Julie Green

Thank you, Madam Premier. Are there any further questions on page 21, "Reduce the cost of power and increase the use of alternative and renewable energy"? Mr. Norn.

Yes, thank you. It's my understanding that the federal government has this threshold for Indigenous procurement, and so I wonder if it could be broader than manufacturing and exploration and development and whether it could be government-wide, that procurement in all areas of government business could have a mandated Indigenous component? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Are there any further questions on page 21? Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the Premier for that answer. I recognize that this is a classic case of one size doesn't fit all. Some Indigenous government organizations are already very engaged in this. They have economic development arms. They have their own strategic plans. If those can be grafted onto the government's or the multi-stakeholder regional development plans, then, obviously, that makes a lot of sense. I look forward to hearing more detail on this issue, and those are all my questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My question has to do with the first point. Madam Chair, I've become very cynical about plans and government; they tend to be very drawn-out affairs that delay action, and I fear that that's the case with these regional economic development plans. What I hear from my small community colleagues on this side of the House is that the situation with jobs and economic development in the communities is urgent, and so the idea of leaving these plans to be completed by the summer of 2023 doesn't respond to that urgency, in my mind. The plans need to be started as soon as...

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Is there anything further on page 21, "Reduce the cost of power"? Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With all due respect to the Premier, I don't agree that we should continue to invest millions in advancing these projects without seeing any business cases for any of them. Even at 25 percent, these are substantial amounts of money that are coming out of the GNWT, and they are speculative spending. There is no guaranteed return on this investment at this point or in the life of this government or even in this decade.

The thing about doing all this preparatory work is that, in some cases, it will need to be redone. For example, early in my time in the NWT, I covered the...

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that. Minister, you're going to need to be bossy with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation to assert your right to see the information at the same time, to have a common evaluation method so that you can explain to us and to the public how decisions are being made about that co-investment fund. It was touted as a great bonus to this territory to have the $60 million carveout, but if it turns out that we are in the back seat here, I don't think it will be as useful as we all hope it will be in creating new housing for vulnerable...