R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is a great opportunity to offer committee a briefing on what the territory is doing on this file and on regulations in general to help spur development and to continue development in the Northwest Territories. And so I'd like to make that offer to the standing committee. I believe the Member might be the chair. And we'd be happy to provide that update and have that conversation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Jay pipe's a good example of the vast resources that we have here in the Northwest Territories. 1.3 million square kilometers, much of it contains a number of diamonds, precious metals, rare Earth elements, critical minerals, timber, wildlife, all sorts of natural resources that the people of the North can benefit from and resources that we should be able to benefit from. And we are doing that by working with industry, working on streamlining our regulations to the extent that we can, understanding we're just one partner in land management in the Northwest...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Administration of the NWT Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act Annual Report 2023-2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there's been interactions with homelessness and other aspects of life. Someone might be homeless because they have to flee the home that they've been living in. Right now that funding sits with health and social services, but it would only make sense to ensure that the departments are working together and that at least the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. That's one of the things we want to do with this division, is improve the culture of integrated services and cross-departmental coordination. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, of course, I see the benefit of having Burgundy here and all of the direct employment that they provide to northerners as well as all the spinoff employment, all the services provided by contractors across the territory. So yes, we're very committed to continuing to work with industry and making the erritory -- continuously improving the territory so that it is a better place to do business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did receive a letter from Burgundy, and I did meet with the senior executives from Burgundy maybe sometime in October. Also at that meeting were the Minister of ITI and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Was the Minister of Finance there? The Minister of Finance was there as well as well as the Minister of Infrastructure. So we had a number of Ministers there. And when it comes to these types of files, I'm not the lead on the regulations on access to lands, those securities, things like that, but I felt it was important for me to attend because...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think it's go od for me to have that very specific information, so I will look into it. I would also like to offer a briefing to the standing committee, the appropriate standing committee, on the new division and how it's going to be -- how it's going to operate and the work that is currently happening. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Chair, I move that consideration of Tabled Document 193-20(1), Capital Estimates 2025-2026, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 193-20(1) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Cabinet will be abstaining from this out of respect for the independence of the Office of the Auditor General.

I just wanted to say that I agree with much of what I've heard from the Members. I receive complaints about the health care services as well just like every MLA in here. I do want to temper people's expectations. I've seen a number of OAG audits. It doesn't necessarily result in change. It's not a silver bullet. The OAG can come in, identify some issues, and then leave, and then we are looking at some issues that we're aware of without the necessarily the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're just so lucky to have so many dignitaries in the audience today.

I'd also like to recognize the Yamoga Land Corporation president Joseph Tobac who, when I travelled to Fort Good Hope, he was the deputy chief at that time. As well as Bob Overvold who was, at one time, the deputy minister of the department, so I want to welcome him. And, of course, Marc Whitford, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.