Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am very happy to be able to report back to the House. The special advisor, Sabet Biscaye, who I want to acknowledge for all the work that she has done as a one-woman, -person, really running that office. She has gone out, and we have hired a local consultant, Mr. Speaker. That person has a deadline of October 16th, by which point we will have a work plan. It has been very clearly instructed on my behalf that the work plan is meant to be one that involves tremendous engagement at the front lines across the Northwest Territories. Once I have that work plan ready, I...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: "Capital Estimates 2021-2022;" "NWT Liquor Licensing Board 66th Annual Report 2019-2020;" and "66th Annual Report 2019/20 Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't want to get captured with semantics. Being conscious of the fact that we have to be engaged with the federal government when we put forward any kind of procurement policy, and particularly an Indigenous procurement policy, the answer to that is yes. Whether it's going to be a specific federal strategy, I'm a little more hesitant to say, but I believe the Premier has already spoken at other occasions about the fact that we are all tasked with being responsible to go to our federal partners and counterparts to discuss all of these kinds of issues. What I will say is that I will perhaps...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I fully expected a question was going to come about this in the course of this session. Short answer, Mr. Speaker: yes, this is going to be part of the procurement review. Slightly longer answer, Mr. Speaker, is that I want to make sure that it's clear that we will be doing this in conjunction with the Indigenous governments who have those rights in their land claims agreement. Yes, it's coming, but it's going to be coming and it's going to be done the right way, which is in consultation with the Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am happy to say that, yes, we have made that link. I think the Premier was prepared to take the question, Mr. Speaker, but it's because there is an overarching direction that is going on with this. I've had the opportunity to speak very briefly with my colleague Minister Simpson from ECE, and I believe it's out in the public and well-known already that our resources and environmental management is one of the pillars of the polytechnic going forward. Certainly, the fact that there is that link that has been made between ITI, where we can provide those opportunities in the industry; ECE, where...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is certainly a priority that has been made very clear to me. I am happy to give some further update as to what has happened in the intervening months. There was a conference with the energy and mining Ministers of Canada, at which some of the national-level work that is occurring was discussed and an awareness that, given the funding that is now on the table from the federal government, there may be some shift in those priorities or reorganizing of those priorities. What we are doing here is a response to that, and seeing that that was out there, I immediately...

Mr. Speaker, obviously, when the work plan comes to me, and I expect it will be coming to me at some point later today, I do intend to get it turned around so the MLAs and all Members of the House will have an opportunity to see it and look at it. It's our expectation that, once the plan is approved -- which, again, does certainly involve some collaboration and communication with the Members here. Once it's approved, we are estimating four to six months in order to have a draft of the action plan. That timeframe and the reason for that extended time really is because, again, this has to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to provide a fiscal update, and in doing so, I want also to speak about one of the most valuable economic resources that exists across the whole of the Northwest Territories: resiliency.

The world remains in the grip of a pandemic the likes of which few people alive in the world today have any reference point to. Canada is currently experiencing a second wave. In the Northwest Territories, we are fortunate that, since the start of the pandemic, we have been able to limit the cases of COVID-19 that have entered our borders, but that comes with a cost; travel...

The court proceedings are public proceedings and so, to the extent that our counsel is present and speaking at those proceedings, that certainly is a public forum and a public arena where that message is being transmitted. Beyond that, I don't think I have turned away a single media inquiry to ask further questions about this. I have spoken to the media on many occasions about that and will continue to make myself available to do that, and I am more than happy to continue to answer the Member's questions here. It is certainly my expectation that that message is going out, and it is being made...

It was always an expectation that, over time, the surety bonds that were being held for this particular mining industry would convert over to irrevocable letters of credit. Right now, to be very simple about it, it's not a concern right now. From the perspective of the government, the surety bonds that we have can be called upon by the government if we need to, so from our perspective, they provide adequate security and assurance that, if the bonds needed to be called, if the securities needed to be called, they would be there. What they did provide was some flexibility to the company when it...