Debates of Feb. 24th, 2026

Thank you. To the Minister.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I just promised my colleagues I would be far more brief.

Mr. Chair, we are doing reviews. These are the hard questions we ultimately need to ask. You know, there's a lot of people across the territory who apply on these programs more than once. Sometimes it reflects kind of the economic landscape and goals of the territory. Sometimes it doesn't. And so, essentially, where we're at right now is at a point where we have to ask ourselves the hard questions of, are these programs designed to ensure that everybody gets a small piece of the pie, or do we want programs that ultimately act as game changers and accelerators of businesses within the Northwest Territories. And this is part of that work that's currently underway. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I think I will just say I appreciate that they're doing this work, and I think this kind of measurement is needed. We've talked a lot about the need for economic planning and connecting it better with our economic analysis. So I am not going to belabour those points here, but just to say that while the department is doing this work, I'd appreciate it if they look into that. And the comments that have been made about the economic and fiscal outlook and how we can plan our economic planning around that using the fiscal outlook to inform our actions in the sense of if we have workforce shortages, if that's a risk or if that's a problem that we have to address, then that's certainly something that should be part of our economic planning on the other end of it, which is what can we do about that problem. So I won't belabour that point too much here aside from to say that I'd like to see us including that in the review of the business programs as well.

But speaking to the workforce shortage issue and the statement I made on Friday about the importance of the polytechnic transition but not just that, but generally workforce development and education in the territory and how that can be transformative of the economy.

I know that the department was doing some knowledge economy development work in the recent past, and I've noticed that it has worked its way out of the planning when it comes to economic diversification and business support. At least in the sense that we have a film industry, we have film industry programming, we have art sector supports. I don't see anything in here related to knowledge economy development, and I do see it as an underdeveloped sector that has the opportunity of, through further development, helping to diversify the economy. So I am wondering if the Minister could comment on that, why that is lacking in the business planning and work of the department on economic diversification. Thanks.

Thank you, I will go to the Minister.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that was funding that we had received, and that funding has since sunset. So it's current, like, that line item is currently not funded and we were seeking funding with CanNor to work with Wilfred Laurier on being able to extend that so currently that is not funded. But what we are working toward as commitments made through the business plan that are connected to the economic vision are the innovation action plan. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member for Frame Lake.

Okay, thank you. And we talked a fair bit about workforce on the previous pages and in the business plan with relation to boosting northern employment numbers. But, yeah, I am wondering about knowledge economy development from a couple of different perspectives. One is the risk identified in our economic and fiscal outlook that we have workforce availability issues, and we have issues with the level of education and preparedness in our workforce. And so that's a risk and a gap that I think we should be trying to close in terms of economic planning.

The point that I wanted to highlight from that statement on Friday the most is just the idea that creating an environment of ongoing improvement and learning and skill development in the territory is known to be transformative in terms of creating a skilled workforce that can attract investment here. And so people will be more inclined to invest in this territory if certain skills exist, and that growth of the knowledge economy can be a real driver. And I would just note that in terms of looking at this as a risk factor, the other two northern jurisdictions are well ahead of us now, and they're attracting quite a bit of investment. The Yukon, I would say, is at the point of being developed, and Nunavut is moving very quickly to become developed, and the NWT has fallen behind along the way. And so why I am raising it here is because that is a challenge and an opportunity that we're missing out on, I see as. Us missing out on it because we're not focusing on it as not just a social development thing, as not just an Aurora College thing, but as a general economic development, as part of a fulsome strategy for economic development. So that's why I am highlighting it here and why I think we need to pay more attention to it.

The other point I would make is that development of that knowledge economy, it's very, very similar to the justifications used by the department for their investments in film, is that every dollar that you put in brings in research dollars, it brings in private investment, and it can grow something that wasn't there before. So I think that we need to be pulling out all the stops in the territory. We certainly don't want to be leaving opportunities on the table, particularly one as big as this one that we see the other two territories having so much success developing and us falling quite a bit behind. So I am concerned about it. I want to note that I think we need to put more thought into it than just worrying about whether CanNor can give us some money. I think we need to be thinking about what we're doing. So a bit of a speech there, but I would appreciate the Minister's thoughts.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, a couple of things, and I will try to be brief. The first piece being that this falls also within the mandate of Aurora College, so an expectation that they're doing some of this work, that they're looking to stack funding, that they're also looking to bring in research dollars and have been noted in, I believe, was within the top 15 of research institutions across Canada for multiple years now. And that is work that we can continue to expect them to continue and to grow on and stack.

This also has to do with partnerships with industry. I was here first thing this morning before the rest of our meetings got started today because I was meeting with an industry leader who is looking at securing investment and stacking that investment on some different research opportunities that extend across other departments. And I've had the opportunity to speak with the other Minister about this and how we can work collectively together. So it's not just about the GNWT. There has to be industry partners in this as well if we're going to be successful. And so making sure that we are securing multiple avenues of investment, that we are supporting further research and some of the work that Cabinet has done, as well as meeting with ambassadors and consul generals from other countries, because there's an incredible amount of interest in the Northwest Territories from other countries around the circumpolar north who want to be able to do this work together. So we're looking at these opportunities and it's worth noting as well that the investment that has gone to Nunavut does also have a part to play in the NWT. I understand from conversations with the IRC that the intention is for there to be also satellite facilities associated with that funding in the Northwest Territories in ISR territory as well. So we will continue to make sure that we're working with all education partners and supporting the growth of these sectors. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And with my last few seconds, I will just ask, how is the department identifying new opportunities for the NWT, new opportunities for bringing investment into the NWT? We are not seeing new sectors, growth, just generally diversification. Because that's kind of coming back to the beginning of my first question which was not only what are we measuring but what are we doing to actually increase diversity in the economy as opposed to just supporting existing activities? Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the NWT has a diverse economy. We don't have a diverse GDP. So we have businesses that are involved in arts. We have businesses that are involved in tourism, construction, retail, too much public administration if I may say so. But we certainly are doing a lot of things to do with making sure that we're working to diversify our GDP, which is where I think the difference really needs to be noted there. So, you know, making sure that we're building on our strengths, that we are noting where we're seeing major multiplier impacts in the territory. So, for example, within our mining sector, continuing to invest in that and invest in multiple metals and minerals across the board, making sure that we're speaking with investors from other countries and interested investors, making sure that we're doing support applications for organizations that need them to be able to attract that investment to the territory.

In addition to that, we are, for the example of film, making sure that we are creating robust investment that, at the end of the day, multiplies the public dollars and sees a tremendous amount more investment in the Northwest Territories. And this has an impact not just on film, for example, but also on tourism. They kind of feed into one another. That leads us into our tourism strategy or 2030 tourism strategy, which will be released this spring in which we will have offered a briefing to committee on, but making sure that we are listening to these sectors that already do exist and listening to what they need in order to see acceleration within their own sectors.

In addition to those pieces, we are also making sure that we're telling the story of the Northwest Territories. So that includes making sure that we're traveling with Indigenous governments to different conference opportunities, whether it's within the Northwest Territories nationally or internationally, because we know that the world is small and the world is very connected. And a lot of people are looking to the Arctic right now, particularly the Canadian Arctic, and we want to make sure that we're telling our own story ourselves. Thank you.

Thank you. On this section, are there any further questions? Okay, seeing none, please turn to page 236.

Industry, tourism and investment, economic diversification and business support, $23,111,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Moving on to minerals and petroleum resources, beginning on page 240, with information items on 242 to 243. Are there any questions?

I am going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. I wanted to ask first about, so the money allocated for Mineral Resources Act implementation, there's an increase there of $300,000 -- no, $400,000 -- math is hard -- Since last year's main estimates although the revised estimates -- the numbers are going up and down a little bit, and my understanding is that we had some sort of money that is sunsetting for implementation of the Mineral Resources Act but then there's also a new chunk of money coming in. Can the Minister clarify, did we get federal funding before for this, or was it like a GNWT allocated amount that has sunsetted, and what sort of new funding package do we see coming online there for these 2026-2027 Main Estimates? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we previously had federal funding for community engagement position roles, so supporting with helping communities do engagement across the territory. And in addition to that, the funding that you see in this year's budget, and we're trying to make sure that we are only requesting funding that is needed for the implementation of the MRAR, as well as getting all of that done. And that is a key focus of the department in the life of this Assembly, and so what this also includes is a director position that will be required. It is the director of mineral and energy regulation, and that will be a new position that will be required as per the new org chart of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment to make sure that we're accommodating what's required from the implementation of this legislation. And in addition to that, as a communications officer, because there will be a tremendous amount of communication required to people who are currently lease and claims holders in the territory and need to understand how the Mineral Resources Act regulation will impact their operations, so making sure that we are being proactive in those conversations. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, first question around that. So, I assume that the new director position is going to be indeterminate. The new communications position, is that a term position or indeterminate? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The communications position is a two-year term position. Thank you.