Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, would like to thank the staff for the many reports that were edited and drafted and edited and drafted again during this whole legislation review. I recognize since the days of our government leader Nellie Cournoyea saying devolution would be a timely one for this government to take over the responsibilities of its own resources and its own land and the management of those, and I was quite pleased to hear the announcement made back in 2014 that the success of negotiations ceased and the devolution was concluded. In some opinions, it may not be the best one, but this is what we have. It certainly sets the foundation of governing your own resources towards your own concluded destiny as a consensus government. This report, as the chair had mentioned, overarches the many devolution acts or bills and brings it into one with one follow-up report and summarizes the consolidated legislation related to that sector. I see this as a punctual or sound management practice to follow up with a report to government and saying right here, "This is our summarized version."

It is great to see that government has reached out to the IGC, and a smaller group representing the IGC, through the TWG, or the technical working group, and using the technical working group as stakeholder engagement throughout the devolution upgrade-to-modernization process.

It seems that all of the systems are there, and I don't feel that it would be appropriate to negatively discuss or share on the downfalls of what we went through on these pieces of legislation coming to fruition today or arriving at this point. I am of the opinion that here is the report, and government can use that or portions of it to design the appropriate measures that one could call more efficient. Thank you, Mr. Chair

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize the work that went into the report on how to improve or design or review the practices done in the procurement department.

Over the course of my term, one of the biggest concerns I heard from the business community in our area is on the timely submissions or replies to the RFPs or RFQs or tenders that went out there because they had to submit their tender package in the mail, or couriered to the district office or the regional office. That resulted in some cases of a loss to the business, that they couldn't get their bid submission in on time. That was eliminated by having the Department of Infrastructure after it merged with Transportation and PWS to setting up a permanent regional office in Norman Wells, and I've never received a phone call since. That tells me that something is working, and these tender packages or tender opportunities that are submitted by the largest supplier in the territory in the absence of industry, we have heard many times, or I have heard many times, government that's stable, government that's here, government's not going anyplace, and we can rely on their opportunities for services and capital projects.

At the same token, the concerns were self-evaluated and self-addressed by most of the business communities saying, we, too, have to meet the government halfway and have competitive rates to fall within the budgets that have been set in these different projects, taking into account multi-year, seasonal access, and some unforeseen designs that may occur from project-to-project.

On the basis of the procurement process and taking into account also the provisions that we have in our land claim which addresses the opportunities of negotiated contracts and sole source contracts as per the land claim agreement, and as well as the negotiated contract policy and sole source and policy, the opportunities are there. The policies are there. The system is designed to help. Now, we've just go to educate the business community. We have to be cost competitive, and we also have to take into account best value for dollar, and the safety and schedule of the project. We don't want to encourage the operator to run a high-risk work environment that may result in termination of the project if there was a site audit conducted by the Workers Safety Commission Board. Those are additional factors taken into account, but as far as I can see, the system is there. It's working. It may need a little tweaking applicable to the various regions that are out there. Different regions have different cost methods and different access of supplies needed to complete the project. Those are my comments there, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, for one, am glad to see the old act being changed, taking into account the number of problems and concerns and phone calls and interactions we have within our smaller communities particularly, in the areas of social development and victims of abuse. As my colleague from the Deh Cho had mentioned earlier, trauma experienced during the residential school, that environment really adds to program delivery, as mentioned in the summary of the act or the bill, with the statement: the new act focuses less on punishment and more on rehabilitation and community reintegration of the offender. What is missing there is reconciliation during incarceration, and I feel comfortable by the opening comment by the Minister that there will be a wide range of improvements to the current framework of the corrections system in the area of programming and counselling.

One of the many things that I continue to support is on-the-land programming, as the department has had programs in the past, and, from what I have heard, there were a number of success stories on the offenders coming out of these on-the-land camps, connecting themselves back to their culture under that environment and moving ahead. At the appropriate time there, I would like to talk a little bit more about one of the experiences on the establishment of the Gladue Report. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories covers 1.3 million square kilometres, with a population of less than most southern cities. This vast area is rich in culture, natural resources, and a potential in a number of sectors that is beyond our comprehension, especially for those who spend considerable time in smaller communities. They would envision and understand the potential.

Mr. Speaker, as legislators and stewards of this great territory, acknowledging this potential and allowing land access developments is truly our demonstration on our abilities to balance our responsibilities in a meaningful approach while addressing the social challenges faced by our small communities.

Our lands department was created by the NWT Devolution Agreement. Remarkable achievements are occurring within this new division. Our neighbours to the West hold and held devolution responsibilities for the past 16 years, but there still remain two land administration pieces.

Mr. Speaker, the process of legislation modernization is a healthy and prudent element of land management and administration. Having one administration simplifies and clarifies our complex regime. There remains a large amount of work to be done. I am confident that drafting our new regulations will only simplify the working relationship between our Government of the Northwest Territories and the stakeholders. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned earlier, balancing transparency and confidence and certainty are all words of the intent that we're trying to achieve in the bill here. The NWT is a very diverse region, with many cultures, land titleship, therefore there must be a designed legislation and regulation to allow flexibility for those accommodations for those diverse areas. We have a land claim which spells out an enormous amount of comfort to the words "access" and "benefits." Other areas don't, so there has to be some flexibility for this institution to lead toward creating those benefits that some areas may be so vague in guaranteeing benefits when a developer walks in the door.

As it stands now, I'm comfortable with the way it's worded, and I'm comfortable with the regulation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the principles of balancing transparency and investor confidence, industry certainty, seeing the benefits of the encouragement to have industry remain here, and understanding the environment of the industry, there are certain areas of confidentiality. I respect that, having experienced some of the confidential records in some of the projects that I have participated in in my home riding. If the information is disclosed, and I believe that the regulations, as Ms. Strand had mentioned earlier on the previous bill, would look after that. It may seem that regulations should be legislated, but there is a certain level of accommodation that should be taken into account.

Given that and my other thoughts, in the spirit of confidence and certainty, I can't support this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, am glad to hear the Minister's address and feel in support of those comments and add mine. Mr. Chair, I comment on today's largest piece of legislation faced by this Assembly on post-devolution. As we modernize history in the spirit of balancing Indigenous engagement, stakeholder confidence, environmental concessions and protection, and the remedial process, it comes to the point in telling ourselves: do we society all stakeholders and produce valued legislation? Looking at the legislation that is going to govern the industry and looking at the industry itself and the huge presence of benefits by industry in this territory has over the course of our deliberations on the last four years have really given me a different perspective on the length of benefits created by industry's presence.

The Northwest Territories natural resource sectors are bedrocks of foundation of our economy. Our mining sector in particular is widely recognized as a global destination for mineral investment, as identified by the recent Fraser Institute report. The Abacus 2016 report identifying 86 percent of the Northwest Territories residents say that the mining sector is important to the economy, while 82 and 83 percent say regulation works well and would like to see more projects. I am confident that number will go nothing but higher given the fact that we are modernizing legislation.

Now, Mr. Chair, we have the benefits of our northern supply chain vendor system, a system that includes businesses and residents. As I mentioned earlier, this mining industry and the supply chain is truly the backbone of our economy outside of the PFF. At a time of global economic situation, drafting legislation and supporting our regulation regime is our responsibility, a post-devolution responsibility I personally take seriously, knowing the benefits of its production. On the federal level, the mineral legislation, particularly Bill C-69, has been welcomed by the Mining Association of Canada, which sees it as an improvement on the status quo. The status quo is not sustainable for Canada nor the NWT, where we have mines coming to an end and a few options to replace them. It is my hope that Bill 34, the Mineral Resources Act, will provide greater certainty to the mining industry on how to operate in the Northwest Territories, ensuring that our economic foundation remains firm.

I add those words, Mr. Chair, and look forward to making history on modernizing our Mineral Resources Act in confidence that we are providing confidence to the industry that we recognize there is a big economic driver in our Northwest Territories and the huge amounts of benefits provided to individuals, businesses, and government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will reserve my opening comments once we get into the actual bill itself, not the report. I just want to put that on the record. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Resource development in the Northwest Territories dates back to original mineral exploration in the 1930s in the Sahtu region. The mining industry is the main economic driver of the Northwest Territories economy, an industry that sustains government, direct benefits, and contributes to a supply chain that includes a vast amount of Northerners and businesses.

Mr. Speaker, a new era has shown new potentials in the region's abandoned sector and great wealth for economic opportunities from yesterday's federal announcement on the Government of Canada's new Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program. One of the listed areas is the Great Bear Lake, consisting of multiple smaller sites in close proximity to each other.

This is welcoming news while we attribute to modernizing industry legislation from the days of its original rights issuances, legislation that we hope will provide confidence and certainty.

Mr. Speaker, advancing and acknowledging the devolution resource development responsibilities provides me with confidence that our government recognizes the potential for enhancing economic opportunities by engagement with all northern stakeholders. I look forward in participating on the process of this modernization legislation and viewed as economic sustainability support. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.