Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I absolutely agree. We need to not only look at natural gas. We need to look at things like hydro, as well. We need to get the communities, smaller communities, off of diesel. Diesel is not good for the environment. It's not good for people. It's not good for the cost of living, so we have an obligation to do that. I do know that some of the Indigenous governments in our northern communities, in Inuvik, are looking at not only for natural gas and how we use it in the territories, but also for exporting internationally. I think that we need to stay on top of it, and...

I have not sat down and had direct conversations with both Ministers that were named, to say what kind of board you are doing and those kinds of things. However, I was the education Minister before, and I know that education does have a timeline when they will be bringing in a board of directors. Ministers are responsible for appointing their boards, Mr. Speaker, and so, therefore, if they wanted a direct timeline, it's probably better to ask the relevant Ministers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I would like to be able to say that we'll get them done in a year; however, I can't. This is work that we're doing with the Indigenous and the community governments, so it is on their timeline, and so, to be respectful for those governments, we have to work when they are. I would like to say that some of the Indigenous governments already have economic plans; they're on board. Just because it says spring 2020 and ending in 2023, it doesn't mean that we're not on it already. We're already talking about it and, as soon as we can get them completed, that is my...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I do believe in best practices, and I also believe in capacity and what we're able to do. Right now, at this point, I think that our capacity is at the height of what we can handle. We do have a report already on core housing need that we can produce. Universal childcare, I'm going to push back a little bit, Madam Chair, and say that that is something that is more relevant towards the capital and some of our larger regional centres. It, certainly, is not an issue that communities, for example, our smallest community is Colville Lake, Lutselk'e, might put on their...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is a bit soft, but I agree that we do need to change our messaging. The last sentence on the "How We Will Do It" says that we will promote investment and increase awareness of the NWT's regulatory system, because I think that is a concern that people often say. We need to also change our messaging, not only about getting mines here, but how people see mineral exploration in the Northwest Territories, because I keep hearing people are saying green energy versus mining, but you can't have green energy, Madam Chair, without mining. We have cobalt here. We have lithium...

I think that any human being who thinks that they are perfect is a fool, and I think that all of us and every organization needs to be constantly looking to improve upon this. Picking a model, though, is difficult. In the couple of minutes I was looking online, looking through different models of board governance, there are policy boards, there are policy governance boards, there are working boards, there are collective boards, there is a traditional model of governance, the Carver board of governance model, there is the cortex board of governance model, there is a consensus board of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Since the question was directed to the Minister of ITI, then I will ask the Minister of ITI to answer the question. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The business cases that are being done for these three projects will give us a financial analysis of what we are looking at moving forward. Like I said, Madam Chair, this is one of 19 priorities. If I had my say on those 19 priorities, I was pretty adamant that I didn't want to see more than six. If the Members around the table would like to go back to that exercise, I would be more than willing to relook at that. If the Members around this table wanted me to pick six that I think we should be doing, I'd be more than willing to do that. As it stands, 19 Members picked...

Thank you, Madam Chair. What I will commit to is, while we look at all of our procurement processes, we can look at it. At this point, I cannot commit that that will be because, again, I do not like to make decisions off of not-good information. Once we do the review, if it's possible, then we will look at that. If it's not possible, then we can offer an explanation on why it's not possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Some of the Indigenous governments are already on this and they are already doing their work, so it's a matter of bringing them all together and making sure that every single region has an economic plan, because some Indigenous governments have more capacity than other Indigenous governments to be able to do this work. We need to make sure that we are there to support them. How soon it gets done, we have already been talking to the Indigenous governments. Like I said, I phoned all of the ones that are in the intergovernmental council already. I have met four or five...