Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure.

The last public business case estimated Taltson to cost $1.2 billion. We know construction inflation has gone up quite a bit so it's clearly not going to cost us $1.2 billion anymore. Can the Minister just tell us how much this project is going to cost? Thank you.

Yeah, well, I guess I didn't hear what mines those could potentially be. You know, Pine Point is the most obvious one if we're expanding Taltson. Now they're hopefully going to come online and buy power. Maybe Gold Terra, I don't know. Like, why am I just randomly naming mines that the Minister won't tell us?

I guess the last most important question is can the Minister explain what this is going to do to rates? Do we have any idea what rate we're going to sell this power for. Will it increase cost to ratepayers, or is the plan that we're going to sell so much and make a profit that it will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the procurement review, there was a couple sections on leasing, and then the procurement review panel said that the GNWT should look into whether there was a different approach to leasing, and then the Department of Infrastructure kind of took that as we can't do any work until the procurement review is done. But I don't actually believe the procurement review is changing anything with leasing. I could be mistaken. But can the Minister let me know whether there is any intention to change any of our leasing policies related to procurement in the life of this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the start of this Assembly, there was a lot of talk about an Indigenous procurement policy, and then the feds, they stepped up, and they created some targets for Indigenous procurement and as well as the Yukon, and we kind of seem to fall apart on that. And now our plan says we're going to identify some potential solutions and maybe get this work done. I'm actually a little confused whether we will have a clear Indigenous procurement policy in the life of this government. So my questions for the Minister of Finance is where we are at in regards to creating an...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I get that perhaps the desire to negotiate Indigenous procurement policy, which could potentially affect all areas of procurement, has, you know, paused some of that other work. I guess perhaps a review of a new work plan that clearly will take beyond the life of this Assembly of what is being done and when would be helpful. There was some recommendations about negotiated contracts policy in the procurement review. Some are small, some are larger about setting targets, some are about reporting. I'm a little confused what's being done there, or whether that...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I worry that this is going to get caught in negotiations and hopefully by the next Assembly, we'll have an Indigenous procurement policy. But I'm hoping for a clear yes on the business incentive policy. The work plan is pretty clear that in the life of this government, we are going to revise the definition of a northern resident, and we are going to increase BIP thresholds for tenders and RFPs.

Can the Minister provide us an update about whether that work to finish the BIP review will and amend the BIP policy will be done in the life of this Assembly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I grow increasingly concerned that the procurement review is never going to end, Mr. Speaker, and I don't mean in a good way, that will continue to review our policy and make sure we are improving procurement for the residents. I mean that we will never actually complete it and change the policies that define GNWT procurement. And this isn't just a suspicion, Mr. Speaker. In the GNWT's own work plan, they say by the end of this Assembly they will identify potential policy mechanisms to support enhanced Indigenous procurement. Mr. Speaker, what this should read is that...

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories restore Indigenous language terms and spellings to refer to languages and communities;

And further, that the GNWT should update all legislation, regulations, policies, guidelines, standards, and communications within the life of the 20th Assembly;

And furthermore, the GNWT should also consult Indigenous communities on the changes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my statement, it was my understanding that as we proceed on unauthorized rights, it was essentially if it was an Indigenous person and there was a potential rights case, we weren't going to evaluate it; we were just going to put it in a box and to the side. I've recently learned that that is not the case and there are cases where we will go forward with eviction for Indigenous peoples unauthorized using public land.

My question is for the Minister of Lands. Can he just tell me what exactly is the test being used? Are there some sort of hard limits here...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, for the purpose of capacity building, make it a standard policy to ensure that an Indigenous person consistently occupies at least one assistant deputy minister position within all departments; consistently staffs all regional supervisor positions with Indigenous employees; promotes and requires, where possible, that all public boards and agencies have a minimum level of Indigenous representation within the overall makeup of their board of directors; requires, where possible, for agencies to...