Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Norn. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? Motion is carried.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Premier, when haven't I given you the straight goods? I appreciate your commitment to looking at how Indigenous business procurement can be reviewed in the context of the more general procurement review that we understand is going to happen. That is everything. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have talked around procurement issues, and this seems like as good a place as any to look at it. As the Premier may know, the federal government has a threshold for Indigenous procurement, that a certain portion of procurement has to be with Indigenous organizations. In implementing this section and others that have to do with economic development, did the Premier at all think about making that a policy here in the NWT, as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and my thanks to the Premier for that response. Perhaps the Minister could provide the accountability and oversight committee a more detailed answer of some plans that are already under way and some that have still to be started. I feel that Indigenous organizations would want these plans to be done as quickly as possible, as well, so I want to make sure that, on the territorial side, we're fully resourced to get these plans done as soon as possible. My concern about 2023 is that we'll have no budgets left by then, so whatever these plans say, we won't have any time...

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No. The answer still doesn't address the speculative nature of spending 25 percent on a project that doesn't have a business case. If you went to a bank and you wanted to start a business and you said, "Could you give me 25 percent? I will get the business case to you when I get it done," I can tell you from having written business cases that that wouldn't happen. There would be no money without a business case. This, to me, is a really key piece of information that we need as soon as possible. It is just not feasible to keep dishing millions out the door on projects...

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My concern with this area is that the prior government committed millions of dollars in shared funding to these three projects, which I really don't believe can be developed and completed simultaneously. We have a lot of money tied up in these three projects, in the start-up for them, in things like environmental assessment and design, where we know that all three projects can't go simultaneously. We also know that the millions tied up in the start-up of the three projects could, in some cases, be used for more urgent priorities, such as housing, for example. My...