Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm passionate about this issue. It's long overdue. In addition to these changes that are being proposed, these minor changes to the CTV, has this allowed the department to look at other outstanding changes and consult on other issues with the CTV Act? It's a big piece of legislation. Is the Minister contemplating any other changes to the CTV Act? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Tough act to follow.

A lot of these new initiatives that the department is speaking to are good things: additional resources for land rights agreements; $250,000 to the friendship centres; $100,000 for the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation; the Western Premiers Conference; campaign schools. I mean, these are all good things, but around what the standing committee deemed as extraordinary funding requests from the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation and the council of friendship centres, these are both issues that have been raised with Members of the Legislative Assembly as...

I appreciate the stakeholder engagement that's gone into this. The Association of NWT Communities has recommended these changes and other changes in the legislation for, I think, a decade now, so it's nice to see the department moving forward. I'm wondering if there's any possible way that the Minister can move up the timeline? The reason I ask, Mr. Speaker, is the City of Yellowknife is depending on some of these changes so they can afford their tourism operation. I just don't want to be put in the situation where we're not able to give the City of Yellowknife this legislative change and they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, support the mining industry. I don't think my question was insulting. I think what's troubling is that the Minister won't present those significant contributions to our government's revenues and our economy in a transparent annual mining report. Will the Minister commit to putting those facts on the table in an annual report so we can stop having this debate and properly acknowledge the contributions of the mining sector to our economy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the 33 communities of the Northwest Territories are governed by a suite of territorial legislation made up of the Hamlets Act, the Charter Communities Act, and the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, all of which were enacted in 2003. Together, these statutes provide the legal authority for municipal operations in all of our communities.

The Cities, Towns and Villages Act, also referred to as the CTV Act, governs the larger communities in the Northwest Territories, including the City of Yellowknife. It provides the essential legal framework establishing a municipality and authorizing...

When is that later date?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to be clear. We're not talking about reviewing the royalty regime. We're talking about publishing the financial transparency around the economic contributions the mining industry is making to the Northwest Territories and to this government. This is something the mining industry does in other jurisdictions. This is something the Chamber of Mines assists with in other jurisdictions. I'm asking the Minister of Transparency if he can help be a leader on fiscal transparency as it relates to the extractive sector, either through legislation, either through annual...

I always appreciate an impassioned defense of secrecy from the Minister of Public Engagement and Transparency. The Chamber of Mines here in the Northwest Territories currently produces reports and does this work to roll up royalty information. The Minister is not willing to bring forward legislation or table a report. Will he at least give a contribution to the Chamber of Mines to do this work on his behalf?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was pleased to see the honourable Member for Yellowknife North speaking about very important issues to me, both mining and transparency. I would like to ask the Minister of Transparency some questions around transparency over the royalty regime and the benefits the mining sector is paying into the Northwest Territories.

In the federal context, there is a piece of legislation called the Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act, and this act has created a federal government website that you can look up mining companies and see what payments they had been making to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, that Minister's Statement 19-18(3) delivered by the Honourable Alfred Moses regarding the Aurora College Foundational Review progress be moved into Committee of the Whole for further consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.