Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I understand there is collaboration ongoing. I can speak directly to my portfolio with the service integration initiative. We are sharing more -- we are working with NGOs to share information about specific clientele, and that is currently only focused on the homeless population. But nonetheless, we can get information through there about status of persons with disabilities. But that being said, that is the one department. To see what's going on across the rest of government, I will need to take this back and get some more information, and I am happy to do that and provide it to the Member. I think it's important that we gather that information and make it available, so I will be doing that for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier. With the same whole-of-government lens, then, can the Premier confirm whether the Assembly could anticipate a renewal or a re-imagining of the said NWT disability strategic framework or any future disability action plans that look at the whole-of-government lens? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The framework is under the purview of the Department of Health and Social Services. It runs until 2027. And, of course, because a framework has a date in its title doesn't mean that we just throw it out the window come 2028. So the ideas, the pillars in that framework, are still valid going forward. There's not currently a plan, from what I understand, to develop the next generation of framework. That being said, it does run for -- until the end of 2027. So we have a couple more years. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Premier's previous commitment to the House to assess whether pathfinding for disability-related programs and services could be a future focus for integrated service delivery. I am curious, can the Premier also explain whether he sees value for overarching policy approach on disability across the whole of government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think that there are certain things where we do need an all-of-government approach. It's important that all of the departments, when making decisions, are aware that this is an important issue to the Legislative Assembly, to the people of the territory. So I definitely see the value of it, which is why we have the framework. And the Member's questions really have sparked my interest in this so I will be looking at this going forward and looking at what we can do to ensure there is more consistency. We do do a lot across government. That being said, I find things can often be fragmented. So I agree, there is value in having a strategic framework. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This goes to my Member's statement earlier in regards to the housing boards in the communities. There has to be a mechanism in place where the clients can go to the place to have their specific needs looked at instead of coming directly to me. I don't mind them coming to me, but there should be a mechanism in place at the community level where they can have their concerns addressed instead of going directly to the housing staff and getting the same answer. Maybe their workload is -- I feel is more. So the housing boards can have a bigger impact and better access to these needs of the community. And how can the department ensure that the local housing staff are following the local housing board's decisions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for the question. This is the type of question we get throughout the Northwest Territories on the relationship between the local housing authority and the board staff and also all the tenants within the community. Important question because the relationship has become more so where we're finding that the authorities are more responding to the districts, and I see it in many of the BFs that are issued to the Minister. And I think, again, we have to go back to the housing staff and the districts and also the authorities and just make sure that everybody's working in partnership and we're administering the community housing services agreement at the local level, and we're administering it properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would be much easier if a tenant goes to the local housing authority board and expresses his concerns so they can go directly to the staff and have their concern addressed, but it's just not working for some reason. How hard is it to change the housing policy to reflect the needs of the community and those wanting to make change in terms of the board and the tenants? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I think in terms of the policy, it's about the implementation of the policy and how we're affecting our community housing services agreement at the local level. It's about, again, relationships and communication. So I think with the tenants, the first step is talking to the tenant relations officer, perhaps elevating it to the manager, and then they would go to the housing board or sometimes to the MLA. And I see with most times in the Mackenzie Delta, they're going to the MLA, which is fine. I mean, that's an MLA's role as well. But I think in terms of with the community itself, perhaps we can have an internal discussion with housing, the district level, and also the LHO, to see how we could work this out so it's more collaborative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I don't mind helping the constituents of the Mackenzie Delta, but I feel there should be an easier mechanism where they don't have to wait and maybe it can be resolved easier.

What role does the local housing boards have over the workers and the staff of local housing authorities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the role of the local housing board is important. They work with the housing staff to make sure that the community housing services agreement within the community is maintained and also followed but also looking at infrastructure within community, looking at applications. The board doesn't necessarily look at the applications themselves because of the new -- the point rating system that's been in place for the past 15 years. But in terms of more of a collaborative role, a community contact role, hosting annual general meetings so tenants can come to that meeting and have discussions about housing in their community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of strategic infrastructure.

During our PDAC approach here, our team effort approach during PDAC, I did not attend the Minister's three project announcement presentation. I did notice a large attendance. What can the Minister share in terms of feedback during that engagement on the Mackenzie Valley Highway? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chain.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was a team approach when we were at the PDAC recently, and so I -- while I appreciate that the Member couldn't attend -- he was busy at yet another event that he was at -- I did have the opportunity to present to a large room full of folks who were interested in the three big projects that we've had here in the Northwest Territories for a long time.

Mr. Speaker, the room was packed. I have had the opportunity to be at these conferences now for a few years, and I have to say this was a strikingly packed room and striking also in the sense that it was not faces I am familiar with. So often, Mr. Speaker, we see there's, you know, a lot of our own governments from the Northwest Territories will go down, existing operators, existing explorers, existing companies, start to see some familiar faces. They were not familiar faces in the room. That's a good story. These are increasingly large corporations, multinational corporations who know that there's investment opportunity, know that there's opportunity here, and they want to know where those opportunities are. And so they, in my view, were filling that room to understand where are these projects at, what is their timeline, when are they going to be delivered, because they want to have the opportunity to come talk to all of us here and have priority. So that's the impression I had from that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for sharing that engagement. My question is to the Minister of ECC. During PDAC, both Ministers --

(audio).

Yes.

Okay, you'll sit down, and I will call you up for the next set of questions.

Oral questions. The Member from Yellowknife Centre.