there are avenues and channels by which we can have our staff review it, can have it go through a review. And certainly, until that's been done, Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to be in a position to say one way or the other what may have happened or didn't happen or did happen, but I can say that we will review this urgently. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, although I would like to influence the outcome, that's not my question. My question is about pausing this to ensure there's a rigorous review before an awarding of a contract so there will be no necessity for legal action to work their way through this because, as I highlighted, the details are a little questionable. Would the Minister clarify for the House that she'll ensure the official awarding of the contract won't be done until there's a rigorous review of the numbers and their calculations? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the advocacy on behalf of constituents. I certainly want to ensure that our procurement review -- or procurement processes are accurate and fair. We are subject to procurement processes that maintain our obligations under trade, our obligations for open procurement, and, Mr. Speaker, I'm simply not in a position here today to say where we are at in this particular procurement process. I don't have it in front of me. As I said, this came in this morning. Happy to have it brought to my attention. It's not the first time I've had procurement brought to my attention. But it's -- so it's gone to the procurement shared services now and it really is not one that I want to be interfering with on the floor of the House. I recognize it's an important issue for many residents, and so I want to assure them again that we've sent it forward to procurement to make sure that it's done, and any award is done fairly and that any review is done fairly. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, all the Minister would have to say is that she'll issue an email or instructions or whatever language she wants to use -- I don't care, it's fine, I'm fine with that -- that she'll issue some awareness that they need to ensure before they officially award the contract that these numbers are reviewed because it's taken four months, in January to now, for them to find out the details of why they weren't successful, would she be willing to issue that direction to ensure it's issued in the most fair and reasonable way? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the intention around fairness. Mr. Speaker, I -- again, without -- I don't have the details of the procurement here in front of me, as I normally wouldn't. That is a level of operations that Ministers would be inappropriate to get my hands involved in and certainly not here. So, again, I do appreciate the concern for fairness. I certainly can commit that I'll double down on saying to the department that we want to ensure that we are being fair and that we are maintaining and adhering to all of the procurement principles that we have. But beyond that, Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly not going to be, here on the floor of the House and without a fulsome awareness of the procurement details, issuing any directives to the department on this one. I will commit to the Member that we'll follow up as quickly as possible. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since the news broke of the potential contamination in the Range Lake north school, my constituents have reached out to me who are nearby in the neighbourhood very concerned about the quality of their own drinking water. Can the Minister of education just reassure my constituents that there's no risk to contamination in the wider Range Lake neighbourhood. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have received information that the city of Yellowknife does regular testing of their water, and there is no concern. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, constituents are also wondering why we haven't historically tested schools for safe drinking water. Can the Minister explain why this has been a pilot project and not just ongoing work for the department. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly as a parent share the concerns of many residents of the city of Yellowknife as well as the residents of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, it is worth me saying right now that I was notified of this project and the results on Monday evening. Immediately from there was able to ensure you are that that drinking water and cooking water was no longer able to be used been those schools that were advised were experiencing concerns. Mr. Speaker, I can also advise this House and the Member that given the extreme concern with this situation that I have provided direction to the GNWT, because it is multiple departments and through the Premier's office, to do a third party investigation so we can understand the details of how we got here and how we're going to ensure that we are moving forward in a fulsome way. Thank you.

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

Yellowknife Range Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to hear that. I know the Minister is taking it seriously. I have no reason to doubt that. My intention is get the information out to my constituents. But if they do come back and find a problem with the school, who's going to pay for that? Will the Minister provide funds to replace whatever needs to be replaced to ensure there is safe, clean drinking water for the kids in my riding? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the schools in Yellowknife are interesting in that they are different from schools across the territory. So the schools in Yellowknife, for the most part, are owned by the education body themselves, but we have mechanisms to work together within the city of Yellowknife. First and foremost, we need to ensure that the water in our schools is safe and that kids in our schools are safe, and so as per usual, I will continue to work with our education bodies. I have a very close working relationship with the chair, and we will continue to work forward on this. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement today regarding the recent work done by the Department of ECC on the developing materials for the Indigenous governments around land leasing. My first question for the Minister of ECC is how would the department, I guess, define Indigenous traditional use cabins and who they are for? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.