Cory Vanthuyne

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories undertake a comprehensive public review of all procurement-related policies with the explicit direction to modernize government procurement process and to ensure that NWT businesses can benefit and a healthy private sector is developed in the NWT, taking into consideration concerns and issues raised in this report, along with the committee's recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will let other Members elaborate a little bit more on this, but generally, the genesis of where this motion comes from is recognizing that, while this particular bill didn't undertake any detailed specifics as it relates to royalties, there was a sense out there from folks who partook that they wanted to see some degree of a review on royalties and, also, as it relates to other mining financial or fiscal aspects.

I think that we recognized that the department is willing to undertake a two-part review of the financial or fiscal regime of mining and oil and gas and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that the motion sort of speaks for itself. What we discovered when we were travelling with the bill in a lot of the regional centres and in particular Yellowknife is that there is a genuine concern with regard to making sure that the public's interests are protected, especially as it relates to the critical infrastructure. A couple of good examples are things like quarries and say for example water intake lines. These are areas of interest to the city that they are concerned with when it comes to people being able to put some kind of claim or stake over these...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a motion where we felt that part of what the government will be undertaking is that, when prospectors or potential prospectors and explorers are applying for a prospector's licence, part of that process now will include that they take some courses that have to do with providing some degree of awareness so that prospectors and explorers can and will be informed with regard to the activities that would be taking place, and especially if they are not from around the Northwest Territories, that they receive some degree of awareness as it relates to certain...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Bill 34, Mineral Resources Act, was referred to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment on February 12, 2019. On August 12, 2019, the committee was granted an extension to continue its review. The committee sent letters inviting input from an extensive list of stakeholders, including municipal and Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories, as well as a number of non-governmental organizations and stakeholders.

The committee travelled throughout the territory and held public hearings in Inuvik, Norman Wells, and Yellowknife. The committee...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In reviewing this when we had this before committee, this is how I would have expected to see a clause like this laid out. When you want to put benefits into legislation, remind folks that clause 51(1) is a "may" clause, sub (2) is a "may" clause, and sub (3) is a "may" clause. There is no "shall" here at all, so there is no absolute obligation on the Minister.

What this does is this clarifies, to some degree, what one might expect to see when they go to this clause and read it. It outlines some of, not necessarily all, the benefits, and it doesn't leave one wondering or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for the reply. I guess that, lastly, I would be looking towards opportunities where we could solidify and ensure a little bit more as it relates to local hiring and local training. Is there a way in which we could add a feature into negotiating P3 contracts that would ensure that we are going to hire locally and that have the opportunity for those operators to train people locally for the jobs that are coming forward after a P3 has been awarded? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's opening comments. I think that he spoke well to the bill in general. I just do want to touch one more time on committee's experiences to some degree and just say again that we agree with the Minister that, clearly, this is one of those laws for this territory that is certainly incredibly important for the success of our territory going forward. The undertaking of this review was reflective of that. I think that it was extensive, and we are incredibly appreciative of all of the input that we have received up and down the entire valley as it...

I appreciate the Minister's reply. I guess one of the other aspects that I would like to ask the Minister is that we have another opportunity where we have to negotiate contracts sometimes where we don't go out for a public offering per se. That negotiated process allows for some added-value northern benefits to be had for training, for potential apprenticeships, for hiring, and that sort of thing. Is there any kind of requirement that we can build into our P3 negotiating process that would for sure ensure that we have northern benefits such as those that we see when we do negotiated contracts...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through this process, I think that we recognize that there, of course, is one of the most important aspects of mining and exploration is drill core, and that it can be a little bit challenging and costly at times to store and/or move drill core, but that its preservation is very important due to what it can provide for history and for future exploration opportunities.

We felt that there was certainly a need to be able to address those challenges that we have as it relates to making sure that we are safeguarding drill core, and making sure that it's going to have some...