Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the start of this Assembly, there was a lot of talk about an Indigenous procurement policy, and then the feds, they stepped up, and they created some targets for Indigenous procurement and as well as the Yukon, and we kind of seem to fall apart on that. And now our plan says we're going to identify some potential solutions and maybe get this work done. I'm actually a little confused whether we will have a clear Indigenous procurement policy in the life of this government. So my questions for the Minister of Finance is where we are at in regards to creating an Indigenous procurement policy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we don't need to do things the way the Yukon or the federal government do. I know the Yukon process wasn't necessarily greeted with a hundred percent pleasantness from the Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories or in the Yukon nor from their businesses.
Where we are on this one, Mr. Speaker, an Indigenous procurement policy has gone to the Northwest Territories Council of Leaders and our modern treaty and selfgovernment tables. This is where it belongs. These are the groups that are going to be impacted. These are groups that need to have a voice and need to have a role in developing this policy. So we're taking this through that process. They've already met with officials. It's already on the agenda for the upcoming Council of Leaders meeting. The work is already moving forward in terms of developing the internal process that they'll be using to look through what steps they need to take to define an Indigenous business and define a northern Indigenous business and how we can work through ensuring that any policy we apply is in line and respectful of the treaty obligations that we have to modern treaty holders and our economic chapters.
So, Mr. Speaker, I'm not putting a deadline on this. The intention was never to force through a policy and to place it down on Indigenous businesses or Indigenous governments. It really is to work with them, and that work is now well underway. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I worry that this is going to get caught in negotiations and hopefully by the next Assembly, we'll have an Indigenous procurement policy. But I'm hoping for a clear yes on the business incentive policy. The work plan is pretty clear that in the life of this government, we are going to revise the definition of a northern resident, and we are going to increase BIP thresholds for tenders and RFPs.
Can the Minister provide us an update about whether that work to finish the BIP review will and amend the BIP policy will be done in the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, as I had previously said the work is well underway and will be delivered in the life of this Assembly. There will be a change to the definition. We're going to be getting rid of the need for a Schedule 3 and getting back to focusing on what the objectives of the BIP really are, which is around investment in the Northwest Territories, encouraging investment, encouraging business growth here in the Northwest Territories, and supporting businesses that support that objective. That definition, as I've said, so it is on its way. It will be here in the life of the Assembly, and the Member will have plenty of opportunity to ask me questions about it before the August session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the procurement review, there was a couple sections on leasing, and then the procurement review panel said that the GNWT should look into whether there was a different approach to leasing, and then the Department of Infrastructure kind of took that as we can't do any work until the procurement review is done. But I don't actually believe the procurement review is changing anything with leasing. I could be mistaken. But can the Minister let me know whether there is any intention to change any of our leasing policies related to procurement in the life of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, leasing does fall a little bit out of the wheelhouse for me in the Department of Finance but certainly in terms of understanding what's happening as a wholeofgovernment, infrastructure and the Department of the Executive do confirm that they do want to look together at the improved real property policy. They do want to do that once the formal procurement processes for government procurement and public procurement are done, but also in line with the Indigenous procurement policy that I had just described a few moments ago. So that work will be underway once that is complete. It's important to again, we want to be integrated in the approach here, and we don't want to develop this policy around leasing knowing that there's Indigenous development corporations and Indigenous businesses that are interested in this area until the Indigenous procurement policy work is done.
Mr. Speaker, what I suggest is we can certainly add this to our work plan in this area so that there's a clearer timeline and a clearer sense of the work that's happening. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I get that perhaps the desire to negotiate Indigenous procurement policy, which could potentially affect all areas of procurement, has, you know, paused some of that other work. I guess perhaps a review of a new work plan that clearly will take beyond the life of this Assembly of what is being done and when would be helpful. There was some recommendations about negotiated contracts policy in the procurement review. Some are small, some are larger about setting targets, some are about reporting. I'm a little confused what's being done there, or whether that also is completely dependent on first finishing a negotiation on an Indigenous procurement policy. So can the Minister tell me whether any changes to the negotiated contracts policy will occur in this government's term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are indeed some guideline changes coming through the Department of EIA to support more clarity around the negotiated contracts policy but, really, the challenges here are, as I think the Member's pointing out, the negotiated contracts policy's right now being used in place of an Indigenous procurement policy to really look at how we are supporting and helping grow Indigenous businesses in the Northwest Territories. So the Indigenous procurement policy really is what is going to be the focal point here with guidelines, as I've mentioned nonetheless in the interim, to help make the negotiated contracts policy more clearer. But as far as what we have done here, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance does have an improvement already in terms of our overall reporting. There's contracts reporting. There's an online dashboard. There's a lot more online information about how we procure, what's being procured and where. And importantly, Mr. Speaker, vendor performance management has already rolled out, continues to be enhanced, and is at a stage of ensuring that there's actual enforcement around vendor performance management. If we're at a point where we can enforce the contracts and enforce the expectations, we have on businesses to be hiring locally, procuring locally, that is going to be addressing the needs of our local businesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
