Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to stand and support this motion. It's a shame that we continue to have to raise this issue time and time and time and time again. So I'm very much looking forward to this motion being the final motion that we need to raise to fund our communities according to our own formula financing. So if you care about communities, you support this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Got to change these riding names, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I wanted to talk about the film industry rebate program. This is a really good program, and I support it fully, and I think the film strategy has come a very long way and it always has a lot of success. But it's succeeding in a very -- like, it's scratching the surface of our potential. And I think the key is this rebate program and at this point, I think it's the -- the funding is useful for those kind of small northern driven films which deserve to be supported, but we're never going to see production companies choose to base their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a bunch of regulatory improvements that would greatly help the industry. I know the Minister has spoken about this before in her Minister's statement. But apart from the mining Mineral Resources Act, how is she working with her colleague, the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, to streamline environmental regulations so we can get these projects moving quicker towards the larger regulatory stage? Get exploration projects moving quicker. Thank you.

Thank you. Is the Minister aware of how many other jurisdictions, provincial and territorial jurisdictions, rent their courthouses? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2014, the Government of the Northwest Territories released its mineral development strategy. It's a document -- this document was a result of broad engagement with industry, Indigenous governments, and other stakeholders and moved the industry forward by creating incentives to keep explorers exploring, evolving its legislation, mapping more geology, including more ways for Indigenous participation in the industry, and creating a strong local workforce. We haven't had an update to this in some time. Can the Minister speak to what the department is doing...

Thank you. So I would suggest that this -- it is a significant amount of money, and I know that the department has undertaken studies in the past on this lease and whether or not it is good value for money. And it is not, and yet we continue to operate -- or to -- we continue to hold on to this lease and to spend millions of dollars on improvements, on tenant improvements, when we could just be building a specialized facility that meets the requirements of a courthouse, which includes the secure environment for prisoner transports, for court security purposes. These are not new issues. I've...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The second week of June marks Mining Week, a time to celebrate the industry that has built the North as we know it and reflect on the hard work of the first pioneers and all who have come after them in maintaining and growing our engine of economic growth.

Mining Week is a proud tradition first proclaimed by Yellowknife Mayor McMahon in 1991. This year, the Nunavut and NWT Chamber of Mines will be holding the mine rescue competition on June 14th and 15th at the multiplex arena. They will also hold a miners’ picnic on the 15th outside the multiplex from 12 to 3 p.m.

Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How much money have we spent on tenant improvements at the courthouse facility since leasing it in the first place? Thank you.

Thank you. No, I think our resource speaks for itself, and the regulatory environment is certainly -- or regulatory improvements is certainly welcome and one of the issues that needs to be addressed. But access to capital is another one. So any -- I think every -- and any dollar that goes towards building a stronger economy through resource development is a benefit, and when you have -- I know we're in fiscal restraint, so we have to make wise use of our dollars. And, again, a times eight multiplier is a significant -- significantly good return on investment. So I would strongly encourage the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So as the Premier pointed out when we reviewed Justice, there is no wellness centre in this -- sorry, in the other document we'll be reviewing, but there is no wellness centre on the books. There's an idea of a wellness centre. It is uncosted. It is unplanned. It is a conversation starter. So I don't think we should be talking about how we're going to use this appropriation to support any other infrastructure projects when none of them are even in the planning stage. And furthermore, I just want to point out, I guess for the record, is last week the Premier hadn't engaged...