Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I talked about the Burgundy letter, and if I remember correctly, I think I even read somewhere that the Premier had reached out or had some conversation with them. And if I'm incorrect on that understanding, I would hope that the Premier would clarify. But that said, what has the Premier done in response to the open letter Burgundy has written, I guess the Government of the Northwest Territories, about trying to be a partner in the longer-term solution of our economic viability as a territory? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Premier.
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 economic development in the territory, creating a strong climate for economic development and for industry is important to me. But ultimately, the leads on those files are the Ministers and I made sure that Burgundy knew that, made sure they had connections into the Ministers. And there were officials at that meeting as well who made commitments to work further with Burgundy. So we are working with them to address their issues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason I'm going to the Premier is, first, he's the head of the government in the context of Cabinet; it also sews over many departments and it's difficult -- I'd be here for weeks and months if not trying to get every Minister through the cycle of asking questions hence I'm trying to point them.
So what type of Cabinet direction is being provided or what could be provided with respect to the concerns raised? I could go through them. I think the Premier's well versed in them or at least aware of them, generally speaking. But I want to emphasize just on one micro statement which is the Jay pipe alone represents one of the largest undeveloped kimberlite pipes on the planet. Mr. Speaker, does that inspire the government to call to action ways to work with Burgundy? 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 Territories. We manage the land collaboratively with the Indigenous governments, and the Government of Canada also has a role. So part of what we need to do is explain to industry what it's like to do work up here. To that end, I've mandated the Ministers of ECC and ITI to work together so that industry will have a single window to come to and so they can hear from the regulators, hear from those we're promoting, development, and help make -- get their way through that process of, you know, right from exploration to mining. So that's just one of the things that we're doing here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, Ekati's been in business approximately 25 years. They're proposing they could be here another 25 to 2040. They hire at least 350 Northerners, according to their letter, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not attracting them. It's trying to find ways to keep them here in the North working and employing as well as the endless contributions to communities and community governments or organizations.
Mr. Speaker, does the Premier see the significance of this partner in their economic future? And if he doesn't, does he have another alternative? Because mining cannot easily be replaced with forestry, et cetera, et cetera. 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.
Mr. Premier. Final supplementary, Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, I read every word in this letter very closely. I did not see we’re big business, we need a big pass. What it says is we see opportunity and we need a partner. Mr. Speaker, would the Premier commit to updating us on progress on all of these initiatives outlined by the Burgundy letter in a way that even Members can see where we can help support this industry to employ Northerners and to help continue to make the territories an economically viable place to live and work. Thank you.
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. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
