Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest problems is timelines, response to timelines, and money and resources for Indigenous organizations to be able to respond to any of these timelines and response to timelines and hence to avoid the perception of not interested or causing delays.

Mr. Speaker, I've given the Premier several ideas. Here's some. I'd like to hear the Premier's thought about trying to effectively grab on these as actionable items.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I mentioned, a couple of the ideas that the Member gave are reflected in the budget. The idea that the Member just gave, I mentioned that in my first answer when we increased the funding to the interim resource management assistance program, and we're also encouraging the federal government to increase their contribution to that as well. So there are tangible actions that will result in increased efficiencies and projects coming online sooner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, dovetailing on my colleague's comments about the economy, crucial to the economy, especially a natural resource economy, is land tenure. I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change how is his department moving expediently to ensure that there is comprehensive land tenure reform so there's certainty in the Northwest Territories for investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly land tenure in the Northwest Territories has been top of mind for myself and my department as we work together with our Indigenous partners, Indigenous governments, and Indigenous organizations, and the many boards that oversee land tenure in the Northwest Territories. This conversation is very much a collaborative effort, and we are looking for ways to advance and streamline the process to ensure that where possible, we can align items to ensure that we are moving as quick as we possibly can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate collaboration, but we need urgency as well. So, Mr. Speaker, is the Minister willing to bring forward changes to timelines? Will he cut timelines? Will he reduce the amount of time it takes to review these files? Working in collaboration for sure, but setting a new service standard so we can get quicker turnaround on land tenure decisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, similar to an earlier response, there are items in the budget -- the proposed budget that are currently being addressed that will help us to advance some of this work. We are also, as I said, you know, very much engaged with our Indigenous partners across the Northwest Territories, and we have made investments over time to ensure that we are helping them to enhance their capacity so that we can ensure that the process moves as timely as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not getting some clear answers so I will have to come back to this. But, Mr. Speaker, one of the partners the Minister left out is municipalities. Will the Minister transfer land requests from municipalities, particularly the city of Yellowknife but also Inuvik, Hay River -- will he transfer those lands that they've requested for by, let's say, end of Q2 this year? We need this land now. We need to bring the investment forward. It's time for these decisions to be made; will he make those decisions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of files and different parcels of lands, whether it be in the city of Yellowknife or other communities within the Northwest Territories, that are currently at various stages within the process. Part of this process is ensuring that we are working closely with those municipalities as we have recently last year signed a new memorandum of understanding with the City of Yellowknife, and we are also working very closely with all of the parties involved to ensure that the process and we do proper consultation and move these forward in a timely manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the -- I spoke to the issue of the Motor Vehicles Act earlier. Can the Minister for Infrastructure commit to making the necessary changes to the MVA to give officers the ability to deem vehicles worthless for disposal. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the concerns brought forward by the Member and the department has been looking into this; however, it may seem straightforward just to make the changes, but there's necessarily -- there's some direction that we have to take in order to apply this legislation. We have to, you know, start working on necessary policy direction, the regulations, different program adjustments, and these all take time and resources. Although this process is scheduled to start, hopefully taking place this summer, we hear the concerns and it is on the radar. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister just help us better understand. It sounds like it's a fairly complex issue. My understanding is this is just a fairly small change although this isn't the first time that we've talked about a small change and how long it can take in this House. But can the Minister just help us better understand what issues they're trying to resolve here. This seems like a fairly simple one that's done in other jurisdictions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's the issue of writing the legislation for this issue. It's not a matter of just putting in a couple lines and continuing on. We have to go through the process of the legislation. And, again, you know, we've set our priorities in the 20th Assembly for, you know, certain things, and the legislative proposals have been put in place on what we're concentrating on for our legislative priorities, and it also takes different departments, not just the Department of Infrastructure. We also have to involve the Department of Justice in writing some of this material. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's fair enough, I suppose. But, I mean, this is a relatively minor change. It's something that's been dogging municipalities for a very long time. We've got abandoned vehicles all over the city that haven't been dealt with as a result. Can the Minister commit to getting this done within the term of the 20th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, this is a concern not only in his riding. This is a concern throughout the territories, including my own riding. Although I can't commit to, you know, starting all this year and having completed it by the end of the 20th Assembly, like I said earlier it is on the radar, and writing instructions are being given this summer to get the work started. So like I said, hopefully, you know, we should be able to get some of this going here right away. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for Premier.

Indeed, we know that having a good working relationship is important for advancement. With that in mind, I want to ask the Premier how is this government planning to ensure that upcoming mining and infrastructure projects in the Tlicho region deliver long-term socio-economic benefits for communities beyond short-term employment? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Mr. Premier.