Caroline Wawzonek

As I said, it just turns out by happenstance there is a meeting happening today at the SAO level. I will follow up on that and see where it gets to. There are staff across the South Slave who work on tourism.

Mr. Speaker, just a few years ago, I was told that, in fact, money had been advanced to the community of Enterprise to look at building visitor capacity. The project didn't go forward, but I certainly wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding of the willingness of ITI to work with the community to see if they are interested in pursuing something and to see what funding might be...

Yes, I can say certainly that Procurement Shared Services under the Department of Finance really assists other departments. The other departments are really the clients of Procurement Shared Services, but those conversations and those decisions around what is the best way to undergo a procurement, what is the best way to advance a project, including whether or not the contract can be broken up, that rests with the home department that is responsible for the project. They then work with Procurement Shared Services to do the procurement of it. However, that exact conversation of how to do it...

Thank, Mr. Speaker. For the upcoming season, all businesses will be subject to the existing processes that we have, which are meant to support northern businesses, including the BIP, the Business Incentive Policy, and all of the current procurement processes that exist. To the extent that we want to improve and change those processes, we did accelerate the procurement review. That is underway, and one of the very questions we are looking at is whether there are new, additional, different ways to better support those businesses. While, if there are improvements, they will not necessarily happen...

Our 2021-2022 capital budget is over $500 million, including a budget for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation; in 2020-2021, our capital spend was already $293 million, so money is getting out the door. There were some challenges last year, no doubt, with COVID and some of the challenges that would have imposed in terms of supply, in terms of exemptions for people moving in and around the territory. The capital budget we have now is significant. All departments are very conscious of the fact that, number one, we need our infrastructure to grow and, number two, we want to support...

Under the current system, having set-asides is not one of the current tools we necessarily have. We did, of course, not too long ago negotiate the MoU with the Tlicho Government, which does include some enhancement of the way in which procurement is done on Tlicho lands. I know that there has already been quite a lot of interest from other Indigenous governments who also had economic measures in their agreements, so those discussions are underway. At present, the tools still are what the tools still are. We are, however, again in the course of the procurement review asking that very question:...

I have used every platform I think I have had in the last several months to talk about critical minerals and why the Northwest Territories needs to be on, and is on, the value chain for critical minerals, and why everyone should be paying attention to that fact, to federal partners all the way through exploration companies. We have extremely good critical mineral resources here in the Northwest Territories and an extremely good place for those who are particularly looking at green energy. This is the place where you want to come because of the ESG factors, environmental, social, and governance...

At this point, relief on work requirements on the mineral resource claims or mineral claims is enacted up to March 31st of this year, 2021, so quite a large number, I think just under 200, in fact, have benefitted from that, from that relief. At this point, Mr. Speaker, there is not, as I understand it, necessarily a need for blanket relief. Many have been able to continue to do the work on the claim. What I will say is: we are going to look at it, and what we are looking at is whether and to what extent we can be doing some case-by-case relief for those who legitimately cannot get to their...

I think step one is going to be perhaps to bring back to the House what exactly at this stage is being tracked and to put that forward, to have that presented, so let me start with that commitment. I expect some of these, as I said, are largely publicly tracked. Let me make sure that everything is up to date and public, and we can look at what is being tracked in terms of northern employment; skill level; status, residential status, whether one is a resident of the territories or not; the training components; the number of suppliers; contract dollar value, so on and so forth, all of which is...

I think I have learned that, once one becomes a Minister, one kind of ceases to be an individual, and you pretty much stay a Minister all the time. As a result, Mr. Speaker, I think, if the Member is asking if I would personally sign, that is a conversation I am happy to have over a coffee, but I think what the question is: what's the position of the government? Mr. Speaker, the government is also a proponent on this project. We are a co-proponent on the project. What I have done, though, is looked carefully at what is on the petition. Again, with respect to developing the skills necessary...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, when we prepare for session, when you prepare through the year, this is something that I had flagged even before we came into session. It is something that the deputy minister of ITI, deputy minister of Infrastructure are already working on together. They know it is an issue. As I've said earlier, I was not here five years ago, and I certainly didn't have the awareness that this became an issue. It is an issue. It happens every year. It happened every year, every time the facilities freeze up. The Wayside Parks fall under ITI. The roadside pullouts fall under...