Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, it is a sure sign that spring is just around the corner. The draw for extendedstay campsites at the Prelude and Reid Lake campgrounds will be held this Sunday in Yellowknife. These popular campgrounds, Mr. Speaker, are just two of the 17 facilities that are managed and maintained by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment across our territory. For summer visitors, the Northwest Territories camping experience is a key element of our competitive tourism product. Northwest Territories parks offer a spectacular staging point from which to enjoy our unique natural...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of wonderful restaurants that the Member may want to attend on a Sunday and see what he can do. But as far as going on his own right now, that is not an option. But, Mr. Speaker, the rules, again, that are contained within legislation, within the regulations, are under review and, indeed, I appreciate the support and assistance from committee in terms of getting us forward to a point where I expect that that legislation will be introduced soon, and that may see some changes depending on how that proceeds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, when the current existing contracts expire, they will go out for a public procurement process.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an area that has been covered many times here with respect to whether or not, in fact, there's been a conclusion around competitiveness or non-competitiveness. And, Mr. Speaker, certainly one has to consider the fact that if there are no mines or less mines then there's no worry about there being any benefits because there won't be any benefits. There will be less benefits or no benefits. So, yes, the fact that there's going to be some disagreement on this one, I think, between the Member and I. That said, again, the feedback and response that we've...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now there's actually two contracts, and individually I believe they both come under the limits for what is permissible for sole sourcing; however, they are going to one individual or one entity. So I'm certainly live to the reasons for that and very live to the reasons why a department would want to use a sole source. One of them is where the party or entity that you're contracting to is really is the only or essentially the only entity or person who can do certain work. In this case, models are, as I understand it, maybe not quite proprietary but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I may or may not be the Minister by the time that is occurring. I don't have the dates of the contracts in front of me. But I think perhaps we should also just mention that there's the existing act and regulations are also under review, as Members may recall, and there may be reason to consider that as well before and I say that, Mr. Speaker, because before there's going to be additions of liquor stores or changes in where liquor is purchased, there are currently there are other considerations, including consultation with relevant communities. So just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm surprised it's unclear, Mr. Speaker. ITI is the government lead on the Mineral Resources Act and has been now for well many, many years, long before my time. And it's, I think, quite well known we're quite proud of the fact that this is being codeveloped with the ICGS, or Intergovernmental Council. There's a working group there, as I know I've spoken to many times before. And while ITI is the lead, certainly this has, of course, gone back to the partners and the codevelopment partners at ICGS. They've helped to develop the policy options that are being modeled and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so again, this is work that's being done to develop models. This has been something that I know I've spoken about in this House more than once in the last year with respect to the process for as part of developing the regulations and specifically with royalties, that there would be a process by which different models were run through prototype models were run through to actually best understand what we're looking at before we make final policy decisions for the kind of royalty regime we want. That is the process that they're in right now and to develop...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to the translators, I am sorry; I will try to slow down.

Mr. Speaker, I take issue with the continued characterization of an engagement process as "secret." This has been since 2017 that we have been going out and talking about the Mineral Resource Act and its regulations, before I even came in here. And part of the concern was raised in 2019, when are you going to start to do something and stop keep going and doing consultation processes? We hear that all the time. And, yet, ITI is out doing both public meetings, engagements, forums, sessions, surveys, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad the Member got my name right. It was the Minister of mines earlier and that of course doesn't exist. There is the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment, sometimes known as Minister for the economy for which I'm responsible for the mineral resources sector and all of the work to get the Mineral Resources Act implemented, the mineral resources regulations ready to go. And in the process of doing that, one part of that is the royalties and for that purpose, Mr. Speaker, there was a fivemonth long process, as the Member's made the point of...