Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, the GNWT has been actively working with Salt River and Canada on the implementation of Appendix C. Appendix C requires that all parties establish a trilateral working group to discuss the delivery of programs and services to ensure that the programs are available to all residents, and that includes Salt River First Nation members. So the trilateral working group meets regularly and discusses areas of concern that the Salt River might have with the implementation, as it relates to the GNWT programs and services. In fact, the official steering committee...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The MLA actually across the hall is really good for working with us and providing questions. So yes, I did review the bill just this morning actually once he gave me the questions, in honesty. But in fairness to the Member, the departments have had the bill for a while and had reviewed it, and I'm not meeting with the Private Member that's bringing it forward but the Minister of Finance is meeting with him this week coming up. So looking forward to see those discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is not an issue of money. I've never heard from any of the negotiators or any of the tables that it's more money. It's a matter of everyone being willing to sit and negotiate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do know that it is one of the issues that we will be addressing at the Council of Leaders coming up because all of the Premiers are experiencing that. We're looking at what we can do with the prices. However, I can't make a commitment on that.

We spend a lot of money in this government and, you know, at some point, we're going to have to make hard choices and so are residents. But I would like to turn it over to the Minister of Finance to see if she's got anything more that she can give to the Minister online. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just learned as well that the federal government just released the new reduction plan today, and my understanding is they're going to be briefing the provinces and territories tomorrow. So until we get a full briefing of that, I can't make the commitment of what that looks like because I don't know. So what, again, I can commit to is that we do have a committee that looks at these things. And so the same committee that I said I'm going to bring mitigation to, at the same time we'll bring the new federal guidelines to and get back to committee, whether that be a briefing...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We want we would like to make all of the agreements concluded but that's not a reality. So you know, we're hopeful that the southeast and southwest ones will be concluded. We're also hoping that the Nyak Dun one will be concluded. We we've got a tentative agreementinprinciple with the Akaitcho but they've got to go to their membership. And, you know, thought we were close with the Gwich'in and then they joined back. What I'm trying to say is that things happen and, you know, there's changes in leadership; there's changes in negotiations. There was questions today about...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's a lot of questions in that and just kind of trying to figure out who to best to answer.

I think I'll start with saying it's multifaceted. It's not as easy as that. The working group is done; there's one aspect of it. ECE is doing things around regional plans. EIA is working with the Indigenous governments on their own economic achievements. And I kind of like that model because I always feel that it's not good to always have your eggs in one basket. The more that we branch out, the more flexibility. But I think I'll take the chance because I did hear about the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think what I'm hearing the Member saying is that it's bigger than just the Municipal and Community Affairs. It's like an allofgovernment issue. I always like to get federal money. So what I can commit to is that I will I will bring it to a committee of Cabinet, I think the Member knows that, and so that we can have a more fulsome discussion as Cabinet to look at what we can do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not seeing it on the list of mandates, but I will turn it to the Minister of ECE to see if he has anything he wants to add to that.

Yes, Mr. Chair.