Katrina Nokleby

One of the key goals when designing the request for proposals and negotiating with the preferred proponent will be minimizing the liabilities retained by the federal and territorial governments. The way that it is structured will be defined in the request for proposals. I will be happy, like I said, to update the Members when it is developed. I can only speak to Mactung as the Government of the Northwest Territories will be seeking a proponent that will assume all the current authorizations and the Mactung site in its entirety.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mactung property has not been sold yet, as we are currently in the middle of a sales process. Our goal is to find a private-sector owner for both the Mactung property and the Cantung Mine as soon as possible. Our strategy is to market Cantung and Mactung together with the Government of Canada, and we believe this is the right approach. We will continue moving forward with this strategy during 2020. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would agree with the Member that this government should be looking for efficiencies wherever possible. I would like to say that we have affirmed that there remains interest in our Northwest Territories tungsten resources in today's minerals industry. I would like to say that we have demonstrated that, through partnership, we can turn a tough situation around and set the stage for development with a responsible, collaborative, and local benefits-focused approach.

Mactung is a world-class tungsten deposit. Our involvement ensures that its development potential is recognized and remains secure...

Selling the Mactung deposit together with the Cantung Mine allows prospective buyers to evaluate and propose a more comprehensive tungsten business plan that could possibly include economically feasible mining operations, remediation, as well as exploration. This approach is more attractive to responsible developers and increases the potential viability of renewed tungsten mining operations in the Northwest Territories. Our priority is to identify and establish an experienced proponent whose proposed business model will maximize benefits to Northwest Territories residents and businesses.

I am...

The Government of the Northwest Territories Business Incentive Policy and the Northwest Territories Manufactured Products Policy are designed to ensure that government purchases are made through Northwest Territories-owned businesses and to leverage our government's purchasing power into investments in the Northwest Territories' business and manufacturing sector.

After speaking with stakeholders the last several months, I recognized that there is a need to improve upon the Government of the Northwest Territories procurement and the Business Incentive Policy. The Departments of ITI and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this moment to recognize three visitors in the gallery. We have Baldeep Bajwa, who is the branch manager for the Yellowknife branch of the Scotiabank. We also have Lucie Guertin, who is a coach with Scotiabank; and the vice president of northern Alberta and NWT region, Tanja Perry, who are all here for, I'm not going to say this right, Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada. Thank you for coming.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You're correct. Some of this does lie in other Ministers' departments. However, I can provide the Member with an update on the Kakisa transmission line, Fort Providence to Kakisa. It is a key initiative of our 2030 Energy Strategy. It roughly represents about 15 percent of our total reduction target for electricity generation. The proposed $52-million project involves the construction of the 170-kilometre line from Taltson to Fort Providence, Kakisa, and Dory Point. The extent of the project is to use the surplus hydroelectric power from the Taltson system, the existing...

I do acknowledge that prompt payment of invoices is really critical to our small businesses in the North. We do have a government set of standards and expectations for the payments of these invoices, but I do acknowledge that that system is not always working properly.

The Financial and Employee Shared Services division of the Department of Finance is responsible for processing and issuing payment for all supplier invoices for goods and services provided to all Government of the Northwest Territories departments, including the Housing Corporation and health authorities. As the Minister of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier will be formally introducing our government's mandate during this session. I do not want to get ahead of the process and speak to it is content in any detail today. However, I can confirm that our mandate will lay out actions and investments to address the priorities that we have identified. Those include more jobs, more business opportunities, and growth and diversity for our economy.

Our mandate includes initiatives that are aimed at increasing employment in small communities; increasing resource exploration and development; ensuring government procurement...

Yes, I will commit to the Department of Infrastructure providing a report to the hamlet on where the project is sitting at, and I will apologize to the Member that the communication has not been maybe what the hamlet was expecting and for yourself, so we will correct that, and we will do better in the future.